Reyes wins debut for Tribe vs. Jays

He was acquired from St. Louis in a July 26 trade.

TORONTO (AP) — Unsure of his place in St. Louis, Anthony Reyes was happy to find a new home. Even with the last-place Indians.

Reyes won his Cleveland debut, helping the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 Friday night.

Ben Francisco and Shin-soo Choo each had two RBIs as Cleveland rebounded from a 10-7 loss at Tampa Bay Wednesday night. In that game, the Rays scored six runs in the ninth.

Acquired from St. Louis in a July 26 trade that sent right-hander Luis Perdomo to the Cardinals, the right-handed Reyes (1-0) allowed one run and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

“He was using all of his pitches,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “I thought he mixed them well. He made some pitches when he needed to, he was efficient. I thought he pitched a very, very good ball game, especially with it being his first time out up here.”

The 26-year-old Reyes went 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA in two starts at Triple-A Buffalo before being called up when right-hander Matt Ginter was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a sore forearm.

Reyes won Game 1 of the 2006 World Series for St. Louis but struggled the following season, finishing 2-14 with a 6.04 ERA. He moved to the bullpen this season, going 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA and one save in 10 relief appearances before being traded last month.

“I just felt like I didn’t fit in, like anything I was doing wasn’t fitting in,” Reyes said of his time with the Cardinals. “It was hard trying to make people happy. It made for long years.”

Reyes didn’t mind that he wasn’t dealt to a pennant contender as the trade deadline approached.

“I was excited just to start somewhere fresh,” he said. “I think with St. Louis, that was probably it for me. I was excited for the opportunity and just excited to be coming here, having a chance to come up here and compete.”

Rafael Perez replaced Reyes with one on and one on in the seventh and got five outs but gave up an RBI single to Kevin Mench in the eighth.

Jensen Lewis got three outs for his first career save.

“I had a different heartbeat going in there tonight,” Lewis said.

Cleveland opened the scoring with a two-out rally in the fourth. Francisco doubled home Shoppach and scored on Choo’s double. Franklin Gutierrez singled home Choo, but was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double.