Music: {allcanada} ROGERS GOES FOR BLUE JAYS IN OPENER WITH ARIZONA

Monday, September 2, 2013

{allcanada} ROGERS GOES FOR BLUE JAYS IN OPENER WITH ARIZONA

Dominican right-hander Esmil Rogers faces the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 10th time in his big league career on Monday afternoon when the Toronto Blue Jays visit Chase Field to begin a three-game interleague series.

The 28-year-old has mixed in 15 starts through 39 appearances with the Blue Jays this season, including a 3 1/3-inning stint against the New York Yankees on Aug. 27 in which he allowed two runs on three hits in a game his team lost, 7-1.

Rogers is winless in his last 10 outings overall, in which Toronto is just 2-8.

In the nine previous meetings with the Diamondbacks, which have included three starts, he is 0-2 with a 5.33 ERA across 25 1/3 innings.

In 18 road appearances this season, Rogers is 2-4 with a 5.07 ERA.

He's opposed by 30-year-old righty Brandon McCarthy, who snapped a five-start skid in his last outing on Aug. 26.

McCarthy had dropped from 2-3 on the season to 2-8 after consecutive losses to Texas, Boston, the New York Mets, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati while his ERA for the season rose from 4.36 to 5.44.

He ended the poor run with seven strong innings against the San Diego Padres, allowing an unearned run in seven innings of a 6-1 victory. He hadn't won since defeating the Padres, 5-2, on May 24.

McCarthy is 3-2 in nine career meetings with the Blue Jays.

On Sunday in Toronto, James Shields tossed seven scoreless innings and Kansas City used an early four-run burst to silence the Blue Jays, 5-0, in the finale of a three-game set.

J.A. Happ (3-5) lasted only four full frames, charged in defeat for six hits and five runs -- three earned -- for the Jays, whose three-game win streak came to a halt.

In Arizona, Hunter Pence had three hits, including a solo homer, scored three times and knocked in two to lead the San Francisco Giants to an 8-2 win over the Diamondbacks.

Buster Posey also had three hits and drove in two and Hector Sanchez knocked in three for the Giants, who took two out of three in the series. They had nine hits and scored five runs off Arizona starter Patrick Corbin (13-5).

Corbin gave up eight earned runs in 5 1/3 innings at Philadelphia last Sunday and wasn't much better in his next start. He allowed nine hits and a walk in five innings, striking out six, and is 1-4 in his last seven starts. Arizona, chasing the second NL wild card, are 3-3 on a nine-game homestand.

The Diamondbacks entered the week with a 5-4 lead in the all-time series between the teams, including two wins in three games when they last met in Arizona in 2010.

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