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Halladay, Glaus carry Blue Jays past Nationals

Jun 16, 2007 - 4:10 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Roy Halladay pitched 7 1/3 strong innings and Troy Glaus and Adam Lind each homered as the Toronto Blue Jays posted a 7-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

Halladay (7-2) allowed two runs and seven hits with six strikeouts and one walk, improving to 5-1 against Washington. The former Cy Young Award winner was well on his way to his first shutout of the season until Ryan Langerhans delivered a two-run homer in the eighth.

Halladay was aiming for his first shutout win since May 29, 2005 at Minnesota.

"It's all about making adjustments and making pitches," Halladay said. "I had pretty good command. I felt good mechanically and was able to focus on making quality pitches."

"(Halladay) just overpowered us," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "We just couldn't get any hits. When he's on you just try to keep it close and hope he makes a mistake but that just wasn't the case."

Toronto opened the scoring in the fourth, when rookie Curtis Thigpen reached on a bunt single, took second on third baseman Ryan Zimmerman's throwing error and scored on Lind's seventh homer this season off starter Mike Bacsik (1-4).

Lind seems to be very comfortable going deep at Rogers Centre, hitting six so far this season. The left fielder's lone road blast came on May 27 at Minnesota.

"Whenever you (hit a home run) it always feels good," said Lind, who was hit by a pitch in his previous at-bat. "It was a slider, cutter something like that."

The Blue Jays continued to take advantage of Bacsik in the inning, as Alex Rios singled and came around on Glaus' two-out, RBI double to left for a 3-0 lead.

"(Bacsik) left one out over the plate and I was able to take advantage of the situation," Glaus said. "Obviously you can't go out of your zone in a 3-0 count, but with Frank (Thomas) behind me I thought I could get a good pitch to drive."

Toronto had a chance to add to its total in the fifth as Gregg Zaun walked and Lind and John McDonald both singled to load the bases with one out. But reliever Winston Abreu struck out Rios and got Vernon Wells to fly out, ending the threat.

However, Abreu yielded a solo blast to Glaus in the next frame - his 11th of the season - over the left field wall and Zaun added a run-scoring double to make it 5-0.

"Having Doc (Halladay) out there was a big help for me because I didn't have to work too hard," said Zaun, who started his first game since being placed on the disabled list April 25 with a fractured right thumb. "Halladay's such a hard worker and so prepared. He can get guys out with every pitch he throws."

Bacsik gave up three runs and a season high-tying nine hits in 4 1/3 frames to remain winless in his last four starts. He had four strikeouts and three walks.

"I got behind in the count and threw too many pitches," Bacsik said. "The third time around (the batting order) came quick. I've just got to be more aggressive and throw better."

The game was delayed for eight minutes in the fifth inning due to an stomach illness by home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor and was replaced by second base umpire Ed Rapuano.