TORONTO - The Oakland Athletics salvaged the finale of a three-game series against Toronto on Thursday afternoon with a 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Connor Jackson knocked in the winning run with a single off reliever Jason Frasor (1-1) in the eighth inning. The loss spoiled a strong effort from Jays starter Ricky Romero, who allowed four hits and one earned run over seven innings.
Trevor Cahill (1-0) went eight innings for the victory as the Athletics improved to 2-4. Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth inning for his first save.
The Blue Jays, who had only four hits on the day, were missing slugger Jose Bautista (personal) and shortstop Yunel Escobar (mild concussion). Bautista is expected to return when Toronto (4-2) kicks off a 10-game road trip Friday against the Los Angeles Angels. Escobar, who was injured while sliding into third base Wednesday night, is day to day but will make the trip.
With the Jays up 1-0, Romero was pulled early in the eighth inning after Andy LaRoche laced a double off the centre-field wall and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cliff Pennington. Frasor came on in relief but threw a wild pitch to Coco Crisp, allowing the tying run to score. Crisp struck out swinging but ran to first on the play and promptly stole second.
Frasor struck out Daric Barton before Jackson knocked in the winning run with a single just beyond the outstretched arm of third baseman Jayson Nix. Frasor was pulled after hitting Josh Willingham with a pitch and Shawn Camp came in to get the final out.
After a rather pedestrian first five innings, the game picked up in the sixth. Barton hit a one-out double and advanced to third base on a Jackson groundout. Romero got out of the jam by striking out Willingham.
Toronto scored its lone run in the bottom half of the frame. Catcher J.P. Arencibia hit a double to left field, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single from Nix, who later stole second base. He was left stranded when Jackson made a fine diving catch on an Adam Lind liner to right field.
Oakland put runners on again in the ninth. Left-fielder Travis Snider helped snuff the rally by throwing out pinch-runner Ryan Sweeney at third base. Casey Janssen got Pennington on a foul fly for the third out. Fuentes gave up a single to Lind before getting Aaron Hill to fly out to right field to end the game.
The Athletics had seven hits on the day and neither team committed an error. A total of 19,528 fans were on hand for the matinee, which took two hours 32 minutes to play.
