The Associated Press
TORONTO—After a one-start reprieve, R.A. Dickey went right back to dealing with a lack of run support.
Ryan Howard and Odubel Herrera homered, and Jerad Eickhoff pitched six spotless innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season, as the Philadelphia Phillies snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Dickey and the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0 last night.
Dickey (4-7) has received 14 runs of support over his last six starts, half of them coming in last Wednesday’s 7-2 win at Detroit.
He allowed three runs and five hits, including two homers, in 6 1/3 innings against Philadelphia.
The Jays have failed to score three runs in nine of Dickey’s 14 outings, and have been held to one run or none four times.
Toronto came in having won three-straight over AL East-leading Baltimore but fell flat against slumping Philadelphia.
“Today was kind of a letdown,” Dickey noted.
“I don’t think we played with a lot of energy.”
The Phillies snapped a six-game road skid and matched their biggest margin of victory anywhere this season.
“It was nice to win by seven runs for a change,” manager Pete Mackanin said.
Toronto scored 21 runs in winning its previous two games but did not manage an extra-base hit against the Phillies.
The Jays also were shut out for the fourth time.
“When you don’t score, it’s never a good thing,” said manager John Gibbons.
Herrera went 2-for-5 with three RBIs as the Phillies won for the third time in 13 meetings with Toronto.
Peter Bourjos added two hits and two RBIs for Philadelphia, which had lost 17-of-22 overall.
“‘Eick’ threw the ball really well,” Bourjos said.
“He got ahead of hitters and put them away.”
Eickhoff (4-8) allowed three hits while walking four and striking out five.
David Hernandez pitched the seventh, Hector Neris handled the eighth, and Andrew Bailey finished the six-hitter.
Herrera opened the scoring with a two-out homer in the third before Howard belted a lead-off drive in the seventh.
Ten of Howard’s 24 hits this season have been home runs.
“He’s a big guy,” Dickey said. “He got his bigness behind it.”
In AL action yesterday, Minnesota beat L.A. 9-4, Chicago topped Detroit 10-9 (12 innings), Kansas City edged Cleveland 2-1, and Oakland dumped Texas 14-5.
Over in the NL, Washington downed Chicago 4-1, Cincinnati topped Atlanta 9-8, Arizona edged L.A. 3-2, Miami dumped San Diego 13-4, and San Francisco beat Milwaukee 11-5.
