Die Macht » games left to play Europa League qualification is now i

TORONTO -- Jose Bautista drove in four runs and starter Mark Buehrle worked seven innings as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Chicago Cubs 9-2 on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre. Bautista cleared the bases with a double in the seventh inning off Chicago reliever Neil Ramirez to help Toronto (75-69) win its third straight game. Kevin Pillar and Edwin Encarnacion had three hits apiece for the Blue Jays, who turned the game into a rout with a five-run eighth inning. Toronto outhit Chicago 14-11 and will go for the three-game sweep on Wednesday night. It was an uneven performance from Buehrle (12-9), who allowed two earned runs and 10 hits but managed to avoid giving up a big inning. Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Norris each worked an inning of relief. The Blue Jays entered play five games behind Seattle in the race for the final wild-card spot in the American League. Toronto has won eight of 10 to keep its faint playoff hopes alive. The Cubs, who have dropped five games in a row, left 11 runners on base. Buehrle fanned leadoff man Chris Coghlan on three pitches to kick off the game on a cool, comfortable summer evening. Javier Baez followed with a double, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jorge Soler. Chicago (64-81) loaded the bases in the second inning after Buehrle gave up three singles. The veteran left-hander got out of the jam when Coghlan grounded out. Buehrle kept putting runners on but the defence did a nice job bailing him out. Welington Castillo led off the fourth with a single before Mike Olt and Arismendy Alcantara hit back-to-back line drives that were speared by third baseman Danny Valencia. Chris Valaika moved Castillo to second base with another single but Matt Szczur popped up to Buehrle to end the threat. Encarnacion drove a ball off the top of the wall to open the Toronto half of the fourth but settled for a long single. Adam Lind drew a walk but Dioner Navarro couldnt advance the runners, swinging at a 3-0 pitch and popping up in the infield. Valencia nearly put the Jays on the board but his line drive was snagged by a fully stretched Valaika at first base. Valaika threw to second to easily double off Encarnacion. The Cubs put runners on again in the fifth and this time cashed in a run. Baez singled and cleanup hitter Luis Valbuena was hit by a pitch. Castillo drove in Baez with a two-out single before Olt struck out. The Blue Jays tried a more aggressive style against Chicago starter Jake Arrieta in the bottom half of the frame. Pillar led off with a single but was thrown out trying to steal. Ryan Goins then drove a ball into left-centre field and hustled into second base just ahead of Coghlans throw. Anthony Gose tried to bunt with two strikes but fouled a pitch for the second out. Goins moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored when Jose Reyes hit a flare that dropped in shallow centre field. Arrieta was wide with a pickoff attempt and the ball rolled into foul territory, allowing Reyes to scamper all the way to third. He was left stranded when Bautista flew out, with the Toronto slugger angrily slamming his bat to the turf as he left the batters box. The Cubs stranded two more runners in the sixth inning after Szczur and Coghlan reached on back-to-back two-out singles. Pitching coach Pete Walker came out to the mound and Buehrle responded by freezing Baez with a fastball for the strikeout. Pillar stroked a one-out single in the seventh to knock Arrieta out of the game. Ramirez (2-2) came on in relief and gave up a single to pinch-hitter Colby Rasmus and a walk to pinch-hitter Munenori Kawasaki. Ramirez fanned Reyes and worked a full count on Bautista before the Toronto slugger hit his 26th double of the season. The Blue Jays piled on in the eighth against right-hander Brian Schlitter. Lind led off with a triple and was replaced by pinch-runner Steve Tolleson, who scored on a Navarro single. Navarro moved to third on a Valencia double and Rasmus was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs. Kawasaki hit a two-run single to help put the game out of reach. Arrieta allowed seven hits, two earned runs and a walk while striking out five. Buehrle had three strikeouts and didnt walk a batter. Announced attendance was 17,903 and the game took three hours four minutes to play. Notes: The roof was open despite the occasional presence of dark swirling clouds overhead. ... Toronto Argonauts slotback Andre Durie threw the ceremonial first pitch. ... Encarnacion was originally pencilled in as the first baseman but was moved to designated hitter about an hour before the game. Lind moved from DH to first base. ... Right-hander Drew Hutchison (9-11, 4.47 ERA) will get the start in the series finale against Chicagos Kyle Hendricks (6-1, 2.02). ... This is the first series the Cubs have played on artificial turf since a six-game road trip to Toronto and Tampa Bay in 2008 -- a stretch of 1,040 games on natural grass fields. ... The Blue Jays are off Thursday and will wrap up the six-game homestand with a weekend series against the Rays. ... Toronto entered play with a 1.6 per cent chance of reaching the playoffs, according to Baseball Prospectus post-season probabilities listed on the Major League Baseball website. Adrian Gonzalez Jersey . However, it wasnt a problem on Monday night. Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves for his 56th career shutout in the New York Islanders 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. Yoenis Cespedes Jersey .C. -- The Carolina Panthers announced Thursday theyve signed free agent wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery to a two-year contract, helping rebuild a depleted wide receiving corps. http://www.metsrookiestore.com/Mets-Gary-Carter-Kids-Jersey/ .ca MLB Power Rankings, the third consecutive week that the As have held top spot and the third straight week that they have been one ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. Jay Bruce Jersey . -- Justin Verlander took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and won his fourth straight decision, leading Detroit over the Kansas City Royals 9-4 Sunday and extending the Tigers winning streak to a season-high five games. Noah Syndergaard Jersey . About seven hours before facing Washington in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference second round series, team officials said the oft-injured Bynum would miss the rest of the playoffs and would not even be with the team for the rest of the post-season.Slaven Bilic hailed Mark Noble as his sides most important player after his two goals helped West Ham to a 2-0 victory at West Brom. The Hammers captain scored either side of half-time after Cheikhou Kouyate opened the scoring as the they moved above Manchester United into fifth spot in the Premier League.He [Noble] is our most important player, Bilic told Sky Sports. Hes the captain. He loves it and hes a West Ham boy. Mark Noble (centre) scored twice as West Ham won 3-0 at West Brom Nowadays, with players moving a lot, you get the captains that become the leaders after just one season at the club because they are the best players, but Mark is the real captain of our team.Its great for me because he is the coach on the pitch and not only is he a great captain, hes a great player as well.With three games left to play Europa League qualification is now in West Hams hands and there is an outside chance of reaching the Champions League, if Arsenal and Manchester City slip up. Slaven Bilic is confident West Ham can qualify for Europe And Bilic is confident his side will be playing European football at the Olympic Stadium next season.There are three games to go and we are in a good position Bilic said. We are still in a position where we can catch maybe one team.Its still very open with Manchester United but with Arsenal and Manchester City its not very likely.ddddddddddddOur target to qualify for Europe is now realistic and all we can do is go game-by-game, he added. We need to try to get something out of every game because its all in our hands. Phil Thompson gives his reaction to West Hams 3-0 away victory against West Brom We have three games left, two at home. One of them is Manchester United in the last game ever to be played at our stadium. Its magnificent. Its going to be a great occasion and we have a full squad back.We are confident and we cant wait for the next game. Also See: Hammers stay in Euro hunt Match in a minute Bilic: Players should be proud Table ' ' '