After a red-hot start in the four-game series against the New York Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays offence dried up over the weekend under an equally hot sun and Yankees starting pitching.
With MLB home run leader Jose Bautista sidelined for the third straight game with an ankle sprain, the Jays struggled to score again in a 7-2 loss Sunday in front of 36,586 sweltering fans at the Rogers Centre.
The loss was the Jays (47-49) second straight following a five-game win streak and it allowed their A.L. East rivals to escape with a four-game series split after having outscored them in the first two games by a combined tally of 23-8.
The Jays pounded out 31 hits in the first two games, but managed just five off of C.C. Sabathia in Saturday's 4-1 loss, and four off of Sunday starter Phil Hughes (1-2), who struck out five over his six innings of work in just his second start since coming off the 60-day DL with right shoulder inflammation.
Meanwhile Toronto starter Carlos Villanueva (5-2) entered the game having thrown five straight quality starts and posting a 2.89 ERA over that span, and early on looked to be on a similar pace, but ran into trouble in the top of the fourth.
With the score tied at 1-1, Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher led off with a single before East York, ON native Russ Martin cashed him two batters later with an RBI double to right-centre.
An Eduardo Nunez single to left and a Ramiro Pena sacrifice fly later made it 3-1. Following a Brett Gardner single to right, Villanueva had a chance to escape the inning with the Jays down only a pair, but Curtis Granderson ripped a key, two-out double down the right-field line to score Gardner and Nunez to make it 5-1 and put the game out of reach.
Boone Logan closed things out in the ninth for New York in a non-save situation.
The lone bright spot for Toronto offensively was Travis Snider, who with a pair of hits including a RBI single in the bottom of the second, continued his torrid pace at the plate since being recalled from triple-A Las Vegas.
The 23-year-old is now batting 18-for-45 (.400) with 12 RBIs in 11 games back with the big club.
Some help for Snider may be coming soon as Bautista appears on track to return soon--possibly as early as Tuesday.
"He continues to improve," said Jays manager John Farrell prior to the game. "Today, we'll go down in the cage, do some change of balance of drills, swing off a tee. He's responding really well to treatment."
The Jays have an off day Monday before beginning a three-game set at home against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday.
Jason Frasor pitched the ninth for Toronto and gave up a run. It was his 453rd career appearance with the team, surpassing Duane Ward for most in club history.
NOTE: Jays first basemen Adam Lind went 0-for-4 on Sunday, his 28th birthday.