Blue Jays hit 3 HRs in 1st inning, batter Arroyo again in 8-2 win over Reds

Blue Jays batter Arroyo again, beat Reds 8-2

TORONTO — Aaron Hill, Adam Lind and Vernon Wells homered in a five-run first inning and the Toronto Blue Jays again battered Bronson Arroyo, beating the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 Wednesday night.

Toronto won its third straight game. Cincinnati lost its fourth in a row and dropped two games under .500 for the first time this season.

Arroyo (8-6) lost exactly one year after the Blue Jays tagged him for three homers and 10 earned runs in one-plus inning of a 14-1 romp. That rout made Arroyo only the sixth pitcher in major league history to allow 10 earned runs in an inning or less.

Arroyo, who had gone 19-9 since that defeat, wasn’t much better this time around, allowing seven runs, six earned, on eight hits in 3 2-3 innings. He walked three and stuck out two and fell to 2-5 with a 6.82 ERA in nine career games against Toronto.

Just like last year, Toronto wasted no time building a lead, as the first five batters reached safely. Marco Scutaro walked and Hill followed with a first-pitch homer to left, his 16th.

A quick visit to the mound by catcher Ramon Hernandez didn’t help as Wells tagged Arroyo’s next pitch for a solo homer to left, his seventh. It’s the second time this season the Blue Jays have hit back-to-back home runs.

Scott Rolen followed with a sharp single to center that whistled past Arroyo’s head before Lind capped the rally with a two-run homer to left, his 15th.

Despite the early onslaught, this wasn’t Arroyo’s worst opening inning of the year; he allowed nine first-inning runs in a 15-3 loss to Milwaukee on May 6.

Staked to a big lead, Scott Richmond (6-4) made it stand up, allowing two runs and two hits in seven innings to win his second straight start. He walked two, struck out three and retired the final 14 batters he faced.

Jonny Gomes hit a solo homer off Richmond in the second but Toronto answered in the bottom half on Wells’ RBI double.

Cincinnati’s Jerry Hairston had an RBI single off Richmond in the third, the final hit allowed by the Toronto rookie.

Rolen brought home Toronto’s seventh run with a grounder in the fourth. The third baseman extended his hitting streak to 13 games and is batting .446 (25 for 56) over that span. He also made a leaping catch on Hairston’s liner in the eighth.

Hill, who went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and a walk, made it 8-2 with an RBI single in the eighth off reliever Carlos Fisher.

Right-hander Dirk Hayhurst worked the final two innings for the Blue Jays, who are 23-13 at home.

NOTES: Blue Jays RHP Shaun Marcum (elbow) threw a two-inning simulated game in Florida, general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. Marcum will throw another simulated game next Tuesday and could begin pitching in minor league games in early July. The news was not so good for RHP Dustin McGowan (shoulder). “He can’t get beyond playing catch right now,” Ricciardi said. … Reds RHP Edinson Volquez (elbow) had hoped to resume throwing off a mound this week but still has inflammation and will be pushed back about two weeks. Volquez went on the DL June 2. … Reds OF Willy Taveras, who came in batting .104 in his past 26 games, got the night off.