Music: {allcanada} LAWRIE'S HOMER SUPPORTS MORROW IN BLUE JAYS WIN OVER YANKEES

Thursday, September 27, 2012

{allcanada} LAWRIE'S HOMER SUPPORTS MORROW IN BLUE JAYS WIN OVER YANKEES

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TORONTO -- Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., hit a two-run home run and right-hander Brandon Morrow pitched seven shutout innings on Thursday as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the New York Yankees 6-0.

Edwin Encarnacion went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in, two on a fifth-inning double, as the Blue Jays (69-87) opened a seven-game home stand to close their season. Encarnacion leads the Blue Jays with 110 RBIs.

J.P. Arencibia hit his 18th homer of the season in the eighth against reliever David Aardsma.

The loss cut the Yankees (90-66) lead to one game over the inactive Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.

Morrow (9-7) held the Yankees to four hits and three walks while striking out three to gain his first victory since Aug. 31. He had two losses in his previous four starts.

Right-hander Ivan Nova (12-8), the Yankees starter, allowed six hits, including Lawrie's third-inning homer, two walks and four runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar received a few boos from the crowd in his first at-bat in the first but there was little crowd reaction to him after that.

It was his first appearance in Toronto since the club suspended him for three games last week for writing a homophobic slur on his eyeblack for a game at Rogers Centre against Boston on Sept. 15. Escobar lined out to the shortstop.

The eyeblack incident had created some backlash among Toronto baseball fans before Thursday's game, however.

An online petition asking the Blue Jays to create a You Can Play video encouraging the acceptance of homosexuals in sports has been started by openly-gay Blue Jays fan Christopher Papps.

The Blue Jays took a two-run lead in the third on Lawrie's 10th homer of the season that followed a one-out walk by Anthony Gose. Gose was prominent in left field in the fourth. He ran down a drive to the wall in left centre hit by Nick Swisher and then threw to second baseman Kelly Johnson who in turn threw to first baseman Adam Lind to double up Robinson Cano at first base to end the inning.

Gose was a factor on the offensive side in the fifth, leading off with a single. Colby Rasmus bunted for a single with one out and Encarnacion scored both runners with a double to right.

The Blue Jays tacked on a run in the seventh against Derek Lowe with Lawrie scoring from third on Encarnacion's bouncer to shortstop. Lawrie and Rasmus singled with one and advanced to second and third on a wild pitch.

Notes: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 23,060. ...Escobar met for about 45 minutes Thursday afternoon with Patrick Burke, founder of the You Can Play project established to help eliminate the homophobic culture sometimes found in sports. "I was very happy with how today went," Burke said before the game. "I wasn't sure what to expect going in between the language issues and the entire incident, how it all went down. ... I thought Yunel was very receptive to what we were talking about." ....Blue Jays rookie infielder Adeiny Hechavarria who is on a nine-game hitting streak did not start Thursday's game . ..The Blue Jays have lost 12 of their past 17 series. ...Chad Jenkins (0-2, 4.24 ERA) will make his second major-league start Friday against New York's Hiroki Kuroda (14-11, 3.34 ERA). Jenkins had made 10 relief appearances since being called up from Class-AA New Hampshire.