The Rockies beat the Blue Jays 12-4

TORONTO –

Nolan Jones had a home run and an RBI double to lead the Colorado Rockies to a 12-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

Ezekiel Tovar also singled and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly as Colorado's (4-10) offense came alive.

Ryan McMahon, Elias Diaz and Jones each drove in runs as the visiting Rockies broke the game open in the third inning. McMahon would have another RBI double, Kris Bryant added a two-run double, and Brendan Rodgers and Brenton Doyle each had an RBI double. A sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Jake Cave added another run in the ninth.

Ryan Feltner (1-1) allowed two runs on eight hits, striking out four over five innings. Peter Lambert pitched three scoreless innings and Tyler Kinley gave up two runs, one in the ninth.

Daulton Warshaw and Isiah Keener-Falefa both hit home runs as Toronto (6-8) snapped a back-to-back loss. Cavan Biggio's RBI single extended his hitting streak to seven games, matching the longest of his career. Davis Schneider scored from third on a throwing error in the ninth.

Kevin Gausman (0-2) struggled in his third start of the season, coughing up six runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. Paolo Espino, Genesis Cabrera and Mitch White allowed six more runs in relief.

Toronto got on the board early, with Bo Bichette reaching first with a two-out base hit in the first inning. He stole second before designated hitter Justin Turner walked.

Biggio hit a single to center field to move Turner to third to bring home Bichette and give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Biggio also had a seven-game hitting streak from September 17-23, 2019. He went 9-21 (. 429) with two doubles and two RBI during his current streak.

Rodgers answered for the Rockies in the next inning, with a double to right field between Kevin Kiermaier and George Springer that cashed in Diaz.

Varsho led off the bottom of the second with his first home run of the season. He made no mistake on Feltner's 92.5 mph four-seam fastball — the first pitch Warshaw had seen in the game — that drove it 370 feet deep into right field to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead.

The Rockies didn't let that happen, scoring three runs in the third.

McMahon doubled to right field to score Tovar, then scored himself on Diaz's single. Jones drove home Diaz with another double to right for a 4-2 lead.

Bryant continued Colorado's hit parade in the fourth, doubling to deep left field to score Doyle and McMahon, 6-2.

The hit knocked Gausman out of the game and raised his earned run average from 9.53 to 11.57, tied for last year's season opener for Toronto's rotation.

Jones led off the fifth and launched a four-seam fastball from Espino 414 feet at 89.3 mph. The blast had an exit velocity of 112 miles per hour, landing above and behind the visitor's bullpen on the right standing room only deck.

Tovar scored another run and led off the sixth when Espino launched a curveball to deep left that a fan tried to catch but then threw the ball into the Blue Jays' throat for an 8-2 Rockies lead.

Doyle led off Colorado in the seventh, doubling off Rogers and advancing Michael Toglia to third. Tovar's sacrifice fly to left gave Tolya enough time to race home to make it 10-2.

With Rogers leading off the ninth with a triple — his first at Rogers Center this season — Kiermaier caught his deep fly ball in the ballpark but lost control of it as the Blue Jays outfielder hit the wall in center field, allowing it to go down. to the grass. Cave then hit a sac fly to score Rodgers.

Scattered cheers erupted from the crowd of 29,035 at Rogers Center as McMahon drove in a double to left, pushing Doyle off the plate again to give the Rockies a 12-2 lead.

Keener-Falefa made up for it, leading off the bottom of the ninth with his first home run as a Blue Jay. Schneider doubled and then homered after stealing third base, and a throwing error by Diaz allowed him to score.

ON DECK – Bowden Francis (0-2) will start for the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon.

Colorado will take on Dakota Hudson (0-2) in the second game of a three-game set.

This Canadian Press report was first published on April 12, 2024.