Marco Scutaro, right, is met at home plate by teammate David Dellucci after homering in Toronto's 10-6 win on Wednesday. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Forget Roy Halladay for a minute. Marco Scutaro could be the topic of the next phone call fielded by Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi.

With baseball's non-waiver trade deadline fast approaching, Scutaro may have moved up some wish lists Wednesday night by having his first career multihomer game and matching a career high with four RBIs to help Toronto batter the visiting Cleveland Indians 10-6.

Scutaro, who was already rumoured to be on the radar of teams looking for a shortstop, is now just one homer shy of his lifetime best of nine set in 2005 with Oakland. As a pending free agent, he represents a low-risk option for a contender ahead of the July 31 deadline.

"The only things I control are taking my ground balls, playing hard, getting on base," said the Venezuelan, who also drew a walk to increase his career-high total in that category to 60.

"Rumours, trades … you don't have control over that kind of stuff."

Scutaro's three-run blast in the sixth off reliever Jose Veras was the big blow for the Jays, who also got solo shots from Vernon Wells, Aaron Hill and Alex Rios to treat the 18,375 fans in attendance to the team's first five-homer game since 2006.

With the victory, Toronto (47-48) avenged its 2-1 loss in the series opener while keeping Cleveland (37-58) in the basement of the AL Central.

Pavano can't last

All four of the Jays' solo homers came off Indians starter Carl Pavano, who didn't make it out of a disastrous five-run fifth inning. The much-maligned righty – he'll likely be remembered as the guy who collected $40 million US while making a paltry 26 starts over the previous four years with the Yankees – coughed up seven runs on seven hits to fall to 8-8.

"It's just one of those games where I struggled to get the ball down," Pavano said.

Jays starter Ricky Romero wasn't a whole lot better as he struggled with his control for the second straight start. The rookie lefty walked five batters and gave up six hits over 5 1/3 innings of work but limited his damage to four runs.

"I think I'm just being overly aggressive right now," said Romero, who pitched just well enough to improve to 8-4. "This game is all about rhythm, and right now, I don't feel like I have any rhythm."

Romero, who walked five over 4 1/3 innings in Friday's 4-1 loss to Boston, picked up where he left off, issuing a free pass to leadoff man Grady Sizemore on four straight fastballs. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a double into the right-field corner, and one out later, Travis Hafner grounded into a shifted infield to cash Sizemore.

Pavano, meanwhile, came out firing as he set down the first five hitters in order. But Wells put an end to that by smacking a rope over the left-field wall to give himself 10 homers on the year.

Hill duplicated the feat in the fourth, arcing his team-leading 21st to nearly the same spot to put Toronto ahead 2-1.

Scutaro 'driving in some big runs': Gaston

The wheels came off for Pavano in the fifth. Rios led off with a majestic shot into the seats in left-centre for his 11th, and two outs later, Scutaro hooked one inside the left-field foul pole.

The Jays then showed they could do it without the long ball, as Scott Rolen sandwiched a run-scoring flare between RBI doubles by Adam Lind and Lyle Overbay.

Cleveland struck back in the sixth with a three-run homer by Luis Valbuena – the last batter Romero would face. But Scutaro erased that in the bottom of the inning by taking Veras over the wall in left for his second of the night and eighth of the season.

"He's done just about everything you could ask him to do as far as defence, getting on base and driving in some big runs," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said of Scutaro.

The Indians got two back in the seventh — too little, too late, as it were — when Jhonny Peralta hit a run-scoring double off reliever Jesse Carlson, and Ben Francisco followed with an RBI single off Brandon League.