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Jays' Reyes takes hill in opener with Tribe

May 30, 2011 - 2:50 PM (Sports Network) - The Toronto Blue Jays have won three straight and are coming off one of their best offensive outputs of the season. So, will left- hander Jo-Jo Reyes be able to ride that momentum into his first victory in 29 starts, or will he take over his usual role as the cooler?

Reyes tries to avoid setting a major league record for consecutive starts without a win this evening when Toronto begins a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians at Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays come in on a modest role haven taken the final three contests of a four-game series with the White Sox while plating 26 runs in their three wins. Half of those came on Sunday in a 13-4 victory that was sparked by home runs from Aaron Hill and Edwin Encarnacion, their firsts of the season.

Hill hit a grand slam and Encarnacion followed with a solo shot during a six- run first inning, while Corey Patterson homered as one of his four hits and drove in three. Juan Rivera extended his hitting streak to 11 straight games with a pair of doubles and is batting .386 (17-for-44) over the run.

That was more than enough for starter Ricky Romero, who gave up two runs over seven innings to earn the win.

"He seemed to settle down after the third inning. So the fourth inning through the seventh I thought he got a much better rhythm going," said Blue Jays manager John Farrell.

Toronto is three games back of Boston for first place in the American League West and may have to slug its way to a victory tonight given that Reyes has not won a game since June 13, 2008 while with the Braves. He has lost 13 straight decisions since then and is 0-4 with a 4.70 earned run average in 10 starts this year.

The 26-year-old faced the Yankees on Wednesday and gave up five runs on five hits over just three innings of a 7-3 setback. With his 28th straight start without a victory, he matched Matt Keough's major-league record set with Oakland from 1978-79.

"I'm not worried about that streak," said Reyes on Toronto's website. "When I step on the rubber, all I'm worried about is executing the pitch.

"It doesn't get to me. It doesn't bother me."

He'll hope the Indians don't get to him much tonight as he faces them for the first time. Reyes may be catching Cleveland at just the right time. Though the club still holds the best record in the AL at 31-19, it has lost four of its last five and has been outscored 33-11 in that span while getting shut out twice.

One of those came on Sunday, a 7-0 defeat at Tampa Bay in the rubber match of a three-game series. Justin Masterson was charged with seven runs -- six earned -- on eight hits and five walks over five innings of work.

"Justin had a rough day today. He really struggled with his command," Indians manager Manny Acta said of his starter. "He obviously didn't have a good outing, but he's been money for us so far."

Travis Buck had one of five Cleveland hits, a double, while Grady Sizemore struck out in all four of his at-bats. Sizemore is 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts in three games since returning from a right knee contusion that had him sidelined since May 16.

The Indians, who are 11-11 since May 4, sit six games up on the Tigers for first place in the AL Central and hope that Fausto Carmona can pick up his first victory in five starts tonight.

The right-hander has yielded 12 runs in consecutive losses, getting drilled for eight runs over just five innings versus the White Sox on May 19 before turning in a slightly better outing on Tuesday. Though he pitched at least seven innings for the eighth time in 10 starts by going eight-plus frames, Carmona allowed four runs and five hits to take the loss.

Carmona, 27, fell to 3-5 on the season with a 4.73 ERA but has never lost in his career when facing the Blue Jays. In five starts against them, he is 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA.

The Indians have won six of their last seven versus the Blue Jays and took two of three in the lone meeting at Rogers Centre last year.