By John Chidley-Hill
THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO—Catcher Dioner Navarro was an asset for the Toronto Blue Jays last season behind the plate.
Now with the Chicago White Sox, he used that knowledge to pick apart his former team.
Navarro, who was Jays’ starter Marco Estrada’s battery partner for most of 2015, and Austin Jackson had back-to-back triples in a three-run seventh inning last night as Chicago completed a three-game sweep in Toronto with a 4-0 victory.
“Obviously he caught me last year; he did a really good job with me,” Estrada said after the loss.
“I threw him a good change-up down and away and he hit it,” he noted.
“Just tip your hat to that; there’s nothing else I could have done,” Estrada added.
“I threw the ball exactly where I wanted it and he put a good swing on it.”
Navarro’s impact also was felt defensively as he guided White Sox starter Jose Quintana (3-1) through six innings of work—striking out 10 and allowing just four hits against a potent Jays’ lineup.
“Navarro knows us pretty well,” said Estrada. “That guy can call a pretty good game so if you make your pitches with that guy behind you, you’re probably going to be pretty successful and that’s what happened.
“They made good pitches against a very good lineup.”
Relievers Zach Duke and Nate Jones each pitched an inning for Chicago (16-6) before closer David Robertson came in for the ninth.
The White Sox now have won six-straight.
Reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson led Toronto’s (10-13) offence with two hits, including a double.
Estrada (1-2) pitched 6 2/3 innings, striking out five and giving up three runs on three hits.
Estrada, who finished the night with 118 pitches, was seen in the dugout rubbing his shoulder during the game.
Afterwards, he was reluctant to discuss his arm.
“I dunno. It didn’t feel very good. I don’t want to talk about it,” Estrada said, before later adding it wouldn’t be a long-term problem.
Navarro broke a scoreless tie with two out in the seventh.
The White Sox catcher hit a rare triple to right-centre field that almost bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, but instead caromed off the lip of the fence and over the heads of outfielders Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista.
After the game, Navarro insisted he wasn’t looking for Estrada’s change-up.
“I never think,” he stressed. “I just go out there and try to see the ball the best I can, and just try to put the big part of the bat on the ball.
“That’s my approach all the time.”
Navarro’s hit drove in Melky Cabrera and Brett Lawrie—both former Jays themselves—to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.
It was Navarro’s fifth triple in 13 seasons.
“I filled up that zero,” noted Navarro.
“I always try to fill up a zero every year. I got the triple already,” he added.
“The next stat is a stolen base.”
Estrada’s night ended after that, with the 28,759 in attendance at Rogers Centre giving him a standing ovation as he walked off the field and Jesse Chavez took the mound.
Chavez promptly gave up a triple to Jackson to almost the exact same spot in the outfield in the next at-bat, cashing in Navarro and making it 3-0.
Jays’ manager John Gibbons was ejected after the run scored.
Although Gibbons was tossed by home plate umpire John Tumpane, he said his issue was with Alan Porter at third base.
“I said something to the third base umpire about the check swing, for me it looked like he was almost at full swing, then the home plate umpire hopped in,” said Gibbons.
“I think the guy at third can probably handle himself. That’s what that was.”
Elsewhere in the AL, Cleveland topped Minnesota 6-5, Baltimore beat Tampa Bay 3-1, Texas edged New York 3-2, Detroit dumped Oakland 9-4, L.A. doubled Kansas City 4-2, and Houston downed Seattle 7-4.
Over in the NL, Philadelphia blanked Washington 3-0, San Francisco topped San Diego 13-9, New York beat Cincinnati 5-2, Pittsburgh edged Colorado 9-8 (12 innings), St. Louis dumpd Arizona 11-4, and Miami upended L.A. 2-0.
Milwaukee at Chicago was rained out.
Boston beat Atlanta 9-4 in interleague play.
