TORONTO (AP) — Abraham Toro hit a two-run home run, Owen Miller had two hits and drove in a pair of runs and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 Wednesday night.
LISTEN: The Brewers and Blue Jays wrap up their series this afternoon, beginning with pregame on WKTY at 11:30 a.m. Tune in on 96.7 FM / 580 AM
Making his first start of the season after being called up from Triple-A on Tuesday, Toro connected off Toronto right-hander Alex Manoah in the second for his first hit with the Brewers, who are 24-10 this season when hitting at least one home run. The Brewers are 5-16 when they don’t homer.
Toro, who is from Quebec, has three home runs in seven career games in Toronto.
“He threw me a fastball in,” Toro said. “I just tried to keep it simple, keep it short, and I was lucky enough to hit it out.”
Toronto cut the lead in half on Kevin Kiermaier’s RBI triple in the fifth. Miller made it 4-1 with a two-run double off Tim Mayza in the seventh.
Making his second start of the season, Brewers right-hander Julio Teheran (1-1) allowed an unearned run and four hits in six innings.
“I thought Julio was excellent,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It feels like he has a good idea of swings.”
Teheran pitched in the independent Atlantic League and the Mexican League last season. He won in the majors for the first time since April 2021, when he was with Detroit.
“It’s just awesome to be back and I’m enjoying it,” Teheran said.
Teheran retired six of the final seven batters he faced.
“He keeps that up and we can win a lot of games when he pitches,” Miller said.
Joel Payamps gave up Cavan Biggio’s RBI grounder in the seventh and Peter Strzlecki worked a perfect eighth against the top of Toronto’s order. Devin Williams finished for his ninth save in nine chances, snaring Alejandro Kirk’s liner for the final out.
Manoah (1-6) allowed two runs and three hits in four innings in losing his sixth straight decision. The struggling right-hander, an AL Cy Young Award finalist last season, has not won in his last 10 outings.
“It’s been tough, obviously,” Manoah said. “Not doing what I’m meant to be doing. Just got to keep fighting, keep finding positives and building off them.”
Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. improvised and got an out when he fielded Christian Yelich’s leadoff grounder in the fifth inning. The ball got stuck in the webbing of Guerrero’s glove, and he removed the glove and flipped it to pitcher Trevor Richards to get the out. Guerrero was the AL Gold Glove winner at first base last season.
Many in the sellout crowd of 42,205 booed when right-hander Anthony Bass came on to pitch for Toronto in the ninth inning. Bass apologized Tuesday for expressing support on social media for anti-LGBTQ+ boycotts of Target and Bud Light.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: Kiermaier returned to the lineup after missing the last two games because of a sore back.
RARE NO-NO
Brewers pitchers did not walk a batter or strike out a batter. According to the team, it’s the seventh time in Brewers history that has happened, and the first since July 11, 1992, against Kansas City. Four of the other five instances happened in the 1979 season, while the other was in 1977.
WEBBED FEAT
Guerrero had two throws go through his webbing last season, including one that led to a run for Seattle in a 6-5 loss to the Mariners in July.
CRIME SPREE
Joey Wiemer and Yelich pulled off a double steal before Miller’s two-run double in the seventh.
UP NEXT
RHP Kevin Gausman (3-3, 3.03) starts for the Blue Jays in Thursday afternoon’s series finale. RHP Freddy Peralta (5-4, 4.64) goes for the Brewers.
TOP PHOTO: Milwaukee Brewers’ Abraham Toro (13) celebrates his two-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays with Brian Anderson (9) during the second inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 31, 2023, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)