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Blue Jays-Braves Preview

May 22, 2009 - 4:09 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Toronto (27-16) at Atlanta (20-19), 7:35 p.m. EDT

Roy Halladay certainly has a knack for picking up wins. It took him less than four innings of relief work to earn one in his only appearance against the Atlanta Braves.

Halladay, the major league's leader in wins, makes his first career start against the Braves as the Toronto Blue Jays open a three-game interleague series Friday night.

With wins in each of his last five starts, Halladay (8-1, 2.78 ERA) leads Kansas City right-hander Zack Greinke by one for the major league lead in that category.

Though he has a major league-best 121 wins in 215 starts since the start of the 2002 season, the veteran right-hander will be making just his second appearance against the Braves (20-20). Halladay faced Atlanta in relief July 20, 1999, yielding one run and two hits in 3 2-3 innings to earn a win in an 11-6 Blue Jays victory.

He's 17-8 with a 3.12 ERA in 29 starts and four relief appearances against the National League.

In his last outing, Halladay gave up two runs - one earned - and seven hits while striking out eight in seven innings as Toronto (27-17) beat the Chicago White Sox 8-2 on Sunday.

"I just have to continue to make pitches, regardless of the count, and getting ahead is always key," Halladay said.

Halladay has worked seven innings or more in all nine of his starts and leads the majors with 68 innings pitched.

The AL East-leading Blue Jays are in need of another strong performance from their stopper after being swept in a three-game series with division rival Boston, including a 5-1 defeat Thursday night.

Halladay will be facing a Braves lineup that was shut out for the fourth time this season Thursday night, losing 9-0 to Colorado.

Atlanta, which managed just four hits, is without infielder Omar Infante after putting him on the 15-day disabled list Thursday. Infante, who broke a bone in his left hand when he was hit by a pitch Wednesday, is expected to be out at least six weeks.

Infante, batting .349 with 11 RBIs, began the season as a utility player but was earning more starts at second base in recent weeks.

Kelly Johnson, who will likely start at second base Friday, is batting .239. The Braves could use some more production from Johnson, especially with Kenshin Kawakami (2-5, 5.73) set to take the mound.

The 33-year-old rookie has lost five of his last six starts and has not lasted more than six innings in any of his seven outings. The right-hander gave up five hits and three runs in five innings Saturday night as Atlanta lost 12-0 to Arizona.

This will be Kawakami's first appearance against the Blue Jays, who scored a combined five runs in their series with the Red Sox.

"I don't think anybody in this clubhouse is happy," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "We certainly have to put this behind us and move on and go down to Atlanta and see if we can play a little better baseball."

The Blue Jays won their last matchup with the Braves even though they struggled at the plate, winning 1-0 on June 29. Toronto won two of three games in that series but was 8-10 in interleague play overall last year.

Atlanta won eight of its 15 contests versus the AL in 2008.