Music: {allcanada} Two out of three ain't bad

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TORONTO – Mixed results for Brett Cecil on Sunday forced the Toronto Blue Jays to settle for a series win instead of a three-game sweep to start the new season.

The 24-year-old left-hander started strong before fading in a pivotal two-run fifth that proved decisive in a 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

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Nick Blackburn allowed just two runs, one earned, in 5.2 crafty innings while four relievers held the fort from there as the defending AL Central champions salvaged the series finale.

Joe Nathan, who missed all of 2010 because of Tommy John surgery, pitched a nervous ninth for his first save.

A Denard Span second-deck, solo blast off the Jays' Jon Rauch in the top of the inning proved critical.

Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia gave Nathan a first scare when, after Travis Snider's leadoff single, he drove a ball to the wall in left that Delmon Young tracked down. After Mike McCoy doubled and Yunel Escobar made it a one-run game with a sacrifice fly, Juan Rivera and Jose Bautista walked before Adam Lind grounded out to first to end it.

Bautista earlier homered on a mostly cold day at the plate for the Blue Jays (2-1) before a crowd of 35,505, bringing the total for their first three home dates in 2011 to an impressive 110,683.

After a day off Monday, they open a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, and avoiding a significant attendance drop-off for those dates will be an accomplishment.

Cecil (0-1) came into his start looking to generate more power from his delivery by quickening the pace of his windup, and he seemed to manage on that front by sitting at 89-90 m.p.h. and topping out at 92 during the outing.

In his second-last start of the spring, Cecil had expressed concern about a drop in his velocity, but was pleased after touching 90 in his last Grapefruit League start.

But his location suffered in the fifth Sunday, when the ball got up and the Twins (1-2) took advantage.

He gave up five hits, including RBI singles by Matt Tolbert and Tsuyoshi Nishioka, plus a walk in the frame, but the damage might have been much worse had Twins third base coach Steve Liddle not given a poor "send" sign to Danny Valencia. He was easily thrown out by Snider on Tolbert's single.

But Cecil also hurt himself by looking to third base too long on Drew Butera's bunt after the first two runners had reached, and by the time he fired the ball to first, the sacrifice attempt had become a base hit.

Afterwards, Cecil bent over in frustration, hands on his knees and needed to be calmed by Arencibia during a well-timed mound visit.

The Blue Jays escaped the inning when Snider snared Justin Morneau's liner to left.

Cecil also allowed a solo shot to Valencia in the third that opened the scoring, and finished with six hits, two walks and three strikeouts in his five innings.

Blackburn (1-0) meanwhile allowed an unearned run in the fourth when Nishioka threw away Edwin Encarnacion's grounder, allowing Lind to score, and a blast to left by Bautista in the sixth.

The Blue Jays threatened in the seventh putting the first two runners on before Escobar sacrificed them over.

Rivera then grounded out to the pitcher and Bautista flew out to centre to end the threat.

News & Notes: Blue Jays CF and leadoff hitter Rajai Davis is expected to play Tuesday after being scratched for a second straight game with a sore right ankle. He was initially in Sunday's lineup but was later removed. "Even though there's more improvement this morning, when he got into some functional drills and some running, more change of direction, he still felt like there was some uncertainty in the confidence in it," said manager John Farrell. "We felt it was best to back him out today and take advantage of another day plus (Monday's) off day." … Brandon Morrow threw two 20-pitch sessions with a break in between during a bullpen session Sunday morning. Barring any setbacks, he's slated to leave for Dunedin on Tuesday and pitch in the single-A club's opener Thursday. … Reliever Frank Francisco will throw off a mound Monday and if he comes out of that OK, will join Morrow in Dunedin on Thursday. Farrell said reliever Octavio Dotel continues to make progress and could be activated at some point during the team's upcoming 10-game road trip.