11 after giving up five hits in his first quality start in six outings sin

PITTSBURGH -- Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said he sat awake in his hotel bed Saturday night, thinking about his bullpens recent problems. He even addressed his group of relievers Sunday morning. Dustin McGowan made those worries a nonfactor, at least for a day. McGowan pitched three-hit ball for seven innings, Colby Rasmus hit a grand slam and Melky Cabrera added a two-run homer as the Blue Jays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-2. "We had to have that one," Gibbons said. McGowan (2-1) allowed one run, striking out five and throwing 101 pitches. It was the second consecutive quality start for McGowan, a diabetic who started wearing an insulin pump on the mound in his last start. "My blood sugar still gets erratic sometimes," he said. "But thats part of the game for me. With the adrenaline going and everything, it does what it wants to do. I cant control it sometimes." McGowan eclipsed the 100-pitch mark for the first time since June 27, 2008. "Thats two outings wearing that pump," Gibbons said. "Maybe theres something to that." It was just the fourth win in 13 games for Toronto, which prevented the Pirates from completing their first series sweep of the season. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle and first base coach Rick Sofield were ejected by plate umpire Greg Gibson at the end of the fourth inning for arguing a called third strike on Jordy Mercer. The strikeout stranded two runners and ended the inning. "I think it was pretty apparent that the low strike wasnt going to come into play," Hurdle said. "But the fact of the matter was it got to a point where I felt a pitch that hadnt been called a strike all day got called a strike in, for me, a very pivotal at-bat for us." Rasmus connected in the second inning for his fourth career slam. He also doubled and singled. The Blue Jays held on to this early lead. Toronto wasted a 5-3, ninth-inning edge in the series opener and a 5-0, fourth-inning advantage on Saturday night. Josh Harrison hit two triples for the Pirates. Edinson Volquez (1-3) gave up six runs and seven hits in five innings. He also allowed six earned runs in his last outing April 21 against St. Louis. Volquez pitched himself into a jam in the second inning before Rasmus stepped to the plate, issuing walks to Edwin Encarnacion and Juan Francisco to start the inning. Brett Lawrie reached on an infield single to load the bases with no outs. Rasmus hit a full-count curveball about 10 rows deep in the right-field seats for his seventh home run of the season, giving the Blue Jays a 4-1 lead. Rasmus said he was not necessarily looking for an offspeed pitch in that situation. "I was just trying to be out over the plate and throw my hands at anything because hes got a good changeup, good curveball and a good two-seamer, and he already tried to thumb me a couple in," he said. "I was just trying to be ready to put something in play." The slam negated an early lead the Pirates built on Neil Walkers groundout, scoring Harrison after his triple. Harrison also tripled in the eighth and scored on Andrew McCutchens sacrifice fly. Torontos Jose Bautista walked in the fifth to reach base in his 31st consecutive game, the longest active streak in the majors. But he went hitless, snapping a career-best 13-game hitting streak. Cabrera had three hits, and extended Torontos lead to 6-1 with a two-run homer off Volquez in the fifth. Rasmus scored another run in the eighth on an RBI single by pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro. NOTES: Highly regarded Blue Jays RHP Marcus Stroman made his big league debut, allowing one earned run and one hit while getting two outs. The Blue Jays selected the 23-year-old Stroman Triple-A Buffalo and optioned OF Anthony Gose. ... The Pirates plan to recall LHP Jeff Locke to start against San Francisco on Monday night. An All-Star last year, Locke struggled in the second half of 2013 and did not make the Pirates opening day roster. ... J.A. Happ (0-0, 4.15) is scheduled to pitch for the Blue Jays at Philadelphia on Monday night. Wholesale NFL Youth Jerseys . Locke overcame a shaky start to pitch seven innings and Josh Harrison had three hits to extend his hot streak as the Pirates beat the Miami Marlins 7-3 on Wednesday night. Wholesale Womens Jerseys . But sometimes the way you lose takes precedence over the final score. And how the Jets lost the 5-4 game to the New York Islanders on Thursday is what had Coach Claude Noel hot after the game. http://www.cheapjerseysleague.com/ . Jeff Carter had two goals and