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| Halladay, Wells fuel Blue Jays past Angels TORONTO 7, LA ANGELS 5 |
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ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- John Lackey probably wishes the calendar still read June. Roy Halladay threw seven stellar innings and Vernon Wells belted a two-run home run to help the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 7-5, on Saturday. Alex Rios drove in a pair of runs for Toronto, which battered Lackey (6-2) and ended his career-best five- game winning streak. In a premier matchup, the former Cy Young Award winner Halladay was by far better the better pitcher. Lackey had been 5-0 with a 1.16 ERA in five June starts en route to winning American League Pitcher of the Month. Needless to say, the righthander's first start of July did not go as well. Toronto reached the Angels' ace for six runs - five earned - and seven hits in six innings. "I just didn't have my best stuff out there tonight," Lackey said. "My command wasn't consistent tonight and just need to put this one behind me and get ready for my next start." Meanwhile, Halladay (10-6), who tossed his major league-leading sixth complete game on Monday, followed that by limiting the Angels to two runs and six hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. "I was just trying to pitch to contact and be aggressive against their good lineup and let them put the ball in play," Halladay said. "I mixed pitches really well, and knew I had to do a good job using both sides of the plate." Rios had a two-run single and Marco Scutaro scored on an error by third baseman Chone Figgins as Toronto took a 3-0 lead in the third. The Blue Jays took advantage of four Anaheim errors. "We can't make four errors and expect to win a game," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's baseball and everyone has bad games every once in awhile." Halladay's scoreless streak reached 13 1/3 innings before Vladimir Guerrero cut the lead to 3-2 by golfing a 1-1 offering over the center field wall in the fourth. Guerrero's 14th home run of the season was his first in 33 career at-bats vs. Halladay. "Vlad just has a knack for hitting bad pitches and he hit my mistake pitch that I was trying to put higher up in the zone," Halladay said. That was all the Angels could muster off the quick-working righthander, and the Blue Jays answered immediately in their next at-bat. Scutaro doubled and, with two outs, Wells blasted a hanging breaking ball from Lackey to center field for a 5-2 edge. "I was just trying to hit it and see what happens against a guy like Lackey," Wells said. "Just wanted to put the bat on the ball and hope for good things." Adam Lind added an RBI groundout in the sixth and Rios led off the seventh with a single, stole two bases and scored on a throwing error for 7-2 edge. Those insurance runs proved to be crucial as things got dicey in the ninth. After the Angels' first two hitters reached against closer B.J. Ryan, Howie Kendrick drove in a run with a bloop down the right field line. Ryan got a double-play ball from Mike Napoli that scored Gary Matthews Jr., but allowed a double to Figgins before getting Casey Kotchman to fly out. "It was a little interesting at the end, but B.J. got the job done," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "It helped us tonight that we got to Lackey early." |
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