by Jerry Feitelberg

It was another tough night for the A’s in Toronto Wednesday night as they were trounced by the Toronto Blue Jays 10-3. Aaron Brooks started for the A’s. His last two outings for Oakland were very impressive but on this night, Brooks lasted just 1 and 2/3rds innings, and he allowed six hits that produced eight runs. Toronto’s R.A.Dickey, one of the few knuckleball pitchers in baseball, was not on the top of his game but went six innings allowing the A’s just three runs.

The Blue Jays took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Brooks walked Troy Tulowitzki to start the inning. Josh Donaldson singled to put men on at first and third with no out. Brooks retired the dangerous Joey Bautista for the first out but threw a belt-high fastball with a 2-0 count to Chris Colabello that hit off the facade over the second deck of Rogers Center.

The A’s scored two runs in the top of the second. Danny Valencia hit a solo dinger to left to get the A’s on the board. Valencia has knocked in seven runs in six games since joining the club. Billy Butler singled and went to third on a ground-rule double off the bat of Mark Canha. Eric Sogard hit a slow grounder to second to drive in Butler.

The Blue Jays put the game out of reach as they exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning. They sent eleven men to the plate and had seven hits that produced seven runs. With the score at 7-2, A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Lefty Felix Doubront to pitch against his former team. Doubrount gave up a single, and a home run to Justin Smoak, and another hit before getting the third out of the inning.
Toronto leads 10-2 after two.

The Jays did not score the rest of the way, but the A’s picked up another run in the top of the fourth. Dickey walked Valencia and Stephen Vogt to start the inning. Butler hit into a 5-4-3 double play with Valencia advancing to third. Canha hit his second double of the night to drive in Valencia with the third and final run of the game for Oakland.
Final score 10-3 in favor of Toronto.

Game Notes – The Toronto Blue are smoking hot. They have won ten games in a row, and thirteen out of the last fourteen played. Also, they have moved into first place by a half-game over the Yankees, who lost to Cleveland Wednesday night. New York has now lost five in a row,
and they come to Toronto for a three-game series starting Friday night.

Mark Canha was the hitting star for the A’s with three hits, including two doubles. Chris Colabello was Toronto’s star with two hits, including a three-run dinger and four RBIs for the night.

Felix Doubront pitched extremely well for Oakland. After giving up three hits to the first three batters he faced, Doubront went 6 and 1/3rd innings and did not allow any further damage by the potent Toronto offense. He threw 95 pitches giving up five hits and two runs.

Game three of the series will start at 9:30 am Thursday. Sonny Gray (12-4, 2.06ERA) will go for Oakland, and Mark Buehrle (12-5, 3.34ERA) will toil for Toronto. It will be a matchup of two quality pitchers. Don’t miss it.