Dylan Cease struck out 10 in seven innings Friday night and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting Los Angeles Angels A2-0.
Cease (3-1) allowed five hits with no walks in the opener of a three-game series. It was Cease’s second win of the season over the Angels and it gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead in the season series. He struck out 12 in five innings on April 20 in Toronto’s 5-2 win at Anaheim.
Louis Varland pitched the ninth to earn his fifth save of the season and end Toronto’s four-game losing streak.
Toronto scored both runs in the third against left-hander Reid Detmers (1-3). George Springer led off with a single, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked with one out and Kazuma Okamoto grounded an RBI single to center. Daulton Varsho walked and Ernie Clement hit a sacrifice fly to right.
Cease retired his first nine batters with five strikeouts before Zach Neto led off the fourth with a single, but Mike Trout grounded into a double play. Nolan Schanuel singled to second and took second on Clement’s throwing error. Jorge Soler grounded out to end the inning.
A walk and a catcher’s interference put two on with one out in the Toronto fourth. Detmers struck out Myles Straw with his 96th pitch before Jose Fermin replaced him and finished the inning on Guerrero’s lineout to shortstop.
Detmers allowed two runs, two hits and six walks while striking out three in 3 2/3 innings. He also lost to the Blue Jays on April 20.
The Angels’ first extra-base hit was Jo Adell’s double to center with two out in the seventh. Cease struck out Josh Lowe to end the inning.
Pinch hitter Vaughn Grissom led off the eighth against Jeff Hoffman with a double to left. Hoffman worked out of the inning with a groundout, a popup and a strikeout.
Former Blue Jay Alek Manoah pitched in the majors for the first time since May 29, 2024, when he worked the bottom of the eighth. He received a mixed reaction from the fans. Manoah, who had elbow surgery, tossed a perfect inning with one strikeout.
