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Bautista HR backs Stroman's gem

Sep 9, 2014 - 5:24 AM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Jose Bautista clubbed his 200th home run as a Blue Jay, rookie Marcus Stroman tossed a three-hit shutout and Toronto beat the Chicago Cubs 8-0 in the opener of a three-game interleague series at Rogers Centre.

Bautista's homer was a three-run blast in the fifth inning that extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

The 23-year-old Stroman (10-5) retired 19 in a row at one point and struck out eight with no walks in his first career complete game.

"I feel like I'm just really starting to learn how to pitch," Stroman said.

Dioner Navarro had two RBI for the Blue Jays, who have won seven of their last nine games to stay in the hunt for the AL's second wild-card spot.

Chicago's Jacob Turner (5-9) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits over six innings.

The Cubs have lost four straight games.

Adam Lind, who had two hits, reached on an error to begin the bottom of the second and scored after consecutive singles from Navarro and Danny Valencia.

A Navarro sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in the fourth before Bautista crushed a two-out home run to left field.

"You're trying to make a pitch that if (Bautista) doesn't swing at it, you can put him on, and if he does, he's probably out. I just didn't execute the pitch when I needed to," said Turner.

Kevin Pillar scored from second on an error in the infield in the seventh and had an RBI single in the eighth. Navarro drove in his second run with a double earlier in the inning.

Game Notes

Bautista became the fifth player in franchise history with 200 home runs, joining Carlos Delgado (336), Vernon Wells (223), Joe Carter (203) and George Bell (202) ... Toronto starting pitchers have tossed at least six innings in 15 straight games, the longest streak since a 19-game run from May 23-June 12, 1998 ... The Cubs last played at Rogers Centre in 2008.