Blue Jays turn five hits into five runs in 5-1 win over Reds

Power and productive outs built the margin

Toronto's offence fit almost entirely into three moments, and that was enough. In the second inning, Brandon Valenzuela drove a ball 409 feet to centre field for a two-run homer, bringing home Davis Schneider and giving the Blue Jays the first lead of the afternoon. With only five hits all game, Toronto had little room for waste, so that early swing mattered immediately.

Cincinnati answered in the third when Carlos Jorge singled to centre and Oswaldo Cabrera scored to cut the deficit to 2-1. For a brief stretch, the Reds had turned their contact into pressure. The Blue Jays' best response came right away. In the bottom half, Charles McAdoo lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Sean Keys, then Schneider grounded out to third and Brett Bateman came home for a 4-1 lead.

That sequence defined the game more than any hit total did. Toronto finished with fewer hits than Cincinnati, but the Blue Jays collected extra-base damage and added two run-scoring outs. Brandon Williamson's line shows how quickly that can get expensive: four runs, four hits and three walks in three innings. The Reds got strikeouts from him, but not enough clean innings to keep the score within a swing.

Scherzer gave the Reds little room to build

The other half of the result belonged to Scherzer, who worked seven innings and allowed one run on six hits while striking out seven. Cincinnati put seven hits on the board overall, but Scherzer limited the larger inning. He issued only one walk and forced the Reds to keep starting over rather than stringing together the kind of sequence Toronto found in the second and third.

Jorge drove in the Reds' only run and finished 2-for-4. JJ Bleday added two hits, Cabrera reached three times with a 2-for-2 day and a walk, and Elly De La Cruz singled once. That is enough individual production to threaten a pitcher, yet Cincinnati still finished with one run, eight runners left on base and two ground-ball double plays. The raw traffic was there; the breakthrough never followed.

Toronto also got through a day when its offence struck out nine times and posted only five hits. That left the pitching staff carrying much of the afternoon, and Scherzer did exactly that. After his seven innings, the Blue Jays turned to Mason Fluharty and Paul Sewald to finish the pitching work credited in the official totals, preserving the four-run edge without allowing the Reds back into the game.

Our take: the Blue Jays were efficient, the Reds were not

There is a useful lesson in a box score like this one. Cincinnati out-hit Toronto 7-5 and still lost by four because the Blue Jays concentrated their offence into decisive swings and decisive outs. Valenzuela's two-run homer produced immediate separation. McAdoo drove in two runs without needing multiple hits, first with the sacrifice fly and later with a 446-foot solo homer in the eighth. Toronto did not need a long rally because its best contact carried real value.

For the Reds, the improvement is easier to identify than to dramatize. They were not shut down completely; they simply did not convert enough of their baserunners. One walk, no home runs and two double plays make that hard on any day, especially against a veteran starter who threw 77 strikes in 114 pitches. The bullpen did settle the game after Williamson exited, with Zach McCambley and Luis Mey combining for three scoreless innings and five strikeouts before Carson Spiers gave up McAdoo's late homer. But by then, Toronto had already built the game on the two things that mattered most: early damage and steady pitching.

Scoring moments

1. 2nd Inning

   Valenzuela homered to center (409 feet), Schneider scored.

2. 3rd Inning

   Jorge singled to center, Cabrera scored.

3. 3rd Inning

   McAdoo hit sacrifice fly to right, Keys scored.

4. 3rd Inning

   Schneider grounded out to third, Bateman scored, Okamoto to third.

5. 8th Inning

   McAdoo homered to center (446 feet).