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Wells drives in three to give Halladay 16th win

Aug 27, 2008 - 5:12 AM By Brett McMurphy PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Vernon Wells homered and drove in three runs and Roy Halladay won his third consecutive decision as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-2, on Tuesday night.

Halladay had lost all three of his previous decisions this season against the Rays (79-51), who saw their lead over the Boston Red Sox (76-55) in the American League East trimmed to 3 1/2 games.

"You have to go in with a game plan and you're definitely aware that it is a team that can get you at any point," Halladay said. "So you have to be on your toes. You can never get too comfortable."

Wells had a pair of RBI singles and added a solo home run in the ninth for the Blue Jays, who won for only the fourth time against the Rays in the past 13 meetings.

Halladay (16-9) went six innings, yielding two runs and six hits. He struck out seven without a walk in matching his second-shortest outing of the year.

"Halladay did a good job, give him credit," Tampa Bay's Eric Hinske said. "He kept us off-balance."

The righthander, who recorded his seventh win in 10 starts, had gone 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA against Tampa Bay this season.

"Tampa Bay just seems to see him better than other teams," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "I think they put him kind of deep in the pitch count all the time. They give themselves a chance to see a pitch to hit."

After Wells' run-scoring single in the first put the Blue Jays on top, Lyle Overbay gave Halladay some breathing room in the third, driving a liner into the right-center field gap for a two-run double.

After five smooth innings, Halladay finally ran into trouble in the sixth, when his pinpoint control started to get away from him. After giving up two singles, he threw a wild pitch and hit Willy Aybar to load the bases.

Hinske made him pay, singling in a pair of runs to cut the deficit to 3-2.

However, Toronto added a run in each of the final three innings, including solo homers by Wells and Rod Barajas, to secure the victory.

"It's real nice, especially picking up the fourth run, and after you get back and have a two-run lead, you can get comfortable and then add on two more. It's huge," Halladay said. "It takes a lot of pressure off the guys coming in the late innings."

James Shields (11-8) lost for only the second time in 10 decisions at home. He allowed four runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks.

"I gave up runs, but I thought I pitched pretty well," Shields said. "When you're facing Halladay, you've got to be on your A game. It was my B game, I guess. Halladay's one of the premier pitchers in the game and did a great job."