Blue Jays ride The Sanchize to win over Padres in opener

The Toronto Blue Jays looked sharp tonight with their full starting lineup finally together against the San Diego Padres, winning 4-2 in their series opener at the Rogers Centre.

Aaron Sanchez was brilliant for the Blue Jays, working in his curveball very well and baffling the Padres hitters. Sanchez allowed just three hits in seven shutout innings, striking out seven and walking just two. Sanchez has not lost since April.

Michael Saunders sparked the Blue Jays offence in the fourth inning, tripling into the gap in right-centre field. Saunders capitalized on the defence of Matt Kemp and scored on a deep sacrifice fly from Troy Tulowitzki. In the eighth, Tulowitzki missed a home run by inches, but extended his hitting streak to ten games with a double.

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Devon Travis doubled home Kevin Pillar in the fifth inning on a broken-bat hit into the left-field corner. Josh Donaldson kept the inning rolling with a an RBI single on a seeing-eye ground ball through the Padres’ defensive shift to score Travis.

Pillar doubled twice in a three-hit night, once down the left-field line and once on a strong approach where he used his hands to guide the ball into the right-centre gap.

Jason Grilli was first on in relief for the Blue Jays and continued his hot run in Toronto as he’s become fully cemented in the eighth-inning role. The veteran right-hander struck out one in a clean inning.

With Toronto up four, Bo Schultz took the mound instead of closer Roberto Osuna initially but surrendered a two-run home run. Osuna came on with one out, forcing a pop-out into foul territory and fly-out to end the game.

Game two of the series goes tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. ET when Marcus Stroman (8-4, 4.90 ERA) is scheduled to face Andrew Cashner (4-7, 4.79 ERA). With trade winds blowing around Cashner, though, AJ Cassavell reports thatPaul Clemens would start in his place for the Padres.