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McGowan, Blue Jays snap home losing streak

Apr 19, 2008 - 10:57 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Dustin McGowan and the Toronto Blue Jays finally ended their struggles at home.

McGowan pitched seven solid innings and Alex Rios homered as the Blue Jays snapped a six-game home losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

The righthanded McGowan (1-1) allowed two runs in his 105-pitch outing, giving up seven hits and two walks with one strikeout.

"(Detroit) gave us a few scares, and they kept the game close," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "But (McGowan) can dominate, and he did that. He shut down some pretty good hitters at the right time."

Scott Downs pitched a perfect eighth inning and closer B.J. Ryan worked around a pair of singles in the ninth, striking out Ryan Raburn with runners on first and third to earn his second save.

Ryan has not allowed a run in three innings this season in his return from "Tommy John" surgery last April.

"I was throwing the ball good here for a couple weeks," Ryan said. "They haven't been clean innings, but you can't use (the surgery) as a crutch or an excuse. You still got to go out there (and) get outs and make pitches."

Rios hit his second homer of the season with two outs in the first inning off Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman, giving Toronto the early lead.

"Anytime we get a win is good," Rios said. "The situation we were in with a six-game losing streak, it was good to cut that streak with a win."

Marco Scutaro walked with the bases loaded and none out in the second, but Toronto did not score again in the inning and carried a 2-0 lead into the third.

Detroit cut the deficit in half in the third on a groundout by Jacque Jones that scored Ivan Rodriguez, who led off with a single and moved to third on Raburn's double to left.

"Damage control. It seems like that's the word always used for me," McGowan said. "I did a pretty good job of that today."

Aaron Hill led off the fifth with a double and scored on an error by third baseman Miguel Cabrera, giving Toronto a 3-1 lead.

Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to right field in the seventh to draw the Tigers within 3-2, but that was as close as they got.

"(McGowan) pitched good," Rodriguez said. "He's a very aggressive pitcher. When he throws strikes, he's going to get a lot of guys out."

Bonderman (1-2) lasted just five innings, giving up three runs - two earned - five hits and six walks. The righthander struck out two.

"My breaking ball was flat, not a lot of movement on it," Bonderman said. "Tried to use other pitches, but when you can't throw one of your bread-and-butter pitches for a strike, it's hard."