TORONTO _ The Toronto Blue Jays have developed a habit of opening their home season with a big thud, and the Milwaukee Brewers were happy to help extend that streak of futility.
Scoring some early runs and then allowing their pitching to keep the Blue Jays offense from breaking loose, the Brewers pulled out a 4-3 victory Tuesday night at Rogers Centre, brimming with 48,456 spectators. It was the sixth consecutive home-opening loss for Toronto, tied with Philadelphia for the longest active streak.
The Brewers and Blue Jays hadn't played here since July 2, 2014, with Wily Peralta and J.A. Happ starting for their respective teams. Oddly enough, those were the starting pitchers once again as Toronto began its home season in front of a large crowd.
The Brewers wasted no time jumping on Happ, scoring twice in the first inning on Keon Broxton's first home run of the year, a booming triple to center by Travis Shaw and Domingo Santana's RBI single. The Blue Jays countered with a run in the bottom of the inning on Troy Tulowitzki's one-out double.
Tulowitzki would torment Peralta throughout the game and the Brewers' starter had only himself to blame. In addition to a sacrifice fly, the big shortstop doubled in runs twice, both coming on 0-2 fastballs that Peralta put in bad places.
Otherwise, Peralta fared well. He made it through six innings, allowing five hits, four walks and three runs, with seven strikeouts. Four of those strikeouts came with runners in scoring position, so Peralta came through enough in the clutch to keep his team on top.
The Brewers made Happ work hard, throwing 102 pitches before departing with two outs in the fifth. Broxton led off the third with a single, stole second, moved up on a grounder and beat the throw home on Shaw's chopper to second baseman Devon Travis, with the infield in.
Santana ripped an opposite-field homer in the fifth and the Brewers made it out of that inning with a 4-3 lead despite Tulowitzki's second RBI double. Then, as often happens these days in major league baseball, it became a bullpen game.
Jacob Barnes pitched a scoreless seventh, overcoming a two-out error by second baseman Jonathan Villar, who has looked bad at the plate and in the field thus far. Corey Knebel took care of the eighth, benefitting from a video challenge from his dugout that erased a "phantom" hit-by-pitch with Justin Smoak at the plate.
That left it to closer Neftali Feliz, who took care of the last three outs to record his second save and get the Brewers off on the right foot on their first road swing of the season _ a three-city, nine-game journey.
