TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays did it with power. They did it with speed. And they did it with defense.
It was enough to overcome a shaky start by Mark Buehrle as the Blue Jays defeated the Cleveland Indians 10-8 on Thursday for their first victory of the season before a crowd of 19,515 at Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays hit five home runs — two by catcher J.P. Arencibia — and withstood a couple of comebacks by the Indians.
“I don’t care what level of baseball you’re at,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “That first one is the toughest one to get. Everybody wants to get off to a good start and it’s tough to come by.”
Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Colby Rasmus also homered for Toronto (1-2) while Carlos Santana and Mark Reynolds homered for Cleveland (2-1).
Bautista left the game after twisting an ankle while running to first in the eighth to avoid a double play as a run scored.
“We don’t think it’s a big deal,” Gibbons said.
Indians starter Brett Myers (1-0) gave up four of the home runs in allowing seven runs in five innings plus one batter.
“I couldn’t get the ball down tonight; everything was up,” Myers said. “Everything I threw was belt high or mast high, and when I tried to get the ball down I’d bounce it. I’ve got to do a better job of keeping the ball down. Even in the bullpen warming up, the ball was down in the zone, but when I got out there it was a completely different story.”
Reliever Steve Delabar (1-0) pitched 2/3 inning in relief of Buehrle to pick up the win and Casey Janssen pitched the ninth for the save.
Buehrle could not stand prosperity, squandering two-run and three-run leads. He lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits that included both Cleveland homers and six runs.
“Seven base hits, six extra-base hits, that’s not me,” Buehrle said. “I think the biggest thing that frustrated me was going out there after we just scored three runs to take a 6-3 lead and I go out there and walk the leadoff guy.”
After Cleveland tied the game in the top of the sixth, Arencibia led off the three-run home sixth with his second homer of the game on a 1-1 fastball to put Toronto into 7-6 lead and chase Myers.
Cody Allen replaced Myers and, after retiring the first batter, gave up a home run to Rasmus on a 3-1 fastball. Emilio Bonifacio hustled a double and scored on an error by Reynolds, who was playing first base.
Toronto built a 6-3 lead, but Cleveland came back in the top of the sixth. A leadoff walk, a hit batter and doubles by Santana and Lonnie Chisenhall tied the game.
“Tonight was one of those games where I don’t think it mattered who was pitching on either side: The ball was flying,” Gibbons said.
Left-hander Aaron Loup got two outs in the seventh but allowed two singles and was charged with a run when right-hander Esmil Rogers gave up a single to Reynolds.
Left-hander Darren Oliver allowed a run in the eighth on two-out doubles by Asdrubal Cabrera and Jason Kipnis.
The Indians loaded the bases on a walk and an infield hit, but Santana was retired to end the inning on long throw by second baseman Bonifacio on a grounder up the middle.
“Bonnie made a great play,” Gibbons said. “He showed what kind of arm he had. The first thing that flashes through your mind is, ‘Uh, oh.’ But good players make good, big plays.”
“When Santana hit that ball up the middle, everybody in the ballpark thought we were going to take the lead,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
The Blue Jays tacked on a run in the eighth against Matt Albers after one-out walks to Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera. Bautista’s grounder up the middle resulted in a force at second, but Cleveland could not complete the double play as Reyes came around to score.
Bautista did not come out for the ninth with Rajai Davis taking over in right field. “My right ankle might be a little irritated,” Bautista said. “A little tiny tweak when I hit the bag. I kind of jammed my foot. But I don’t expect anything serious to come out of this.”
NOTES: Cleveland put left-hander Scott Kazmir on the disabled list Thursday with a strained right rib cage. Right-hander Trevor Bauer is expected to start Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays in Kazmir’s place. Kazmir will likely miss two or three starts. … Both teams switched first basemen and designated hitters for Thursday’s game. Swisher was at DH with Reynolds at first base for Cleveland and Adam Lind was at first base and Encarnacion at DH for Toronto. … The Blue Jays open a three-game series at Rogers Centre on Friday against the Boston Red Sox who are managed by John Farrell, the manager at Toronto the previous two seasons. … Mark DeRosa, who was making his first start of the season for Toronto, also will get the start at third base Friday when Boston starts left-hander Felix Doubront.