TORONTO, ON — Bo Bichette homered and drove in all three runs, Ross Stripling pitched six sharp innings to win his second consecutive start and the Toronto Blue Jays blanked the Cleveland Indians 3-0.
Toronto won for the sixth time in seven games since returning north of the border last week and moved a season-best eight games above .500 (57-49). Bichette hit a two-run homer in the fourth, his 20th, and added an RBI single in the sixth. Both hits came off Tribe right-hander Triston McKenzie.
Stripling is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA in two starts against the Indians this season. He earned his first win with Toronto in a May 30 start at Cleveland.
The rookie McKenzie got saddled with his fifth loss of the year, but still allowed only three runs over seven solid innings. However, the Indians (52-54) managed just three hits on the evening, and have now lost three in a row and 11 of their last 16. All-Star José Ramírez did not play, getting the night off to limit the effects of the Rogers Centre's artificial turf.
Their postseason hopes hanging by a thread, the Tribe returns home Friday night for the start of a three-game series against the rival Detroit Tigers. Cal Quantrill (2-2, 3.40 ERA), who has been Cleveland's best starter of late, will take the mound against former first-round pick Matt Manning (2-4, 5.59).
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