Former Toronto Blue Jay Kelvim Escobar pitched seven strong innings on Thursday to help the Los Angeles Angels prevent getting swept at one of their least favourite ballparks.

Gary Matthews hit a towering shot to pace Los Angeles offensively in a 4-3 win, walking and scoring twice as the Angels became the second team in the majors, after Boston, to reach the 70-win mark.

Chone Figgins tags Toronto's Reed Johnson out at third base in the first inning Thursday.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

Escobar (13-6) struck out nine, allowing just one run on five hits. The right-hander pitched for Toronto from 1997-2003.

"I had great stuff tonight," said Escobar, 31. "I haven't felt like that in a long time."

Toronto (61-59) went down swinging 12 times in the loss that puts the club six back of idle Seattle in the American League wildcard race.

The Blue Jays did give the home fans hope with a two-run rally in the ninth off Los Angeles closer Francisco Rodriguez.

Vernon Wells tripled with one out, and Frank Thomas and Gregg Zaun followed with RBI singles. Matt Stairs flied out to centre with two men on to end the game.

"We can win series the rest of the year and I think we'll be fine," said Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay. "But there's going to be a game here and there where we need to pick it up somewhere and this might have been it."

Superstition or strategy

The Angels had lost 14 of their previous 18 games at Rogers Centre. Whether it was superstition or strategy, manager Mike Scioscia gave his team a day off from batting practice.

Los Angeles proceeded to score more than three runs in Toronto's ballpark for the first time since before the 2004 all-star break.

While his teammates flailed away at the plate against Escobar, Blue Jays pitcher Dustin McGowan gave his side a chance to win.

McGowan (8-7) allowed three earned runs on four hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked three.

"We'll take a performance like that out of him every time," said catcher Gregg Zaun.

Reserve shortstop Ray Olmedo sparked Toronto's first run. Olmedo, brought up from Syracuse earlier in the month after veteran Royce Clayton was let go, doubled in the sixth and scored on Reed Johnson's base hit.

After yielding hits to the first two batters, Escobar had retired 15 in a row before allowing the Olmedo run. Escobar then shut down the door, striking out Alex Rios and getting Wells to fly out.

Figgins thrown out

Toronto threatened in the bottom of the first, but Johnson got caught trying to go first to third on a single, with Matthews throwing to Chone Figgins for the out.

Matthews opened the scoring in the second with his 15th home run, a solo blast that hit the restaurant window in centre-field.

Leadoff batter Jeff Mathis walked in the third and was driven home on the 19th double of the season for Figgins, who is 6-for-16 in his last four games.

Overbay, who made a great defensive play to preserve a win on Wednesday night, had a seventh inning to forget.

He committed an error on Casey Kotchman's groundball and mishandled the throw from Rios in right. As a result of the miscues, Matthews was able to score all the way from first.

Maicer Izturis then doubled to score Kotchman.

"It was unacceptable," Overbay said. "It was an easy play and it just didn't happen. Rios' ball was an easy pick, it kind of shot off my glove and another run scored. It can't happen, especially when we have a chance to win a ballgame."

Brian Wolfe and Scott Downs combined on three innings of hitless relief for Toronto to keep the score 4-1 before the rally in the ninth.

After driving in Wells, Thomas now has a team-leading 70 RBIs.

Johnson and Overbay accounted for half of Toronto's eight hits on the night.

After the game the Blue Jays optioned infielder Hector Luna to triple-A Syracuse and recalled infielder Russ Adams.

Toronto will host the Baltimore Orioles for a three-game set beginning Friday.

A.J. Burnett (6-6) will make his second start since returning from a six-week injury layoff. Burnett, who had right shoulder troubles, gave up just three hits in seven innings to win last Sunday in Kansas City.

The Orioles are expected to counter with Garrett Olson (1-1, 4.60 ERA). Baltimore has taken four of their last six against AL powers New York and Boston.

With files from the Canadian Press