Sean Reid-Foley looked much different during his third start in the majors than he did in the first two.
The 23-year-old rookie struck out 10 over seven innings and earned his first big league win, pitching the Toronto Blue Jays over the Miami Marlins 6-1 on Sunday.
“He was fantastic,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “He was popping the ball. That’s the best we’ve seen it. I think those first two starts and then he went back down, I think he had a lot of confidence coming into today.”
Reid-Foley (1-2) allowed one run and four hits with one walk. He came into the game having allowed nine runs in 9 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts over his first two starts.
“I was very impressed,” Gibbons said. “That’s the guy we heard about.”
The right-hander struck out the side in the first inning and worked himself out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth with just one run scoring.
“If we can get a base hit in there early still with no outs, we’ve got a chance to get one of those innings that get extended and you can put three or four up, but you get one out of that and that kind of stalls you right there,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.
The lone run scored on a bases-loaded walk to JT Riddle.
“Walking in a run, that was sick, that’s second one so far in the bigs,” Reid-Foley said. “After that, I kind of just needed to figure out what I needed to do to get out of the inning without giving up any more runs.”
Teoscar Hernandez hit a three-run homer and Luke Maile had three doubles for the Blue Jays.
Miami starter Jeff Brigham (0-1) made his major league debut, pitching three innings and giving up three runs on four hits and four walks.
“I definitely didn’t stay within myself early,” Brigham said. “It was a big day for me and definitely a good learning experience.”
Kendrys Morales, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Aledmys Diaz each hit sacrifice flies to help the Blue Jays build a 3-0 lead off Brigham .
Hernandez broke open the game with his 19th home run, connecting off Brett Graves in the fifth. Hernandez ended a 17-game homerless streak, the longest since joining the Blue Jays last year.
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