Oakland @ Toronto preview
Rogers Centre
Last Meeting ( Apr 29, 2010 ) Oakland 3, Toronto 6
Until Thursday, John Buck’s personal highlight film with the Toronto Blue Jays consisted of an infield single that beat the Kansas City Royals earlier in the year.
The slow-footed Buck was seen laughing after reaching first base after his 40-foot roller scored Lyle Overbay with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning just over a week ago.
Buck, who was handed the role of starting catcher at the start of the season, has stumbled out of the gate. He entered Thursday’s game against the Oakland Athletics batting just .155 with a homer and six RBIs and was in the midst of a 2-for-33 slump.
But on Thursday he had a night to remember. Buck homered three straight times as Toronto snapped its five-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory. The two teams meet again tonight at the Rogers Centre.
Buck cracked a solo shot in the third inning and followed it with a three-run homer in the fourth. In his next at-bat, Buck made it three straight home runs with his longest blast of the night. Buck began the evening with a career total of 71 home runs in seven seasons, most of which were spent with the Royals.
It was his sixth multi-homer game and first time he’s hit three in a game. Adam Lind was the last Blue Jay to hit three homers in a game, in September last year at Boston.
Brandon Morrow (1-2) will get the start for the Blue Jays. Morrow is off to a curious start. The former flame-throwing reliever had 16 saves before Seattle turned him into a starter.
Morrow flirted with a no-hitter in his only win of the season - an 8-1 decision over Kansas City. He is among the league’s leaders in strikeouts per nine innings (9.83). But Morrow has surrendered 14 walks in 22 innings this season and takes a hefty 6.14 ERA into the game.
At least the Blue Jays have a starter. The picture in Oakland is getting bleaker by the day.
Brett Anderson went on the disabled list Wednesday and will be shut down for two weeks. He is expected to miss up to five weeks with a flexor strain in his left elbow. And Thursday’s starter, Justin Duchscherer, left the game in the fourth inning with a pain in his left hip. That makes both hips that are giving him problems.
Oakland called up Trevor Cahill from Triple-A Sacramento to make today’s start. The A’s also called up catcher Josh Donaldson, as Kurt Suzuki has missed five straight games with a sore left side.