an assist as the Kings stretched their streak to seven wins in a row with a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. Cheap Jerseys Black .com)LeBron clearly likes his Italian sports cars, and thats ok with me, so up next up is the 458 Spider. Cheap Jerseys Authentic .com) - Jahlil Okafor erupted for 25 points and 20 rebounds as No.PHILADELPHIA -- Ryan Howard made the Houston Astros pay for pitching to him. Howard singled in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the 15th inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 victory over Houston on Tuesday night. The interleague matchup between teams with two of the four worst records in the majors lasted 5 hours, 5 minutes. Hector Neris (1-0) tossed a perfect inning to earn the win in his major league debut. Grady Sizemore led off the inning against Jake Buchanan (1-2) with a hard one-hop single under second baseman Jose Altuves glove. After Ben Revere sacrificed, Jimmy Rollins flied out and Chase Utley was intentionally walked. Howard then ripped a 1-2 pitch to right and Sizemore slid in safely ahead of right fielder Robbie Grossmans throw. "You go up there with a chip on your shoulder," Howard said. "Them walking Chase, I wanted to get it done." It was the fifth game of at least 14 innings for the Phillies this season, tying a franchise-record first set in 1958. Both starters -- Philadelphias Kyle Kendrick and Houstons Dallas Keuchel -- allowed one run in seven innings. Howard led off the bottom of the second with an opposite-field homer that just cleared the wall in left-centre, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. The run snapped a 22-inning scoreless streak for Philadelphia, which was shut out in Washington on Saturday and Sunday. Howards homer was his seventh off lefties in 97 at-bats. He has only 10 against right-handers in 308 at-bats. Howard, who faces an extreme shift to right in all of his at-bats, still hasnt pulled a homer. The struggling slugger is batting just .217 and was benched three straight games last month. "You guys forget what Ive done," the former NL MVP said. "People look at right now. Ive hit balls hard over stretches. All you can do is hit balls hard and once it leaves the bat, its out of your hands." Jon Singletons RBI single in the seventh tied it at 1. The Astros had runners at first and third with no out, but couldnt get the go-ahead run. Matt Dominguez flied out to shallow right and Jake Marisnick grounded into a double play. "A really touggh game," Astros manager Bo Porter said.dddddddddddd "We just couldnt get the offence going." TRAINERS ROOM Astros: Outfielder George Springer, on the disabled list since July 20 with a strained left quad, made his second rehab appearance at Single-A Quad Cities. Springer could be called up before the series ends Thursday. Phillies: Cliff Lee still hasnt had an MRI on his injured left elbow. ... Left fielder Domonic Brown has an infection in his tonsils and wasnt in the lineup for the fourth straight game. ... UP NEXT Astros: Right-hander Brad Peacock (3-7, 4.93) will come up from Triple-A Oklahoma City to start Wednesday night. Hes replacing Jarred Cosart, who was traded to Miami last week. Peacock gave up seven runs in 3 2-3 innings in his last start on July 23, a 9-7 loss at Oakland. Phillies: Righty David Buchanan (5-5, 4.40) will be recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take Lees spot. Buchanan has allowed three earned runs or less in his last six major-league starts STARTING TIME Keuchel (10-7) has allowed just two earned runs in his last three starts, but is only 1-1 in that span. The lefty lowered his ERA to 2.89. Kendrick remained 5-11 after giving up five hits in his first quality start in six outings since July 3. Kendrick lowered his ERA to 4.74. HUNTER PENCE HAUNTS The Phillies acquired Pence, an All-Star outfielder, from the Astros on July 29, 2011 for Singleton, Cosart, outfielder Domingo Santana and right-hander Josh Zeid. They were 50-30 at the time and finished with a club-record 102 wins before losing to St. Louis in the NLDS. Pence was traded the following July to San Francisco for outfielder Nate Schierholtz, pitcher Seth Rosin and catcher Tommy Joseph. Clearly, the Astros and Giants were big winners in both trades with the Phillies. SAVE THAT BALL Santana walked with two outs in the 10th, reaching safely for the first time in his career on his 22nd birthday. He was 0 for 13 with 11 strikeouts before drawing a walk. NASTY STUFF Phillies lefty Antonio Bastardo struck out six of the seven batters he faced in the 11th and 12th innings and the Astros fanned a season-high 17 times. ' ' '