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Marcum outduels Lowe, Dodgers

Jun 10, 2007 - 6:48 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Matt Stairs homered and Shaun Marcum pitched 6 2/3 strong innings to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.

Marcum yielded seven hits while striking out three and did not issue a walk. The 25-year-old righthander stymied the Dodgers, using an assortment of offspeed pitches to earn his second win of the season as a starter.

"I was able to keep my pitch count down and throw strikes," Marcum said. "Doing that against guys who put the ball in play helps out alot."

Since being moved into the rotation on May 13, Marcum (3-2) is 2-0 with a 2.56 ERA in six starts. Stairs provided the lone blemish on Los Angeles starter Derek Lowe's line, clubbing a solo homer to deep right with two outs in the sixth. The veteran utility man has filled in nicely for the injured Lyle Overbay, also homering in Friday night's contest.

"It's tough because you don't face these guys before," said first baseman Matt Stairs. "He made a mistake with a pitch up in the zone and it turned out good for us."

Stairs got a rare ball in the air off the sinkerballer Lowe (6-6), who recorded 17 ground-ball outs against six flyouts. The veteran righthander allowed just four hits and did not issue a walk while striking out three in the complete game effort.

"His command of his pitches was outstanding," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "It's just a shame he had to come away with a loss."

Since a 6 1/3-inning outing on April 29, during which he allowed four runs and saw his ERA climb to 4.62, Lowe has cut nearly a run and a half off his earned run mark, down to its current 3.24. He is 4-3 during the eight-start stretch.

"Some days you'll pitch well and come away with a loss, and other days you won't pitch well and come away with a win," Lowe said.

Los Angeles threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with three straight two-out singles. But lefthanded reliever Scott Downs came on and forced rookie Tony Abreu to ground out to shortstop, ending the threat.

"We're not taking advantage of good pitching, but just like every other game we have to put it behind us and focus on tomorrow," Little said.

Righthander Casey Janssen pitched two scoreless innings to record his third save.

"We've been getting some clutch hits lately and we tip our hats to our pitching," Stairs said, "They've been doing an outstanding job this past month."