TORONTO (Interstat) — Kevin Gausman pitched 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball, striking out eight, and Louis Varland earned his seventh save with two perfect innings as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 on Friday night at Rogers Centre.

Gausman (4-3) scattered six hits. Varland retired all six batters he faced, three via strikeout. Pittsburgh took a first-inning lead on Spencer Horwitz’s sacrifice fly. Toronto answered with three runs in the third, ignited by a throwing error and capped by Yohendrick Piñango’s two-run double. The Pirates cut the lead to 3-2 in the eighth on Bryan Reynolds’ groundout, but the Blue Jays pulled away in the bottom half on Jesús Sánchez’s RBI double and George Springer’s two-run ground-rule double.

Bubba Chandler (1-6) took the loss despite five innings of two-hit, one-earned-run ball with 11 strikeouts. Nick Gonzales had two hits for Pittsburgh, which outhit Toronto 7-5. The Blue Jays improved to 24-27; the Pirates fell to 26-25. Attendance was 39,839. Time: 2:56.