Morrow (6-4) has not lost since June 11 against Boston, and is 4-0 with a 2.68 ERA in his past six starts. He allowed one run and four hits in 6 2-3 innings, walked two and struck out six.
Jason Frasor, Toronto's third reliever, pitched around three singles in the ninth as the Blue Jays evened their record at 47-47.
Frasor made his 452nd appearance for Toronto, tying Duane Ward for first on the franchise's career list.
Escobar had three hits, a walk and two RBIs. He singled home a run in the first, doubled in the third, walked and scored in the fifth and hit an RBI single in the eighth.
Toronto, which beat the Yankees 16-7 on Thursday, opened the scoring in the bottom of the first against Freddy Garcia (7-7) when Eric Thames doubled and scored on Escobar's single to left.
In Seattle, Colby Lewis missed pitching a four-hitter by an out and Texas had three sacrifice flies in winning its ninth straight.
Lewis followed Derek Holland's stellar performance a night earlier when Holland took a perfect game into the sixth inning before settling for a shutout. Lewis (9-7), who gave up a third-inning single to Brendan Ryan, won his fourth straight decision.
Seattle starter Doug Fister (3-11) retired 15 straight at one point, but again got no help from his offense. Seattle hasn't scored in 26 straight innings.
Lewis, who struck out eight and walked two, fell one out short of his second shutout of the season. He gave up a one-out single to Dustin Ackley and then a two-out hit to Adam Kennedy. Neftali Feliz got a groundout to finish the shutout and get his 19th save.
The Rangers ran their consecutive scoreless innings streak to 29. Texas has 12 shutouts this season, second best in baseball and tops in the American League.
in St. Petersburg, all-Star David Price pitched six solid innings and Ben Zobrist hit his fifth career grand slam as Tampa Bay snapped first-place Boston's six-game winning streak.
Price (9-7) allowed five hits-three solo homers-while striking out seven and walking one in his first outing since giving up Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit at Yankee Stadium last week.
The switch-hitting Zobrist homered from the right side off Andrew Miller (3-1) in the second, breaking the franchise record for grand slams he shared with Carlos Pena. Zobrist drove in a fifth run when he drew a bases-loaded walk from the left side of the plate against reliever Alfredo Aceves, making it 7-2 in the third.
Casey Kotchman hit a two-run homer and B.J. Upton and Sam Fuld had RBI singles for the third-place Rays, who continued a stretch in which they are playing 10 consecutive games against the Red Sox and second-place New York Yankees, the teams they are chasing in the AL East.
Kyle Farnsworth retired all four batters he faced, earning his 18th save in 20 opportunities.
Darnell McDonald, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia homered off Price for the Red Sox, who lost for just the second time in 12 games.
In Baltimore, Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore homered and Lonnie Chisenhall singled in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning, as Cleveland extended Baltimore's losing streak to nine games-matching Buck Showalter's longest skid as a major league manager.
Michael Brantley had three hits for the Indians, who improved to 5-0 against Baltimore this season.
Matt Wieters, Nolan Reimold and Adam Jones homered for the Orioles, who reached their season high for consecutive losses and dropped to 1-14 in their last 15 games.
The only other time Showalter lost nine straight during his 13-year career as a manager was in 2003, with Texas.
Cleveland went ahead for good in the sixth against Jim Johnson (5-3) when Matt LaPorta doubled and Chisenhall lined an RBI single to right.
Josh Tomlin (11-4) gave up a career-high three homers in five innings but improved to 4-0 in his last six starts.
Chris Perez, the fifth Cleveland reliever, worked the ninth for his 22nd save in 23 chances.
In Detroit, Chicago's Gavin Floyd allowed six hits into the eighth inning to outpitch Justin Verlander.
Carlos Quentin had three hits and three RBIs for the White Sox, who scored four runs off Verlander in the third inning-more than the Detroit ace had allowed in any start since May 24.
Verlander (12-5) threw six innings, his shortest outing since that same date.
Floyd (7-9) allowed two runs-one earned-and struck out five in 7 2-3 innings. He walked one.
Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer for Detroit in the fourth, and later added a single for his 1,500th career hit.
Verlander allowed five runs-four earned-and seven hits. He walked two and struck out six.
In Minneapolis, Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning for Kansas City, reliever Matt Capps' seventh blown save this season to match the major league lead.
Capps (2-5) was booed mildly after Melky Cabrera's leadoff four-pitch walk and loudly after Hosmer's drive to straightaway center. Capps couldn't hold the lead in a save situation for the seventh time in 22 tries, tying Carlos Marmol of the Chicago Cubs for most in the majors.
Tim Collins (4-4) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win, the first by the Royals in their last six games against the Twins, and Joakim Soria escaped a jam in the ninth for his 16th save.
Twins starter Nick Blackburn gave up four hits and two walks in seven shutout innings. Royals starter Luke Hochevar went seven innings and allowed three hits.
In Oakland, Josh Willingham homered and drove in two runs, and Jemile Weeks singled twice for Oakland.
Brandon McCarthy (2-5) pitched into the sixth inning and matched his season-high of seven strikeouts for his first win since April 10. The right-hander missed nearly seven weeks with a stress reaction in his right scapula.
Kurt Suzuki added two hits for Oakland, which has won six of the last eight games against the Angels.
Dan Haren allowed four runs and 10 hits as Los Angeles had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Willingham's homer, his 12th of the season, highlighted his 3-for-4 day. He is batting .450 since returning from the disabled list on July 7.
Oakland ended a four-game losing streak.
McCarthy, 0-5 with a 4.14 ERA over his previous nine starts, scattered six hits and walked one while ending the longest losing streak of his career.
The A's used three relievers in the sixth inning and six overall. Andrew Bailey worked the ninth for his ninth save in 11 tries.
Morrow sharp as Jays blow past Yankees 7-1
Publication Date:
Sat, 2011-07-16 18:53
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