Randal Grichuk and Aaron Sanchez lead Blue Jays past Athletics 7-1

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This article was published 27/04/2019 (2716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Aaron Sanchez was disappointed to be pulled from his latest start after five innings, but he was relieved it wasn’t due to another finger issue.

“It was fine going into today,” Sanchez said about his oft-injured finger. “It just bothers me a bit that I was only going five, but we’ll be all right. I’ll take that win.”

Sanchez allowed just two hits over five innings as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Oakland Athletics 7-1 on Saturday.

Sanchez (3-1) was solid in his return to the mound after his last visit was cut short due to a broken fingernail. He cruised through the first four innings before he allowed six batters to get to the plate in the fifth. It was the only inning where Sanchez allowed a run. He gave up two hits, struck out four batters and walked four.

“He was in control all game except that fifth inning and then he threw a lot of pitches so we decided that was good enough,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “That was the reason we took him out, but he was fine. It had nothing to do with the finger.”

The news comes as a relief to a pitching rotation that needs a healthy Sanchez to regain his form. The 2016 American League ERA champion endured multiple stints on the injured list in 2017 due to blisters and fingernail issues. In 2018, he injured his finger while losing control of his suitcase.

“When I came out at the last game we kind of caught it at the right time,” Sanchez said of his start on April 21 in Oakland.

Randal Grichuk and Brandon Drury had three hits each as Toronto (13-14) relied on small ball for the win.

Blue Jays shortstop Eric Sogard had a sacrifice RBI to first base on a safety squeeze in the second inning.

“I think for the team to be at its best you’ve got to have both aspects of the game to work,” Sogard said. “We have plenty of guys who can hit the long ball but adding the small-ball game to it is only going to make us better.’

It was a big part of Montoyo’s philosophy when he served as bench coach with the Tampa Bay Rays before becoming Blue Jays manager in the off-season.

Toronto has six sacrifice hits this season, one more than they have had all of 2018.

“You’re finally watching baseball be played the way it’s always been played,” Sanchez said of the change. “We’ve got some guys who can burn so you get those guys on, it’ll be fun for us to do some things you haven’t seen done here in the past.”

Ramon Laureano scored the only run for Oakland (14-15) after a throwing error was charged to Sogard.

The Blue Jays roughed up A’s pitcher Brett Anderson (3-2). He allowed six runs and ten hits in 4 1/3 innings pitched. He struck out two batters and walked two.

Teoscar Hernandez opened scoring for Toronto in the first inning with a fielders’ choice RBI. A second run scored on the play when Athletics’ second baseman Jurickson Profar threw the ball away on an attempt to end the inning on a double play. The error allowed Justin Smoak to score from third which gave Toronto a 2-0 lead.

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Sogard drove in Danny Jansen with a sacrifice bunt to add to that lead in the second inning. Grichuk then hit an RBI single which gave Toronto a 4-0 lead.

Laureano scored on a throwing error charged to Sogard, who was unable to convert on a double play. The run would cut Toronto’s lead to 4-1 in the fifth.

The Blue Jays scored two more runs later in the inning. Rowdy Tellez hit an RBI single and Jansen followed with an RBI sacrifice fly.

In the sixth, Grichuk hit an RBI double for a 7-1 Toronto lead.

Note: Sogard’s first-inning double extended the shortstop’s hitting streak to nine games. It is the fourth longest hitting streak to start a Blue Jays career. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. played in his second game and recorded his first career walk in the fifth inning. He went one-for-four on the day. Announced attendance was 22,254. … Toronto Police Services had to detonate a suspicious package found in the hotel attached to Rogers Centre, briefly closing down traffic in the area.