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Escobar dazzles as Angels top Blue Jays

Aug 17, 2007 - 3:29 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Toronto Blue Jays dominated the first two games of this series with stellar pitching. But on Thursday night, Kelvim Escobar was the one impressing on the mound for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Escobar tossed seven outstanding innings and Gary Matthews, Jr. homered as the Angels posted a 4-3 victory over the Blue Jays to salvage the finale of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.

Toronto (61-59), which has quietly crept close in the American League wild card race, fell six games behind the New York Yankees (67-53) and Seattle Mariners (66-52). The Yankees played the Detroit Tigers (66-54) Thursday night.

The Blue Jays have picked up the pace thanks to some impressive pitching, including a four-hitter by ace Roy Halladay on Tuesday and a solid seven-inning effort by the emerging Shaun Marcum on Wednesday.

"We're still right there, we're right in the thick of it," Dustin McGowan said.

But the Angels turned the tables one night later thanks to Escobar (13-6), who allowed one run and five hits, while striking out nine without walking a batter. The hard-throwing righthander had great control all night and gave way to a capable bullpen.

"I think I had great stuff tonight, I haven't felt like that in a long time. Everything was working pretty good," Escobar said.

Scot Shields tossed a scoreless eighth, setting up Francisco Rodriguez for his 30th save in the ninth. It was not easy for the hard-throwing closer, who allowed two runs and stranded the go-ahead runs on base.

"I was a little out of rhythm, location was really bad, they had three hits and everything was right down the middle," Rodriguez said.

Matthews got the Angels on the board in the second with a mammoth solo homer off Toronto starter Dustin McGowan (8-7) to make it 1-0. The shot hit above the windows of the stadium's restaurant in center field - rare territory for a blast.

"He (McGowan) throws hard, you put a good swing on it when it's thrown that hard and it will go for a little bit," Matthews said.

One inning later, Anaheim added another run thanks to catcher Jeff Mathis, who was issued a leadoff walk. After Reggie Willits grounded out to short, Chone Figgins ripped an RBI double to make it 2-0.

The Blue Jays cut the lead in half in the sixth. Ray Olmedo and Reed Johnson smacked back-to-back hits to make it 2-1.

But the Angels added to their lead in the seventh against McGowan and reliever Brian Wolfe. Matthews was issued a leadoff walk, and Casey Kotchman then reached on a two-base error by right fielder Alex Rios - scoring Matthews and putting Kotchman in scoring position.

Maicer Izturis then smacked a double to plate Kotchman and make it 4-1.

McGowan yielded four runs - three earned - and four hits while striking out seven and walking three in six-plus innings for the Blue Jays.

"He (Escobar) was lights out, you can't say that the offense can shoulder all the blame because he was pretty good tonight," Greg Zaun said. "Tough luck for Dustin again, little to no run support."