Music: {allcanada} Morrow tosses nine, Blue Jays top White Sox

CHICAGO -- Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell was struck by his share of comebackers during his days on the mound, so he can sympathize with what Brandon Morrow went through last week.

He also knows how pitchers can keep such scary incidents from affecting them in future outings.

"You can say guys might get gun-shy if they hear loud contact back through the middle but having had a lot of them come back through the middle, you're ducking out of the way anyways," Farrell said with a wry grin Wednesday. "Once the adrenaline kicks into the game and with focus of executing a gameplan, that takes over and really blocks out any thoughts that might creep in there."

Morrow did precisely that and more in a 4-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox, pushing aside memories of the Wilson Betemit smash that struck his right shin and knocked him from his previous start to deliver a brilliant two-hit shutout, his major-league leading third of the season.

"(The shin) has felt fine for a few days, it's just sore to the touch, that's it, doesn't hurt to move on it all, so there was no hesitation," said Morrow. "There's the chance (to be hit) every time you take the mound, and that's not something that we think of. If it happens, it happens.

"I've been hit a few times, and haven't worried about it since."

The White Sox should have been the ones worrying.

A.J. Pierzynski singled in the second and the AL Central leaders didn't have another runner reach until Kelly Johnson's error in the seventh let Adam Dunn aboard. Pierzynski collected their only other hit when he opened the eighth with a single.

That rally, however, faded quickly when pinch-runner Brent Lillibridge was easily thrown out trying to steal second by J.P. Arencibia.

"It kills the little rally right there," said Arencibia, who anticipated the attempt. "If they're not expecting to go, or try get something going they leave Pierzynski in. When they bring in the pinch-runner, it is going to be some kind of movement, and I was ready for it."

Morrow's only two walks of the night came in the ninth, but he struck out Dayan Viciedo to cap his fourth career shutout.

"He was outstanding," said Farrell. "When you think of one guy getting the only two hits allowed, just a dominant performance on his part."

---

THE BIG PICTURE: The Blue Jays (30-26) won their third straight and sixth in eight games, improving to 10-3 versus the American League Central. The White Sox (31-25), meanwhile, lost for the third in time in four outings after winning nine straight before a U.S. Cellular Field crowd of 25,672.

---

THE PITCHING: Morrow (7-3) delivered a second straight strong outing, and didn't have this gem cut short like his last one.

The right-hander allowed just four hits and a run over 6.1 innings against Baltimore last week before he was felled by Betemit. His foot went numb after the shot as the ball struck a nerve, and after a rough day followed, he improved steadily and this start was never in jeopardy.

That was bad news for the White Sox, who very rarely made decent contact against him. Morrow was in the zone all night, inducing weak swings while striking out five. He threw 119 pitches, 78 for strikes.

"It was all fastball-slider, I threw a few changeups to the left-handers to keep them honest but when I have fastball command down to both sides of the plate, that's when I've been at my best and I had that tonight," said Morrow, in the midst of a breakout season.

Among his most impressive numbers so far are the .191 opponents' batting average and 0.99 WHIP. His walks per nine is down to 2.78, well below his career average of 4.3.

"I think it's been my command so far, limiting the walks," he replied when asked what he was most proud of. "I've cut it down each year to something respectable last year (3.5), and to something that allows me to have a lot of success this year."

Morrow's performance made rookie lefty Jose Quintana (1-1), subbing for the injured John Danks, a tough luck loser. He gave up just two runs over six innings, but lived dangerously by allowing nine hits and a walk.

---

THE OFFENCE: The Blue Jays didn't get very much bang for their 13 hits but thanks to Morrow what they got was plenty.

They opened the scoring with a touch of good fortune in the fifth, when Rajai Davis avoided a double play even though he may very well have been out at first on the turn, proceeded to steal second and scored on a two-out single by Colby Rasmus, who was thrown trying to extend at second.

Jose Bautista followed with a leadoff blast off Quintana in the sixth to make it 2-0 and Davis padded things out with a two-run shot in the ninth off lefty Hector Santiago after David Cooper's leadoff single.

"I just got a good pitch to hit and he got it up," said Davis. "Cooper set it up taking a couple of good swings in that lefty-lefty matchup. It's just nice to be able to help out. It was a good pitch to hit and I was able square it up."

---

EDDIE ON MEND: Edwin Encarnacion remained out of the Blue Jays lineup, waiting for the swelling in his right hand to ease enough for him to play.

"We didn't even put a bat in his hand today," said Farrell. "There's still some swelling, and the strength in the right hand is improving, it's still not to the point his left is, and we don't want to re-aggravate things and set him back any more. He's the classic case of being day to day right now."

Encarnacion was hit on the hand by Red Sox starter Daniel Bard on Sunday and Farrell said "you still can't see the knuckles on the back of his hand" due to the swelling.

The swelling isn't as bad as what Brett Lawrie had last year when he broke his hand, and X-rays couldn't find the break until the swelling eased.

"Brett's swelling was almost two or three times the thickness of his normal hand," said Farrell. "We did take every test possible (with Encarnacion). If it gets to the point where he plateaus and is not really feeling better, we would re-administer those tests, but at this point, everything points to him getting back."

---

GOMES RETURNS: Yan Gomes, recalled from triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the day, went 0-for-4 as the first baseman in his return to the majors.

The corner infielder/catcher has also been doing some pre-game work in left field but isn't at the point yet where game action at the spot is a possibility.

"He hasn't gotten to the point of playing left field," said Farrell. "When he went back down he played a number of games at third, he caught twice, played first base, the three positions he's been most experienced at. We will continue to get him exposure to work in left field, but that's something that's not going to take place overnight. We want to at least prepare him as best we can."