Bassitt shines as Blue Jays blank Pirates to snap 5-game skid | CBC Sports

Chris Bassitt allowed four hits over seven innings, George Springer hit his fourth home run of the season and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on Friday night.

George Springer hit a two-run shot off Rich Hill (3-3) in the fifth inning for Toronto. Whit Merrifield added two hits for the Blue Jays, who bounced back from a rough visit to Boston in which they gave up 32 runs in a four-game sweep by jumping on Pittsburgh early and riding Bassitt and two relievers the rest of the way.

The surprising Pirates began the day in first place in the NL Central, but have cooled off of late. They were swept during a three-game visit to scorching hot Tampa Bay and their offence may be starting to be feeling the long-term effects of missing injured shortstop Oneil Cruz (fractured left leg) and designated hitter/first baseman Ji Man Choi (strained left Achilles).

Pittsburgh has mustered just six runs during its current slide, a span in which the Pirates are just 3 for 30 with runners in scoring position. Bryan Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 10 with a double in the sixth, Pittsburgh’s lone extra-base hit.

Hill has been getting by on savvy and the ability to vary speeds during his first six starts with the Pirates, with mixed results. It was more of the same against the Blue Jays. The 43-year-old struck out the side in the second — including getting Daulton Varsho flailing at a 68 mph curveball — but when he missed his spots, the Blue Jays pounced.

Beau Bichette doubled in the first and scored on a RBI-single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Varsho exacted a little revenge with an RBI-double in the fourth that made it 2-0. Hill then left a 70 mph breaking ball up to Springer with one on in the fifth and Springer sent it 425 feet into the bullpen beyond the centre field wall.

The series continues on Saturday when Toronto’s Jose Berrios (2-3, 5.29 ERA) faces Pittsburgh’s Johan Oviedo (2-2, 4.78).