TORONTO — Carlos Quentin hit a grand slam and drove in six runs to help the Chicago White Sox beat Toronto 11-1 Wednesday night in front of the smallest crowd to attend the Blue Jays’ stadium.
Only 10,610 were at Rogers Center to see the rout. With the Toronto Raptors playing across town for a spot in the NBA playoffs the city’s attention was elsewhere — even though the Maple Leafs missed the NHL playoffs.
Those who made the trip got to see Brandon Morrow (0-1) face five batters in the fifth inning without recording an out.
John Danks (1-0) allowed two hits and a run in seven innings and Tony Pena finished with two perfect ones. Danks struck out six and walked three.
Chicago’s Andruw Jones hit his third homer of the year, making him 50th in big league history with 391. He had been tied with Graig Nettles.
Gordon Beckham hit a two-out RBI double in the third.
Quentin’s slam in the fifth made it 7-0 after a leadoff walk from Mark Teahen, a single by Juan Pierre and Beckham was hit by a pitch. Jones’ double ended Morrow’s night.
He finished having allowed seven earned runs in his four-plus innings, with three strikeouts and a walk.
Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said before the game that Kevin Gregg would be the closer instead of Jason Frasor for now. Frasor blew the save on Monday in a game the Blue Jays lost 8-7 to the White Sox in 11 innings.
Gregg got the save in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory. Gregg and Frasor each have three saves this season.
“I just had a talk with him, we’re just going to reverse the roles a little bit until Frasor can get back to where we think he should be,” Gaston said.
“It’s because of the way he’s performed,” Gaston said of Gregg. “He’s been absolutely outstanding out there. He’s been even better than he was at spring training. I don’t think he’s went out there and walked a guy yet — not the leadoff guy. So just going to reverse it and see what happens.”
He said Frasor took the news well.
“Frasor’s great,” Gaston said. “He had no problem. He understands.”
NOTES: Randy Ruiz made his first start for the Blue Jays on Wednesday and had his first hit of the season, a single to right in the fifth that ended Danks’s no-hitter, then stole second and scored on Jose Bautista’s single. … The previous low at the ballpark formerly known as SkyDome was 11,159, set last Sept. 9. The franchise low is 10,074 on April 17, 1979, at Exhibition Stadium.
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