The ball was flying out at Rogers Centre on Tuesday night and the Blue Jays took full advantage.
Kendrys Morales hit the go-ahead homer in the bottom of the eighth inning as Toronto picked up a 6-4 victory over the Reds. Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Russell Martin also went deep for the Blue Jays, who have now won seven of their last eight games. Morales’ two-run homer came off Reds right-hander Blake Wood on a 1-0 count and broke a 4-4 tie.
Left-hander J.A. Happ made his return from the disabled list for the Blue Jays but did not factor into the decision. He allowed two runs in the first inning but escaped a bases-loaded situation in the third and then retired the final four batters he faced. Happ was charged with the two runs on three hits and three walks in his first big league game since April 16.
“That’s kind of who we are,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of the four home runs. “Our team is built that way. Especially in this ballpark, in this division, you slug it out. We’re starting to get that good feeling again that when we fall behind a little bit, we can strike back quick.”
The Reds had a power surge of their own in the losing cause. Zack Cozart and Joey Votto each homered in the first inning off Happ and Cozart later added his second of the game with a solo homer off Blue Jays reliever Danny Barnes. It was the third multi-homer game of Cozart’s career as he finished 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, two runs scored and two RBIs.
“Today we came out, we took the lead, and we got to our power with Cozart hitting two homers, Joey [Votto] hitting one,” said Reds manager Bryan Price after the game. “We hit some balls on the screws. We had Happ in some tough spots and he was able to kind of manage his way out of it without giving up the big blow.”
Cincinnati right-hander Asher Wojciechowski did not factor into the decision. All of the runs he allowed were in the fourth inning and came via the long ball as well. Wojciechowski was charged with the four runs on four hits with three strikeouts and he did not walk a batter.
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