Blue Jays 5 - 2 Athletics
Final
  for this game

Jays will count on Morrow in finale with A's

May 9, 2012 - 2:52 PM

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(Sports Network) - Outstanding control has helped Blue Jays hurler Brandon Morrow put together a three-game win streak.

He'll try to extend his string of scoreless outings and slow down Oakland's Brandon Inge as Toronto concludes a brief two-game series with the Athletics.

Morrow showed enough promise as a youngster to prompt the Mariners to take him fifth overall in the 2006 draft and reached double-digit wins in each of the previous two seasons as a full-time starter with the Blue Jays. He has certainly put it together as of late, giving up one run and just one walk over his last 21 2/3 innings.

The 27-year-old righty hasn't allowed a run or a walk in his last two outings, keeping the Mariners off the board for six innings on April 28 in a 7-0 win before tossing a three-hit shutout on Thursday at the Angels. Morrow struck out eight and faced just one batter over the minimum thanks to two double plays in his second career shutout.

"My fastball command is what did it tonight," Morrow said. "Most of my strikeouts were on sliders. I was able to change speeds. I had better life on my fastball, I could hit down and away anytime I wanted to."

Morrow, now 3-1 with a 2.38 earned run average on the season, is 3-0 with a pair of saves and 4.01 ERA in 19 career meetings with the Athletics, including five starts.

Morrow will be tasked with slowing down Inge, who has posted consecutive four RBI games and capped Oakland's ninth-inning comeback in Tuesday's opener with a walk-off grand slam for a 7-3 victory.

Cliff Pennington notched the game-tying RBI before Inge took Blue Jays closer Francisco Cordero deep. Inge was playing in his first home game with the A's after the long-time Tiger was released last month and signed by Oakland on April 29.

"He's here for a reason," said A's manager Bob Melvin. "He's going to play."

Toronto had taken a one-run lead in the top of the ninth on a run-scoring hit by Kelly Johnson, but Cordero blew his third straight save opportunity.

"The three outs in the ninth are pretty tough for us right now," said Blue Jays manager John Farrell.

Toronto lost its third straight game, while Oakland won its third in a row and fifth in six contests.

Melvin had originally moved up Brandon McCarthy to start Tuesday's game, but instead opted to go with rookie Jarrod Parker. McCarthy, meanwhile, had his next start pushed back to Saturday due to a sore right shoulder.

Struggling right-hander Tyson Ross will instead go today hoping to avoid a third straight loss. He had allowed just three earned runs over his first two starts, but has been tagged for 16 runs over 7 1/3 frames of back-to-back defeats.

Ross yielded seven runs over 3 1/3 innings on Friday in Tampa Bay to suffer a 7-2 setback. The 25-year-old also saw his ERA rise to 8.55.

"I didn't think his command within the strike zone was good today," Melvin said of Ross' outing.

Ross will make his first career start versus the Blue Jays having faced them once before in relief.

These two clubs split 10 meetings a season ago, with each winning twice in Oakland.






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