ANAHEIM, Calif. - The shutout streak came to an early end for the Toronto Blue Jays and a halt to their winning streak eventually followed.
After watching Brandon Morrow and Henderson Alvarez slice and dice their way through the Los Angeles Angels in the first two games of the series, Kyle Drabek failed to keep things going Saturday, getting burned for a season-high five runs in five innings in a 6-2 loss.
The sophomore right-hander, coming off perhaps the best outing of his young career Monday, also walked five, apparently taking the whole Cinco de Mayo thing a little too literally before a crowd of 39,018.
"Just couldn't seem to find the four-seam fastball and that's what beat me today," said Drabek, who relied on "really just the two-seamer and a few cutters, the curveballs were good early on. But I definitely need the four-seamer to be able to not get in jams."
Drabek (2-3) walked a tight-rope for much of the outing, surrendering a run in the second to end the club's shutout streak at 23 innings and having at least one runner reach in each inning.
He bent in the fifth on Mike Trout's go-ahead solo shot and down 2-1, broke in a messy sixth - perhaps the worst defensive inning played by the Blue Jays this season - when he gave up Mark Trumbo's leadoff blast and then left the bases loaded with no one out.
Inheriting three runners that reached on a walk, an infield single during a hit-and-run that disrupted shortstop Yunel Escobar from getting an out, and a bunt just past Drabek, Jason Frasor allowed Trout's sacrifice fly before inducing a weak comebacker from Alberto Callaspo that should have ended the inning.
Instead, he bounced a relay to second past Escobar, allowing a fifth run to come home, wasting a potential double play ball.
The Blue Jays made three errors in all.
"We weren't sharp," lamented manager John Farrell. "Defensively we didn't really take care of the ball in those middle and late innings, where we kind of contributed to a couple of those runs."
Though Adam Lind opened the seventh with a solo blast, his second of the year, the Blue Jays (16-12) were buried too deep by then to keep their four-game win streak going.
C.J. Wilson (4-2) allowed six hits and three walks in nine innings, but was fortunate in helping the Angels (11-17) end their two-game losing skid despite sitting the struggling Albert Pujols for the night.
Colby Rasmus in the fifth, Rajai Davis in the seventh and Edwin Encarnacion in the eighth all had balls destined for the seats die in the soupy SoCal air. Jose Bautista, whose RBI single in the fourth tied things up 1-1, ripped a ball to left with two one and one out in the sixth but it was right at Vernon Wells.
"You get into the colder weather, damp nights, and this becomes very much a pitcher's ballpark," said Farrell.
Two of Drabek's five walks were to Wells, who began the night with two bases on balls all year. He doubled and scored on Bobby Wilson's RBI single off a hanging curveball in the second, and then came around in the sixth on Trout's drive.
Kendrys Morales added an RBI single in the eighth.
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BULLPEN GETS WORK:
Relievers Jason Frasor, Joel Carreno and Luis Perez all saw action Saturday, the first work for the bullpen since Wednesday. That gap in action forced the Blue Jays to have Darren Oliver and Francisco Cordero throw in the bullpen Friday to stay fresh, and might lead to others doing the same Sunday.
"If a guy goes three days without getting into a game we'll get him on the mound for sure," said manager John Farrell. "That's part of a touch-up type thing, could be a 20-25 pitch pen just to get back in touch with the mound and keep their arm-strength."
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REST FOR YUNEL?:
Manager John Farrell's plan coming into the weekend was to sit Yunel Escobar in Sunday's series finale for Omar Vizquel, but the shortstop's improved work at the plate might lead him to change that.
"He's gone every game for us and yet the last five games, he's really started to swing the bat well and been in the middle of all our offence," said Farrell. "He'll probably fight me on it but we'll have a conversation before the end of the day about (Sunday)."
Escobar went 1-for-3 with a walk Saturday and is now 9-for-20 during a five-game hit streak that coincided with Farrell moving him to second in the order with Kelly Johnson moving up into the leadoff spot.
"There are probably a number of factors that play into it, and it could very well be he was just starting to come out of what he was going through at time," said Farrell. "If Kelly gets on we can open some holes for him by putting Kelly in motion, but more importantly we're starting to see the line drives to centre field, to right-centre field a little bit more frequently. The ground balls are going to be there, that's the type of hitter he is. I don't want to overthink it, he's been in the middle of it the last five days."
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