Toronto Blue Jays back R.A. Dickey, move into first

TORONTO -- R.A. Dickey has not always had the best run support.

But the Toronto Blue Jays turned it on for the knuckleballer on Wednesday night to defeat the Oakland Athletics 10-3 and extend their winning streak to 10 games.

They are the first American League team to have two 10-game win streaks in a season since the 1977 Kansas City Royals.

"Finally got some runs for Dickey on a night when he needed them," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

"That ball was flying tonight. You guys saw that. Even for R.A., it was a tough night to pitch with the way the wind was playing tricks pushing that ball a little bit."

Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak each hit three-run homers in support of Dickey, who pitched six innings.

Colabello finished with two hits and four RBIs for the surging Blue Jays (63-52), who moved past the New York Yankees into first place in the American League East.

Dickey (7-10) allowed six hits, two walks and three runs while striking out four in his fourth straight win. He entered the game averaging 3.9 runs per game in support, lowest among the regular members of the Toronto rotation.

"He's been on a nice little roll and continues on that roll," Gibbons said. "But he was due for some run support along the way. Gosh, he deserved that."

Danny Valencia homered for the Athletics (51-64).

"That ball was flying tonight," Gibbons said. "You guys saw that. Even for R.A., it was a tough night to pitch with the way the wind was playing tricks pushing that ball a little bit."

Dickey said, "I picked a real good night to be pedestrian. It was good. It's funny, it sometimes can be hard to pitch with an eight-run lead because you don't want to make mistakes, you don't want to walk guys.

"And in the fourth, there I walked the first two guys. I was real fortunate to get a double play. It's nice, we got a good team."

Athletics right-hander Aaron Brooks (1-1) allowed six hits, two walks and eight runs in 1 2/3 innings. He also hit a batter and struck out two.

"Mostly location," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. "He left a lot of balls in the middle of the plate and you've got a pretty hot-hitting team. When you miss out over the plate, you end up paying. Got behind some. He just wasn't as sharp as we've seen the last couple of times."

Right-hander Bo Schultz replaced Dickey in the seventh. Right-hander Liam Hendriks pitched the eighth and left-hander Aaron Loup worked the ninth for the Blue Jays.

Brooks, acquired in the July 28 trade that sent infielder/outfielder Ben Zobrist to the Royals, was making his fourth career start and his second at Rogers Centre.

He did not survive the first inning in that one. The Royals tagged the then-Toronto starter for seven runs, five hits and three walks in two-thirds of an inning in a 12-2 pounding on May 31, 2014.

After Wednesday, Brooks has a 57.87 ERA at Rogers Centre.

"Location up and not getting ahead of batters," Brooks said. "It was just unfortunate to not be able to get ahead of the guys. They were pretty well able to eliminate every pitch but the fastball and took advantage."

The Blue Jays took the lead in the first on a three-run homer by Colabello, the designated hitter. Colabello's 11th homer of the season came with one out and followed a leadoff walk by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and a single by third baseman Josh Donaldson.

The Athletics came back with two runs in the second. Valencia, the Oakland third baseman, led off with a homer to left, his 10th of the season and third since the A's claimed him off waivers from the Blue Jays on Aug. 3.

A one-out single by designated hitter Billy Butler, a double by first baseman Mark Canha and a groundout to second by shortstop Eric Sogard produced the other run.

The Blue Jays chased Brooks in a seven-run second, capped by Smoak's three-run homer. The left-handed hitting first baseman's home run came against left-handed reliever Felix Doubront, obtained from Toronto for cash considerations on July 31.

Brooks allowed a two-run single by Donaldson and an RBI single to Colabello before Doubront replaced him and gave up an RBI single to his first batter, catcher Russell Martin. Doubront finished the game, saving the bullpen.

The A's scored once in the fourth on a double by Canha.

As for Brooks, it's a matter of getting back to the two starts he had in Oakland, where he was 1-0 with a 1.26 ERA.

"The two starts before tonight everything was down and I was throwing strikes," he said.

NOTES: Blue Jays DH/1B Edwin Encarnacion (sore left middle finger) missed his third straight game on Wednesday, but a Thursday return is possible. ... Athletics SS Marcus Semien, who had played in all but one of the team's 114 games this season, was given a break and did not start Wednesday. He committed his 30th error of the season on Tuesday in a 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays. ... The Blue Jays signed OF Chris Heisey to a minor-league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Buffalo for defensive depth. The 30-year-old was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He batted .154 in 17 games with the Dodgers and .236 in 63 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City. ... RHP Sonny Gray (12-4, 2.06 ERA) will start the finale of the three-game series on Thursday against Toronto LHP Mark Buehrle (12-5, 3.34).