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Wells helps send Indians to third straight loss

Jul 7, 2007 - 4:12 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Roy Halladay was in a giving mood against the Cleveland Indians. Luckily for the righthander, the Toronto Blue Jays took more from Cliff Lee.

Vernon Wells homered and drove in three runs and Alex Rios added two RBI as the Blue Jays made up for a sub-par effort from Halladay on Friday and posted an 8-6 victory over the Indians, who have lost three straight.

Entering with a 4-0 lifetime record against Cleveland, Halladay fell behind in the first inning before Toronto erupted for five runs against Lee in the second.

John McDonald plated the first run of the inning with a single and Wells followed with a base hit that scored two, giving the Blue Jays a 3-1 advantage.

"That was a big inning," Wells said. "I've been making some adjustments in my swing lately, and it's been paying off."

Rios capped the outburst with a two-run double.

Halladay struggled to preserve the four-run lead, however, giving up single runs in the third and fourth innings, and two more in the fifth after Wells belted a solo shot in the fourth as the Indians pulled within 6-5.

"Our guys did a real good job against him," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "I was real pleased with our approach and our fight. But Halladay's a warrior and you know he's not going to give in."

But pinch hitter Matt Stairs delivered an RBI triple to deep center field with one out in the bottom of the fifth and scored on Royce Clayton's double to left, expanding Toronto's advantage to three runs.

"It's nice to see the offense come alive when your ace doesn't have his best stuff," said Stairs, whose triple was his first since April 13, 2005. "That was huge to get that cushion back after they came back on us."

Halladay (10-3), who had been supported by an average of 6.1 runs over his first 15 starts of the season, lasted 5 2/3 innings in this one. The former American League Cy Young Award winner allowed five runs and nine hits with a walk and three strikeouts but escaped with his sixth win in seven decisions.

"They're a good offensive team and you know they're going to come out swinging," Halladay said. "Control-wise, I was decent. My fastball was OK, but I really need to improve on my curveballs, both ahead and behind in the count."

The Indians made things interesting in the ninth, however. After Scott Downs and Casey Janssen combined for 2 1/3 scoreless frames, Jeremy Accardo started the ninth and walked leadoff hitter Jason Michaels.

Following a flyout by Grady Sizemore, Casey Blake - who homered earlier in the game - belted a double over the head of right fielder Rios, putting runners on second and third. Representing the tying run, Victor Martinez ripped a shot to left that was ticketed for extra bases.

But left fielder Reed Johnson - who was activated from the 60-day disabled list earlier in the day - made a superb diving catch, limiting Martinez to a sacrifice fly and preventing the potential tying run from scoring.

"I knew that if Martinez got something out over the plate, it was coming my way," said Johnson, who was sidelined since April 12 with a herniated disk in his back. "I was just making sure I was ready to make the play. It was an awesome feeling (to make the catch)."

Accardo sealed the victory and his 11th save by inducing a game-ending groundout by Travis Hafner.

Lee (5-5) worked just four innings, his shortest start of the season. The lefthander yielded six runs - five earned - and six hits, walking three without a strikeout and uncorking a wild pitch.

"It was totally a bad outing," Lee said. "It's not acceptable for me or for our team to pitch that way. When you're throwing balls and working behind in the count, that's when things don't go your way. I can't go out there and give up five runs in the second inning. That's just not doing my job."

Gregg Zaun went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who have won three of their last four games.

Martinez extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single and Blake went 3-for-4 with two RBI for Cleveland, which slipped into a tie for first place in the AL Central Division with Detroit.

"I was proud of the way we came back," Blake said. "Halladay probably wasn't too thrilled with the way he threw tonight, but he still got the win."