TORONTO — Vernon Wells homered twice and Brandon Morrow pitched eight sharp innings for his first win in five starts, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-0 victory over Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.
Adam Lind also homered for the Blue Jays. Morrow (5-5) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out eight before a crowd of only 12,392.
Wells hit a two-run homer to left field in the first inning and Lind followed with a drive to center, the seventh time Toronto has hit back-to-back homers.
Wells added a solo shot into the second deck in left in the third, his 18th. The Blue Jays lead the major leagues with 111 home runs.
Shawn Camp pitched the ninth for Toronto, which is 6-9 in interleague play.
Wainwright (10-5) allowed a season-high five runs, four earned, and six hits in four innings, his shortest start since Sept. 13, 2008.
The right-hander gave up three homers for the first time since May 12, 2008, at Milwaukee, when Ryan Braun hit two and Bill Hall added a third in an 8-3 Brewers victory.
Lind and Aaron Hill, who came in batting .207 and .187, respectively, were dropped in the order, with manager Cito Gaston saying he wanted to take the pressure off the struggling pair. Hill was moved from second to sixth, while Lind went from third to fifth. Alex Gonzalez batted second and Jose Bautista third, ahead of Wells.
Lind went 2-for-4 and Hill was 1-for-4 before being replaced by pinch-runner John McDonald after an infield single in the seventh.
The Blue Jays jumped on Wainwright with a two-out rally in the first. Bautista singled and Wells homered on a 3-2 pitch. Lind followed with his ninth homer (also on a full count) and first since May 31 against Tampa Bay.
Toronto got one more in the second when Lyle Overbay reached on an error by second baseman Aaron Miles, went to third on Jose Molina's double and scored on Fred Lewis' sacrifice fly.
Wells made it 5-0 in the third with a one-out drive to left, his second multihomer game this season.
Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday came in 13-for-22 with 11 RBIs in his previous five games but went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo was knocked down when he was struck in the chest by a pitch from Morrow in the eighth. Randazzo fell to the ground was treated on the field by Blue Jays trainer George Poulis. Randazzo got to his feet after several minutes and stayed in the game.
Notes:
Cardinals OF Ryan Ludwick (sore left calf) missed his second straight game. … Jason LaRue replaced Yadier Molina behind the plate for St. Louis in the sixth. … Displaced by the G20 Summit, the Blue Jays open a three-game series in Philadelphia on Friday, with RHP Jesse Litsch (0-1, 6.75 ERA) facing former Toronto ace RHP Roy Halladay (8-6, 2.43) in the opener.