TORONTO -- Jesse Litsch is giving the Toronto Blue Jays something to think about -- and not in a good way.
For the third time in five starts since returning from elbow surgery, the 25-year-old right-hander delivered a dud, giving up five runs over 5 1-3 messy innings in a 7-6 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.
Litsch didn't figure in the decision -- this one was settled in the eighth when Denard Span drove in the winning run with a single off Scott Downs -- but he set the stage for the latest defeat for the Blue Jays (41-43), their eighth in nine outings and 12th in 15 before a crowd of 15,072.
Jesse Crain of Toronto and Jon Rauch, pitching the ninth for his 19th save, made sure it held for winner Jose Mijares (1-0) as the Twins (45-38) ended a two-game skid. Coming off a putrid 2-8 road trip, it made for a rough start to a six-game homestand ahead of the all-star break for the Blue Jays.
Litsch dropped his team into an early 2-0 deficit on a run-scoring groundout by Jim Thome and RBI single by Delmon Young in the second, and after the Blue Jays struck four times in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead, Litsch promptly gave it all back in the sixth.
That rally began with back-to-back homers by Justin Morneau of New Westminster, B.C., and Jason Kubel and ended with Span working a bases loaded walk off Brian Tallet to knot things up.
The rest was on the bullpen -- its inconsistency is another burgeoning issue -- but of more immediate concern is what to do with Litsch. About 13 months removed from ligament-replacement surgery on his right elbow, his command is off and velocity down, and missing both he won't last long.
Litsch's fastball sat between 89-90 m.p.h. and manager Cito Gaston said before the game he needs to be in the 93 range, like he was during his breakthrough stretch at the end of the 2008 season. With Shaun Marcum on the disabled list, Litsch will likely make his next scheduled start Sunday versus the Boston Red Sox, but once the all-star break passes and Marcum returns as expected, he may be hard-pressed to keep his spot over the recently called up Marc Rzepczynski.
"We don't want Jesse to lose all his confidence by getting beat up," said Gaston. "We're going to let it go each time and see how he progresses or goes the other way. If he's healthy, that's good, if he's not, we certainly have to get him out of there."
Tallet also gave up a solo shot to Joe Mauer in the seventh as the Twins went ahead 6-5 but Edwin Encarnacion tied it in the bottom half with a solo shot off starter Carl Pavano, who allowed six runs in 6 1-3 innings.
Young singled off the glove of Jason Frasor (3-2) to open the eighth, moved to second on Nick Punto's sacrifice bunt and came around on Span's single off Downs.
The Blue Jays cut into Minnesota's early lead in the third on Fred Lewis's RBI double and surged ahead 5-2 in the fifth on Lyle Overbay's solo shot, an RBI single by Lewis and a two-run blast by Dewayne Wise.
Notes : Jays 2B Aaron Hill and CF Vernon Wells were both out of the starting lineup (Wells pinch-hit in the ninth and struck out to end the game) for the second straight game as they continue to struggle with a stomach illness. Their status for Wednesday is also up in the air. "They're still sick, just weak," said manager Cito Gaston. "They've both had IVs and all that kind of stuff. We're thinking it's food (poisoning), we're not really sure. Food or some sort of virus." ... Wells was chosen to take part in the home run derby while Jose Bautista, who began the day leading the AL in home runs, was not. ... Jays OF Travis Snider (wrist) was moved up to double-A New Hampshire ahead of schedule because frequent rain in Florida was keeping him off the field too much.
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