TORONTO — Dana Eveland pitched six
innings, Travis Snider homered and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the
Chicago White Sox 7-3 Thursday night.
Alex Gonzalez matched a career high
with four hits and had three RBIs as the Blue Jays improved to 7-3.
One night after a stadium-low crowd of
10,610 watched an 11-1 loss, attendance rose slightly to 10,744 for the
series finale.
Eveland (2-0), who pitched 7 1/3
scoreless innings against Baltimore on April 10, followed that with a
solid outing against the White Sox, allowing two runs and three hits in
six-plus innings. He walked three and struck out four.
He didn't allow a run until White Sox
rookie catcher Donny Lucy hit a two-out solo homer to left in the fifth,
the first of his career.
The second-deck shot snapped Eveland's
season-opening streak of 11 1/3 scoreless innings, the longest by a
Blue Jays pitcher to start his Toronto career. Mike Flanagan pitched 10
2/3 scoreless innings after joining the Blue Jays in a trade with
Baltimore in 1987.
Shawn Camp replaced Eveland after a
leadoff walk in the seventh and struck out Alex Rios but gave up a
two-run homer to Alexei Ramirez, his first.
Casey Janssen worked the eighth and
Jason Frasor, who lost the closer's job to Kevin Gregg on Wednesday,
pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
Snider opened the scoring with a solo
drive to right in the second, his first, off Freddy Garcia.
Toronto added three more in the third
on back-to-back doubles by Gonzalez and Adam Lind and a sacrifice fly
by John Buck.
Garcia (0-2) allowed seven runs and
eight hits in three-plus innings, walked three and struck out three. He
left one batter after Mike McCoy's RBI double in the fourth. Gonzalez
greeted left-hander Randy Williams with a two-run double.
After nine starts in right field,
Jose Bautista made his first appearance of the year at third base in
place of Edwin Encarnacion, who sat out with a sore right arm. Manager
Cito Gaston said Encarnacion was expected to miss "a couple of days."
Encarnacion missed most of spring training recovering from a sore left
wrist, the result of surgery last October.
Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay
went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, dropping his average to .077.
Notes
Snider made a diving catch of
Lucy's liner to left in the seventh. … Former Blue Jays 3B Kelly
Gruber attended the game, as did Toronto Raptors players Jarrett Jack
and Sonny Weems. … McCoy had two doubles.