TORONTO – Tyler Skaggs pitched solidly into the eighth inning to outduel Marcus Stroman, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Tuesday.
Kole Calhoun and Brian Goodwin hit solo homers for the Angels (37-37), who beat Toronto for a second straight night and improved to 5-0 against the Blue Jays this season. Tommy La Stella tacked on a late RBI.
Skaggs (6-6) allowed one run and three hits while striking out six over 7 1/3 innings. The 27-year-old left-hander exited the game after striking out Rowdy Tellez in the eighth — recording the first eighth-inning out by an Angels starter this season.
Hansel Robles pitched the bottom of the ninth for his 11th save.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. supplied the offence for the Blue Jays (26-47) on a solo home run.
Stroman (4-9) allowed three runs and four hits — two of them homers — over seven-plus innings. He also walked a batter and struck out three through his 102-pitch performance.
Stroman was coming off his worst start of the season last week, when he allowed six runs over 5 2/3 innings against Arizona. He also allowed two home runs in that outing.
Gurriel’s homer, a solo shot off Skaggs in the fourth inning, put Toronto up 1-0. It was the Blue Jays’ first hit of the game.
But the Angels responded in the top of the fifth with a pair of homers off Stroman. Calhoun tied the game with his 16th of the season, a shot to right field that hit the foul netting, and Goodwin added a laser solo blast to centre to give L.A. a 2-1 lead.
A La Stella groundout off reliever Tim Mayza drove in Kevan Smith to extend the Angels’ advantage to 3-1 in the eighth. The run was charged to Stroman.
A base-running blunder may have cost the Blue Jays in the fifth inning. Randal Grichuk, who led off the frame with a single, was thrown out at third while trying to advance on a base hit from Tellez. The inning ended with a double play when a Danny Jansen liner was snagged by shortstop Luis Rengifo, who then made a quick toss to second to get Tellez.
NOTES: Skaggs has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his seven career starts against Toronto. … Attendance was 17,259. … The Blue Jays placed first baseman Justin Smoak and right-handed pitcher Edwin Jackson on the 10-day injured list before the game. Smoak has a left quad strain and his move to the IL is retroactive to June 15. Jackson’s injury is a lower-back strain. Outfielder Billy McKinney and right-handed reliever Justin Shafer were recalled from triple-A in the corresponding roster moves.
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