Cabrera enjoys big night for Blue Jays
TORONTO -- Melky Cabrera received his 2012 World Series ring from San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy before the game.
And some of his bats from last season when he was with the Giants arrived on Monday.
It all added up to a good night for Cabrera. He reached base five times, four times with hits and once on an error, and drove in two runs against his former team.
And with R.A. Dickey striking out a season-best 10 batters in six innings, the Toronto Blue Jays turned a six-run first inning into a 10-6 victory over the Giants before a crowd of 31,753 at Rogers Centre.
Cabrera received his ring in the clubhouse before the game from Bochy.
The Blue Jays left fielder, who was used as the designated hitter and leadoff man on Tuesday, had his 2012 season end in mid-August when he tested positive for testosterone and was suspended for 50 games.
"(Bochy) told him that he knows he contributed and that he was a big part of the team that won the World Series and that people make mistakes," Blue Jays third base coach Luis Rivera said, translating for Cabrera. "Just continue to play and move on."
Bochy said, "It was brief. He was thankful and excited that he got the ring. I thanked him for his contributions, it was pretty simple. I think he was looking forward to getting it and he seemed really excited to get his ring."
Cabrera said he did not feel any particular satisfaction having a good game against his former team.
"No, he goes out every day no matter who he is facing and tries to do his best," Rivera translated. "Today was a good day for him and the club. He left some bats from last year and he had them sent to him."
Dickey (3-5) allowed six hits, including a fourth-inning homer by Brandon Belt, and held the Giants to two runs. The knuckleball pitcher used more fastballs.
"That's nice," Dickey said of the six-run first. "It was great to see a lot of guys hitting the ball. It was a real community win tonight. It can be fun when that happens.
"I had a little bit of a cushion, so I threw a few more fastballs than I probably normally would just to keep guys off base. It was a fun night to pitch."
Blue Jays reliever Brad Lincoln gave up four runs in 1 2/3 innings, three on the seventh homer of the season by Pablo Sandoval in the ninth. Esmil Rogers got the final out.
The Blue Jays (16-24) used 18 hits to extend their winning streak to three games and end a three-game winning streak by the Giants (23-16).
Left-hander Barry Zito (3-2) took the loss, allowing 12 hits and eight runs (five earned) in 5 2/3 innings.
Zito departed after giving up two-out singles to Cabrera and Jose Bautista. Right-hander George Kontos replaced him and gave up a double to Edwin Encarnacion, an infield single to pinch-hitter Adam Lind and a double to Brett Lawrie. Each of the hits drove in one run.
Toronto left-hander Brett Cecil took over in the seventh from Dickey, who had lost four starts in a row since April 18 when he beat the Chicago White Sox.
The Blue Jays added a run in the seventh against Kontos on a single by Emilio Bonifacio and a double by Cabrera.
"He was a good teammate with us," Bochy said. "He played hard every day, he did a lot of good things for us. It's unfortunate what happened, we all make mistakes. He was a good guy to have on the club. He did all that we asked."
The Blue Jays scored six runs, three earned, in the first on six singles and were helped by two Giants errors as they sent 11 men to the plate.
Cabrera reached second on a throwing error by Sandoval. Bautista walked. Encarnacion, Mark DeRosa, Lawrie, Colby Rasmus, Bonifacio and Cabrera all singled in the inning. Giants center fielder Angel Pagan was charged with an error on DeRosa's single, allowing Encarnacion to score.
The Giants scored once in the second when Pence and Belt walked with one out and Nick Noonan singled with two out.
Belt hit his fifth homer of the season with one out in the fourth to cut the lead to 6-2.
"It was on a fastball that Dickey was trying to get in on the hitter." Belt said.
Dickey said, "I overexposed the pitch in the previous at-bat."
Belt said he wasn't particularly looking for the fastball.
"No, I tried to have it in the back of my mind in case he did do that," said Belt, who also had an RBI double. "It was one of those things that I was kind of following the ball well enough that I was able to pick it up early enough to put a good swing on it."
NOTES: Blue Jays RHP Brandon Morrow (upper back, neck spasms), who was supposed to start Wednesday against the Giants, will now start Saturday in New York. He has not started since May 5 when he pitched eight innings in a win over the Seattle Mariners. ... Cabrera will have his hamstrings tested Wednesday. He has played since spring training with the problem and was used as DH on Tuesday. ... The Giants optioned OF Francisco Peguero to Class AAA Fresno and recalled INF-OUT Brett Pill. ... The Giants were coming off a 7-3 homestand and the Blue Jays were coming off a 4-3 trip. ... RHP Ramon Ortiz (0-1, 3.24 ERA) will start for Toronto against Giants RHP Ryan Vogelsong (1-3, 7.78 ERA) on Wednesday.
