The Toronto Blue Jays make their second stop of an eight-game road swing tonight when they pay a visit to PNC Park to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of a weekend interleague series. Toronto has lost six of its last eight games but is coming off Thursdays 7-3 victory at Kansas City. Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus both went deep for the Blue Jays, who are second in the American League with 34 home runs on the season. Starter Mark Buehrle went 6 2/3 innings and gave up two earned runs. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is back home to kick off a nine-game homestand. It has been a rough start to the season for a Pirates team that was coming off their first trip to the playoffs in 21 years. Things have been much different through the first month in 2014, as the Pirates have dropped seven of their last eight games and sit at 10-18 overall. They lost both games of a doubleheader at Baltimore on Thursday. In the first game, the bats were held in check for a 5-1 setback. The offense showed a bit of life in the nightcap, but Baltimores Matt Wieters sealed the outcome near 1 a.m. ET with a walkoff home run in the 10th inning. "Its been rough," first baseman Ike Davis said. "(Friday) is a new day. Hopefully, we can get some sleep and come out swinging and regroup a little bit. As long we can give ourselves opportunities the whole season, were going to score runs." So far this season, the offense has largely failed to deliver in such opportunities. Pittsburgh stranded 28 runners during Thursdays doubleheader. "We keep fighting and fighting and putting ourselves in scoring position, but we havent been able to cash in the way we need to," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We keep showing up. The bats were better throughout the series. We had men on base throughout the game. Were still looking for that big hit." The Pirates hope to get another quality start from Gerrit Cole on Friday night. Over his last two starts, the right-hander has given up a total of only two earned runs in a span of 15 innings. He took the loss at St. Louis his last time out despite yielding just one run in seven frames. This will be Coles first-ever time facing the Blue Jays. His counterpart, Brandon Morrow, will try to forget his last outing against Boston, in which he issued a career-high eight walks and allowed four earned runs despite not giving up a hit. He was pulled after just 2 2/3 innings. After five times through the rotation, Morrows ERA sits at 6.04. Kemoko Turay Jersey . The Canadian Football Leagues all-time passing leader said he has not made a final decision, but he will discuss his future with Montreal Alouettes owner Bob Wetenhall on the weekend. Braden Smith Colts Jersey . - After spending the morning in the hospital, Logan Couture gave the San Jose Sharks the spark they needed. http://www.nflcoltsgearsshop.com/. Seth Smith hit a towering drive for a tying homer leading off the eighth and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs to give the Padres a 3-1 victory against the rival Dodgers in baseballs North American opener Sunday night. Darius Leonard Jersey . -- Arkansas didnt need a spectacular dunk to beat No. Tyquan Lewis Jersey . The 19-year-old from Westmount, Que., was edged 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-3 by third-seeded Alize Cornet of France. Cornet broke Bouchard twice in the last set and saved six break points in the three-hour match.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The future of professional hockey in Arizona has always seemed bleak, but the present isnt looking so great either. A change in name from the Phoenix Coyotes to the Arizona Coyotes has done little to spark a franchise that in recent years was able to perform admirably on the ice even when the financial future of the club was far from stable. Currently, the Coyotes are sitting 28th in the overall league standings and they hold the same spot in terms of attendance. At least theyre finally consistent. With a 10-16-3 record through 29 games, Arizona needs to get on track quickly if it wants to avoid missing the playoffs for a third straight season. However, if the Coyotes fail to pick up the pace they are on track to post the franchises lowest point total in a full season since moving from Winnipeg to the desert following the 1995-96 season. None of this should be all that shocking, considering the Coyotes have been operating on a shoestring budget for years now. The club is 27th in the league in payroll and is over $47 million under the salary cap ceiling. General manager Don Maloney and head coach Dave Tippett have previously shown the ability to get the most out of a bad situation, but the formula clearly isnt working in 2014-15. The Coyotes were hardly impressive to start the season, but they seemed in decent shape back in early November while sporting a 6-6-1 record out of the gates. However, the club has gone 4-10-2 since then and has failed to pick up a single home win during that stretch, going 0-6-2 in front of sparse crowds at Gila River Arena to post the longest home skid in franchise history. On top of it all, reports out of the NHL Board of Governors meeting earlier this week in Boca Raton, Florida suggest the deal to sell the franchise to Andrew Barroway may be falling apart. Keeping the Coyotes in Arizona for the long-term seemed like a bad bet when the team was performing well on the ice and the clubs recent poor play is unlikely to push things in a positive direction. While making the playoffs for three straight seasons from 2010-12 -- Tippetts first three seasons as the Coyotes head coach -- the low-scoring club succeeded thanks to strong defense and goaltending. This season, the offense, defense and goaltending are all struggling at the same time, and it seems there is no easy fix for Arizona. The Coyotes are scoring just 2.24 goals per game this season while sporting a team goals agaainst average of 3.dddddddddddd24 as franchise goaltender Mike Smith continues to struggle less than two seasons into a lucrative six-year contract. Obviously, that is not a recipe for success. Were frustrated and disappointed, Tippett said after a 5-1 home loss to Nashville on Thursday. There are a lot of guys in that dressing room who care and want to do better. Were not getting the results we want, so the frustration continues to build. But until we turn that frustration into mental resolve to get the job done, it will continue to pile up. Of course, the clubs financial uncertainty is not helping. As Barroways ownership bid sits in limbo while awaiting league approval, the Coyotes are in a holding pattern of sorts when it comes to making deals to improve or shore up their current roster. It does sort of, I dont want to say halt the process, but slow down the process in regards to anybody we might want to talk contractually going forward, Maloney admitted earlier this week to the Arizona Republic. Despite there dire situation, there are few NHL fans who feel sorry for the Coyotes. Commissioner Gary Bettmans quest to prove a hockey team can survive in the Phoenix area has been an unpopular one, especially in places like Quebec City who are champing at the bit for another chance to support an NHL franchise. If the Coyotes continue to add on-ice woes to their fiscal problems, it may not be long until Quebec City, or another locale better suited for an NHL franchise, will swoop in and rescue the franchise. It happened for Winnipeg when the Atlanta Thrashers proved to be a failure, and history could repeat itself in Arizona. Blaming the coach doesnt seem to be an option for the Coyotes either, as Tippett signed a five-year extension following the 2012-13 season. Its hard to argue he didnt earn that deal, as Tippett not only won the Jack Adams Award in his first season with the Coyotes, but also led the club to a Pacific Division crown and a Western Conference finals appearance in 2012. Now it appears that 2011-12 was a high water mark for Tippetts Coyotes and with the franchises money problems still a going concern it will be difficult to get back to that level. Even in Arizona there are repercussions for not performing up to expectations, a fact not lost on the Coyotes GM. If you put a losing product on the ice nobody wants to hear about your financial woes. Were in a results business, not a Kumbaya business, said Maloney. 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