Brandon Morrow made another small positive step toward returning to the Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
Making his first Double-A rehab start with the Fisher Cats, the righthander allowed two runs and three hits in five innings as New Hampshire beat host Erie, 8-3, Wednesday in an Eastern League contest at Jerry Uht Park in Erie, Pa.
Morrow, who strained a muscle on his left side after a nine-pitch outing against the Washington Nationals in Toronto on June 11 and was placed on the disabled list two days later with a strained left oblique, transferred to New Hampshire from Single-A Dunedin on Wednesday. He recently made two rehab starts for Dunedin.
Morrow threw 51 pitches, 33 for strikes against Erie. He allowed a one-out solo homer to Niuman Romero (his seventh) in the first inning and a solo shot to Jordan Lennerton (his 19th) in the fourth.
In 13 starts, Morrow was 7-4 with a 3.01 ERA this season for Toronto. He is expected to make one more start for New Hampshire next week.
John Tolisano and Brad Glenn of New Hampshire collected three RBIs in the win. Tolisano had solo homers in the second and sixth innings, giving him eight on the season.
The Fisher Cats took their first lead in the fifth frame, 3-2 on Ryan Goins’ 26th double of the season, good for two ribbies.
Erie closed the gap to 4-3 in the home sixth when Nick Castellanos singled home Daniel Fields.
The Fisher Cats added an eighth inning run when Kevin Howard and Glenn walked before Tolisano delivered an RBI single. Glenn put the game out of reach with a three-run homer in the ninth, his 17th of the season. New Hampshire (46-70) has now won three straight games.
Swamp Bats swept
The Keene Swamp Bats will not be repeating as New England Collegiate Baseball League champions after falling at Danbury, Conn., by a 12-11 score Wednesday night.
The win gave Danbury a 2-0 series victory in the best-of-three semifinal series. The Westerners will face Newport in the championship series beginning tonight.
Keene fell behind 12-2 after a nine-run fourth inning from Danbury.
But the Swamp Bats fought back with two runs in each the fifth and sixth frames and a five-run eighth before falling just short. Dylan DelaCruz went 3-5 with four RBIs for Keene.
