TORONTO (AP) — George Springer hit his 65th leadoff home run and the Toronto Blue Jays sent Paul Skenes to losses in consecutive starts for the first time this season, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 Saturday for their fourth straight win and seventh in 10 games.
Skenes (6-4), the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, allowed four runs and a career-high nine hits and one walk in five-plus innings with two strikeouts, just his second time with fewer
than five this season. His ERA rose to 3.00.
Skenes left after giving up four straight hits in the sixth. In his previous outing, against Philadelphia on May 17, Skenes tied his big league high by giving up five runs .
Tyler Heineman also homered for the defending AL champions, his first since last July 19.
Patrick Corbin (2-1) allowed one run and five hits in six innings with a season-high seven strikeouts. Jeff Hoffman struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save in eight chances.
Pirates pitching coach Bill Murphy and manager Don Kelly were ejected in separate incidents in the sixth. Murphy was tossed after plate umpire Alan Porter initially missed a challenge request from catcher Henry Davis, while Kelly was tossed for arguing a checked swing call.
Springer homered on Skenes’ third pitch of the game, snapping the right-hander’s 15-inning road scoreless streak. Springer has five homers this season and is second in leadoff homers by 81 by Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.
Marcell Ozuna’s two-out RBI double tied the score in the sixth, and the Blue Jays took a 4-1 lead in the bottom half on Jesús Sánchez's run-scoring double, Ernie Clement's RBI single and a run-scoring, double-play grounder by Andrés Giménez.
Blue Jays RHP Dylan Cease (3-2, 2.98 ERA) is scheduled to face Pirates RHP Mitch Keller (4-2, 3.86) in Sunday’s series finale.
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