Clement, Springer hit RBI singles in 8th inning to lift Blue Jays past Marlins | CBC Sports

Ernie Clement and George Springer hit consecutive RBI singles in the eighth inning and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays beat the Miami Marlins 2-0 on Tuesday night.

Yusei Kikuchi allowed two hits and struck out six in six innings to help Toronto even the series after falling 11-0 in the opener Monday night. The Blue Jays ended a 19-inning scoreless streak in the eighth against Tanner Scott (4-2).

Miami’s Luis Arraez went 1 for 4, dropping his major league-leading batting average to .398. The Marlins had won five in a row.

Santiago Espinal had a pinch one-out double and Clement followed with a pinch RBI single. Clement advanced on centrefielder Garrett Hampson’s throw to the plate and raced home from second after Springer’s broken bat single to left.

“Guys were ready. It’s a credit to them for being ready and understanding the spots,” Schneider said. “Especially, for a guy like Ernie, who doesn’t play much.”

Yimi Garcia (2-3) was the winner, pitching the seventh. Erik Swanson gave up Nick Fortes’ one-out double and Joey Wendle’s infield single in the eighth, and Tim Mayza relieved and retired pinch-hitter Jesus Sanchez on a 5-4-3 double play.

Jordan Romano closed with a scoreless ninth for his 21st save.

Kikuchi retired the first nine before Arraez’s leadoff single in the fourth. Arraez was quickly erased after Jorge Soler grounded into a double play.

Matt Chapman had two hits and walked for the Blue Jays.

“Obviously, we haven’t been able to score as many runs as we’d like lately but to be able to keep them from scoring runs going to the ninth with a two-run lead was big,” Chapman said.

Marlins rookie Eury Perez limited Toronto to three hits and struck out nine in his eighth career start. The 20-year-old right-hander was lifted after 80 pitches.

“We talk about Arraez all the time but what this kid did against one of the better lineups in the league was really impressive to watch,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said.

Perez gave up two of the hits to Chapman, who doubled and singled.

“He’s got really good stuff,” Chapman said. “I was able to stay through that off-speed pitch the first at bat and the second at bat, I jumped on a fastball. Just tried not to do too much with it.”