Music: {allcanada} Jays look for 5th straight win

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

{allcanada} Jays look for 5th straight win

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Barely above .500, the Toronto Blue Jays, not the first-place Cleveland Indians, are currently playing like the team with the AL's best record.

The hot-hitting Blue Jays try for a fifth consecutive victory Tuesday night against an Indians club looking to avoid its second three-game skid in a week.

After totaling 22 runs and 33 hits in the final two wins of its weekend series with the Chicago White Sox, Toronto (28-26) kept the offense coming Monday with an 11-1 victory over the AL Central-leading Indians. Jo-Jo Reyes tossed a complete game for his first win in 29 starts while Jose Bautista, Corey Patterson, Rajai Davis and Jayson Nix each had two RBIs as the Blue Jays won for the 13th time in 19 games.

"(To give Reyes the win) in this fashion is superb," said Davis, who had three hits and is batting .351 in his last nine games. "It's awesome."

Bautista is batting. 450 with six RBIs in his last six contests overall, and .412 with seven RBIs in his last five against the Indians.

The Blue Jays have recorded 58 hits while outscoring the White Sox and Indians 37-15 during their four-game winning streak.

Cleveland (31-20), meanwhile, has been outscored 44-12 while losing five of six.

"We're scuffling this week," said manager Manny Acta, who has watched his club total one run in its last three losses.

The high-scoring Blue Jays might be the last team Cleveland's Mitch Talbot (1-1, 5.87 ERA) wants to face as he tries to bounce back from his roughest outing of the season. The right-hander allowed eight runs - seven in the first inning - and 12 hits over three innings of a 14-2 loss to Boston on Wednesday in his first appearance since missing more than a month with an elbow strain.

Acta, however, wouldn't use the injury and long layoff as an excuse for Talbot's poor performance.

"It's 60 feet, 6 inches wherever you go. We don't make excuses for anybody," Acta said. "We've never done it and we're not going to start now."

In his only appearance against the Blue Jays on May 3, 2010, Talbot gave up five runs - four off three homers - and four walks in eight innings of a 5-1 loss.

The Blue Jays counter with Brandon Morrow (2-2, 4.38), who has not factored in the decision of his last two starts. The right-hander allowed one run and four hits in seven innings of a 3-1 loss to the White Sox on Thursday.

Morrow is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in two career starts against the Indians - both last season in Cleveland.

Cleveland's Shelley Duncan had a homer among his two hits Monday, improving to 6 for 13 with five RBIs in his last four games.

Grady Sizemore is 0 for 12 in three games as the designated hitter since coming off the disabled list with a knee injury. After getting Monday off, Sizemore is expected to return to the outfield for this contest.