TORONTO _ The bullpen phone jangled one out into the Pirates' 7-1 defeat Sunday. Euclides Rojas, the Pirates bullpen coach, retreated to the royal-blue back wall beyond the right-field fence at Rogers Centre and received instructions to get left-hander Wade LeBlanc loose. The Toronto Blue Jays had starter Chad Kuhl on the ropes in a five-run, 40-pitch first inning.
That Kuhl survived the inning was a minor miracle. That he managed to complete five innings before LeBlanc finally was waved in from the bullpen was worth applauding. But the damage already had been done, the series all but lost after the Blue Jays' opening blow.
Kuhl (5-8) allowed five runs, four earned, in five innings. He was without the necessary command, walking five. It is strange to see a pitching line that contains more strikeouts (six), runs (five), walks (five) and innings pitched (five) than hits allowed (four). The hits, however, were costly _ a home run, two doubles and an infield single.
Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ, who fueled the Pirates' second-half push in 2015, allowed four hits and one run over six innings. He too struggled to locate, issuing three free passes. Happ struck out eight, improved his record to 6-8 and lowered his season ERA to 3.63.
Before the Blue Jays (56-61) began their attack, the Pirates (58-60) staked claim to a short-lived lead. Josh Harrison and Andrew McCutchen, back in the lineup after a day down due to a knee injury, singled with one out. David Freese followed and finished an eight-pitch at-bat with a line-drive RBI single to right field. Kuhl strode to the mound defending a 1-0 lead.
Toronto's first-inning rally began with Jose Bautista drawing an eight-pitch walk. Josh Donaldson then sat on a 95 mph four-seam fastball from Kuhl and rocketed a home run, his 16th this season, off the facing of the upper deck in left field. The Blue Jays were ahead.
Justin Smoak doubled on one bounce off the right-field wall. Ezequiel Carrera walked. Ryan Goins pulled a two-run single into the right-field corner. Kevin Pillar struck a hard grounder which hopped past Freese. The third baseman's first of two errors Sunday put runners at the corners. On strike three to Raffy Lopez, Pillar broke for second on a delayed double steal. Francisco Cervelli fired to Jordy Mercer, who threw back to Cervelli. Goins was safe at home.
Once Kuhl emerged from the first inning, he settled in. The Blue Jays' only hit off him from the second inning through the fifth, a span in which he spent just 56 pitches, was an infield single to shortstop which would have been an out had first baseman Jose Osuna scooped the throw.
LeBlanc worked two innings and served up solo shots to Darwin Barney _ snapping his 0-for-18 slump _ and Justin Smoak.
