Ross, Hermida homers power Marlins to 7th straight win in Toronto

TORONTO -- Cody Ross is going to have tremendous memories of his first visit to Toronto.

Ross homered and doubled twice, leading rookie Sean West and the Florida Marlins over the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 Saturday.

"This is a great place to hit," Ross said of the Rogers Centre. "It's just something about the way the ball flies here, it goes. The batter's eye is great. It's just a good ball park."

A day after hitting his third grand slam of the season in a 7-3 win, Ross drove in two runs. He's batting .343 over his last 27 games.

"Right now I feel good," Ross said. "I'll just try to ride the wave."

Jeremy Hermida also homered as the Marlins won their seventh straight game at Toronto. Florida is 16-4 all-time against the Blue Jays.

"We were able to produce from the bottom of the lineup," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "If you do that and pitch, you've got a chance to win ballgames."

West (2-1) allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings. In his previous start, he pitched eight shutout innings to beat San Francisco for his first major league victory.

"I didn't pound the strike zone today and that got me into trouble," West said.

Matt Lindstrom, the fourth Florida reliever, worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to earn his 12 save in 14 chances. He struck out Vernon Wells to strand a runner at second to end it.

"We held on, that's the theme of today's game," Gonzalez said.

Wells, bumped out of the cleanup spot Friday, is stuck in an 0-for-14 rut and has not homered in 134 at-bats, the longest drought of his career.

"You've got to hit the ball hard to hit a home run and that hasn't really been happening too often," Wells said.

Hanley Ramirez hit an RBI double in the first and Hermida connected in the third for his eighth homer, a two-run shot off Casey Janssen (2-3).

Ross made it 5-0 with a two-run drive just inside the left-field foul screen in the fourth. Janssen allowed eight hits in a season-low 3 2/3 innings.

Alex Rios cut it to 5-2 with a two-run homer off West in the fourth. Ross made it 6-2 when he doubled and scored on Chris Coghlan's double-play grounder in the sixth.

The Blue Jays chased West in the bottom half when Lyle Overbay hit a two-run homer to right-center, making it 6-4.

Toronto cut it to 6-5 with an unearned run in the seventh. After walks put runners at first and second with one out, Wells hit a potential double-play grounder to third. A throwing error by Wes Helms sent the ball into right field, allowing Marco Scutaro to score.

"[Second baseman Dan Uggla] never saw the ball coming out of the stands with the sun and the white shirts and stuff," Gonzalez said. "That made it really interesting with a one-run lead and we did a heck of a job holding that lead after that."

Rios singled to begin the eighth and stole second, putting the tying run in scoring position. One out later, Rios was thrown out trying to steal third by Marlins catcher John Baker.

Batting sixth for the second straight game, Rios went 4 for 4 and scored twice.

Game notes
Toronto ace Roy Halladay, who left Friday's game after three innings, is day to day with a mild groin strain. The Blue Jays will shuffle their rotation to give the right-hander extra time off, meaning the earliest he'll pitch again would be next Saturday at Washington. ... The Blue Jays are 0-5 in interleague play. ... The Marlins are 9-2 overall at Toronto.