Mark Buehrle shuts down red-hot A’s in 5-0 win

It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the reconstructed Toronto Blue Jays this season, but they got a glimpse of what they thought they were getting from Mark Buehrle on Tuesday night.

The veteran left-hander, who the team acquired from Miami in that massive mega-trade in the off-season, threw 7 shutout innings to lead the Blue Jays to a 5-0 win over the previously hot Oakland A’s. Oakland had won 4 straight coming into the game, but Buehrle was spot-on from the opening bell, allowing only 5 hits (and no walks) in his 93-pitch outing.

It has been a lost season for Toronto, but especially for Buehrle, as Tuesday’s win was just his 7th on the year. While we know pitcher wins are subject to manipulation from outside sources, he hasn’t been particularly effective, as Tuesday’s spotless outing only lowered his ERA to a mediocre 4.27 on the season. He was presumably acquired to be an innings-eater, however, and he’s certainly done that (as always), but throwing 139 IP on the year.

In addition to Buehrle’s sudden magin, the Jays got 2-hit games from Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Colby Rasmus to key the offense. However, the biggest shock of the day was the 3rd home run of the year for Emilio Bonifacio, and the powerless utility man seemed to get all of the 396-foot blast he engineered in the 5th innings.

The dream is nearly over for Toronto, but for one night, they looked very, very good.