It was more of the same against the Blue Jays. Hill has been getting by on savvy and the ability to vary speeds during his first six starts with the Pirates, with mixed results. That aggressiveness ran them out of innings against the Blue Jays as the Pirates ran into a pair of outs at third and another at home plate when Rodolfo Castro was thrown out while trying to score on a wild pitch in the second inning.

Pittsburgh has been one of the most aggressive baserunning teams in the league since the start of the season. Bryan Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 10 with a double in the sixth, Pittsburgh's lone extra-base hit. Pittsburgh has mustered just six runs during its current slide, a span in which the Pirates are just 3 for 30 with runners in scoring position. They were swept during a three-game visit to scorching hot Tampa Bay and their offense may be starting to be feeling the long-term effects of missing injured shortstop Oneil Cruz (fractured left leg) and designated hitter/first baseman Ji Man Choi (strained left Achilles). The surprising Pirates began the day in first place in the NL Central, but have cooled off of late. Whit Merrifield added two hits for the Blue Jays, who bounced back from a rough visit to Boston in which they gave up 32 runs in a four-game sweep by jumping on Pittsburgh early and riding Bassitt and two relievers the rest of the way. George Springer hit a two-run shot off Rich Hill (3-3) in the fifth inning for Toronto. The right-hander, who signed a three-year deal with Toronto in the offseason, won for the third time in four starts. Bassitt had little trouble with the suddenly skidding Pirates, who have dropped five straight. PITTSBURGH (AP) - Chris Bassitt allowed four hits over seven innings, George Springer hit his fourth home run of the season and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on Friday night.īassitt (4-2) struck out five and walked four as Toronto ended a five-game losing streak.

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