Newly minted Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki hits an RBI double in the sixth inning during his first game with the team against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday in Toronto.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki impressed in his Blue Jays debut, hitting a home run with three runs batted in as Toronto beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-2 on Wednesday night.
Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins were sent to the Blue Jays on Tuesday in a deal for shortstop Jose Reyes, reliever Miguel Castro and minor-league pitchers Jeff Hoffman and and Jesus Tinoco.
Hawkins pitched in Tuesday night's 3-2 loss to the Phillies, but Tulowitzki needed a day to resettle his family before arriving in Toronto early Wednesday afternoon.
Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (5-10) gave up two runs and struck out four over eight innings as Toronto (51-51) snapped a small two-game skid. Every batter in the Blue Jays' starting lineup had at least one hit, with five players earning two hits and Tulowitzki having three. Toronto finished with a total of 16 hits.
Bo Schultz pitched a scorless inning of relief to close out the game for the Blue Jays.
Jerome Williams (3-8) gave up 10 hits and four runs over 4 2/3 innings of work for Philadelphia (38-64), which lost for only the second time since the all-star break. Reliever Justin De Fratus allowed four runs in 2 1/3 inning, while Hector Neris had a scoreless inning.
Tulowitzki's fielding made an immediate impact on the game, throwing out centre-fielder Ben Revere in the night's first at-bat.
His bat contributed in the third inning, hitting a line drive over the centre-field wall, bringing home Ryan Goins for a 2-0 Blue Jays lead. Fans chanted "TOO-LO! TOO-LO!" and gave him a rousing ovation as he rounded the bases.
Tulowitzki hit a stand-up double in his next at-bat, bouncing the ball off the wall in right-centre field. He advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Josh Donaldson then scored on Jose Bautista's single.
Martin drove in Bautista two at-bats later with a double to deep right field for a 4-0 Toronto lead.
Ezequiel Carrera led off the sixth inning with a single to right field then advanced to third when De Fratus tried to pick him off at first, but the ball sailed wide. Kevin Pillar's sacrifice fly to deep right gave Carrera enough time to score.
Tulowitzki hit his second double of the night and his third RBI in the sixth, driving in Goins for a 6-0 Blue Jays lead. Toronto then loaded the bases, following a single by Donaldson where he advanced to second on a throw from right field. Baustista followed that with a single of his own.
Chris Colabello then cashed in Tulowitzki with a sacrifice fly to deep left as the Blue Jays ended the sixth inning with a 7-0 lead.
Philadelphia got on the board in the seventh inning when Domonic Brown scored from third on a wild pitch by Dickey.
Goins continued to pile on in the eighth inning, hitting a double to left field, pushing Pillar home from first base for an 8-1 lead.
Ryan Howard drove in Revere in the top of the eighth on a single to right field, making it 8-2.