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Halladay tosses complete game as Jays down Angels

Aug 15, 2007 - 3:20 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Roy Halladay helped the Toronto Blue Jays continue to soar at home.

Halladay pitched a complete game five-hitter as the Blue Jays defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 4-1, on Tuesday night.

Alex Rios had three hits and a run scored for Toronto, which has won 10 of its last 12 games at the Rogers Centre.

Halladay (14-5) won his third straight start, walking only one and striking out two, and he finished off his 99-pitch gem in 1 hour, 58 minutes. At one point the veteran righthander retired 18 of 19 batters. He didn't allow a hit out of the infield after the first inning until Chone Figgins' single to left in the ninth.

"(Halladay) was just outstanding," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "He just attacked the zone and got ground ball after ground ball. He's on a nice little roll right now."

After the Angels scored their lone run in the first inning, the Blue Jays scored all four of their runs in the bottom half against Anaheim starter Joe Saunders (6-1).

Reed Johnson led off with a triple to left-center field and scored on Lyle Overbay's RBI single to center. After shortstop Erick Aybar booted a possible double-play ball, Frank Thomas gave Toronto the lead with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center. Aaron Hill and Hector Luna each drove in runs to cap the frame.

"It helps anytime you can put four runs on the board, especially against a quality pitcher like (Saunders)," Johnson said. "Los Angeles is a good team and we're going to have to beat good teams in order to make a run at the playoffs. It's now or never for us."

It proved to be more than enough run support for Halladay, who recorded his major league-leading fifth complete game and moved past Jimmy Key into fourth on the team's all-time list with 29.

"If you're throwing strikes where you want to, it definitely makes pitching a lot easier," Halladay said. "I was just trying to eat up innings and be aggressive the whole time. It's definitely satisfying as a pitcher to be able to finish a game."

Saunders yielded three earned runs and eight hits with no walks and four strikeouts in seven innings.

"I was struggling to throw strikes in the first inning," Saunders said. "I needed to make adjustments and I finally did, but they put up a four-spot."

Anaheim, which entered with a three-game lead over the Seattle Mariners, holds the best home record in baseball at 40-17, but are now two games under .500 (29-31) away from Angel Stadium. The Angels, who matched a season-high by committing four errors, have lost 13 of their last 20 games on the road.

"Whether it's a home game or game on the road, you need to get ready to play and we didn't do a good job of that today," Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said. "The way we played, especially on the defensive end, was troubling. That was one of our worst games of the year."

Figgins had two hits and a run for the Angels, who began a seven-game road trip and played their first of 14 straight games against American League East opponents.

The Angels opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when Figgins led off with a single, stole second, and scored on Vladimir Guerrero's RBI single to center.