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Homers by Escobar and Bautista lift Jays over Astros

May 22, 2011 - 1:41 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Yunel Escobar belted a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Houston Astros, 7-5, at Rogers Centre.

Jose Bautista blasted a three-run homer in the sixth and added a solo shot in the eighth for the Blue Jays, who dropped the series opener on Friday.

Bautista upped his home run total this season to an MLB-best 18.

"I'm not surprised by the fact that I'm playing well," said Bautista, who is on pace to surpass the career-high 54 homers he hit last season. "Given what happened last year and knowing what I'm capable of doing, I expect to perform at a high level."

Casey Janssen (1-0) relieved Toronto starter Brandon Morrow and tossed a scoreless frame to earn the win. Morrow allowed four runs on nine hits in six- plus innings.

Chris Johnson knocked in three runs for Houston, while Brett Myers (1-4) was tagged for six runs -- five earned -- on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"A couple mistakes and they hit 'em hard," said Myers. "Sometimes you get away with them, which I haven't all year."

Down 4-0, the Blue Jays trimmed their deficit to one on Bautista's drive to left field, then surged ahead in the seventh.

With one out, Eric Thames reached on a ground-rule double. After John McDonald flied out, Jose Molina grounded a single up the middle to plate the tying run. Escobar put Toronto up 6-4 by sending a 1-0 pitch from Myers over the left- field wall.

Jon Rauch came on to close the game for Toronto in the ninth, but was replaced by Octavio Dotel after surrendering a one-out RBI double to Angel Sanchez. Dotel struck out Hunter Pence and retired Carlos Lee on a grounder to third to record his first save of the season.

Houston started the game from where it had left off in the series opener with a two-run first inning. The Astros scored five runs in the final two frames in Friday's come-from-behind win and quickly loaded the bases in their first at- bat Saturday.

Brett Wallace opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly and Johnson, who hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth on Friday, followed with an RBI single to right field.

In the third, the Astros strung together three consecutive two-out hits -- the last one a Johnson single -- to extend their lead to 3-0. Johnson added a sac fly two innings later.

Game Notes

The Blue Jays notched their first-ever win against Houston (1-4)...The Astros haven't won two straight games since winning three in a row April 30-May 3.