Football
Associated Press 15y

Jays' Halladay goes seven strong en route to MLB-leading 8th win

TORONTO -- Even without his best stuff, Roy Halladay still had more than enough to beat the Chicago White Sox.

Halladay won his fifth straight start, Adam Lind hit one of three Toronto homers and the Blue Jays beat the White Sox 8-2 on Sunday.

"A few of the pitches today, especially early in the count, weren't where I wanted them and caused some trouble," Halladay said. "I just have to continue to make pitches, regardless of the count, and getting ahead is always key."

Halladay (8-1) surpassed Kansas City right-hander Zack Greinke for the major league lead in wins by allowing two runs, one earned, and six hits over seven innings. He also lowered his ERA to 2.78 while becoming the second Blue Jays pitcher to win eight of his first nine starts. Roger Clemens was the other in 1997.

"He was working both sides of the plate and his curveball had some snap to it today," White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik said.

Halladay has worked seven innings or more in all nine starts this season and leads the major leagues with 68 innings pitched.

Chicago got two in the first off Halladay but couldn't score again despite putting the leadoff runner in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

"With a guy like Halladay pitching, if he gives you a chance, you have to take those chances," White Sox interim manager Joey Cora said. "It just got out of hand after that."

Jason Frasor got one out in the eighth, Jesse Carlson got the other two and Brandon League finished it in the ninth for the Blue Jays, who won their AL-leading 26th game.

Alex Rios and Aaron Hill hit solo homers and Lind added a three-run shot as the Blue Jays pounded White Sox right-hander Gavin Floyd for the second time this season. Toronto touched him for six runs on nine hits in a 14-0 win at Chicago on April 24.

Floyd (2-4) allowed six runs and seven hits in five innings this time, and is winless in five starts. He has a 9.95 ERA over that span.

"I made probably three mistakes and two of them were home runs," Floyd said. "I felt like I had better focus this outing, like I was more aggressive, but I made some poor pitches when it counted and got hurt."

The White Sox lost their ninth straight game in Toronto and their fourth in a row overall. Chicago has dropped 11 of 14 since May 2, falling from first to fourth in the AL Central.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will rejoin the team Monday after missing the past two games to attend his son's college graduation in Chicago.

"Maybe he'll be happy to be back, maybe not," Cora said. "I don't know. I'm just trying to hold the fort. It didn't work out for two days. The same things that have been happening while he was here happened the last two days. Hopefully tomorrow we get it going."

The White Sox jumped on Halladay with RBI singles by Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko in the first. Dye was thrown out trying to steal third and Jim Thome walked, but Halladay got out of it by popping up Alexei Ramirez and striking out Josh Fields.

Rios cut the gap in half with a homer to left in the bottom of the first.

"We put up a couple early and they were able to answer in the bottom half," Podsednik said. "It kind of took the momentum out of us a little bit."

The Blue Jays took the lead for good in the fourth when Lind smacked his three-run shot, and they chased Floyd with two more in the fifth on a double by Marco Scutaro and Rios' RBI fielder's choice.

Scutaro rolled on the ground in pain after he was struck in the chest by catcher Corky Miller's throw as he stole third in the fifth. Scutaro stayed in the game but John McDonald took over defensively in the seventh. X-rays on Scutaro were negative and he's day to day.

"When I tried to throw, there was pain," Scutaro said. "Now it hurts worse."

Toronto capped it with two in the eighth off Chicago's Bobby Jenks. Hill hit his 11th homer and Lyle Overbay added an RBI single.

Game notes
White Sox OF Carlos Quentin (left foot) missed his second straight game and is headed back to Chicago for treatment. He is day to day. ... Chicago has not won in Toronto since a 3-0 victory June 1, 2007. ... Chicago OF Brian Anderson (right oblique) went 1 for 5 and scored twice in his fourth rehab game with Triple-A Charlotte on Saturday. ... The teams wrap up their four-game series with a day game Monday, the Victoria Day holiday in Canada, when Chicago LHP Clayton Richard (1-0) faces Toronto RHP Scott Richmond (4-2).

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