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MINNEAPOLIS — A veteran of 16 major-league baseball seasons, Matt Stairs is more than just a grip-it and rip-it power hitter when he steps into the batter's box for the Toronto Blue Jays.
"He's got a plan every time," Toronto manager John Gibbons said of his Canadian-raised designated hitter before last night's game against the Minnesota Twins.
The strategy for Stairs when he came to the plate in the first inning with the bases loaded at the Metrodome was simple enough — to provide some much needed support for Roy Halladay, the Jays' run-starved starting pitcher.
And Stairs came through, knocking a grand slam that provided his penetrating right-hander with an early boost and the Jays hung on to win 6-5 after Scott Rolen scored an excuse-me winning run in the eighth inning.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Roy Halladay throws against Minnesota Twins during the fourth inning Wednesday night. (Eric Miller/Reuters)
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With the triumph, Halladay improved to 4-5 and helped lead the suddenly hot Jays, 20-22, to their third win in a row, levelling their record to 3-3 on a 10-game trip.
"They battled Doc," Gibbons said. "It wasn't an easy night for him. It was a good win. We're playing good baseball."
Rolen scored what turned out to be the decisive run in the eight inning after punching a one-out double with the Jays clinging to a 5-4 lead.
After taking his lead at second base, Rolen took a couple of steps toward third while Minnesota pitcher Jesse Crain was still in his set position on the mound.
Rolen stopped dead in his tracks after he realized his mistake, but Crain had a brain cramp and threw over to third baseman Mike Lamb just as Lamb broke to cover the bag.
The ball bounded into foul territory down the third-base line and Rolen came all the way around to score the unearned run.
"That was just a great display of base running," Stairs deadpanned. "It's not the way you want to write it up, but it worked perfect."
Rolen's run was key, because in the Minnesota eighth inning, Justin Morneau singled and then scored on a double to the wall in left-centre field by Jason Kubel to pull the Twins to one run behind.
Reliever Scott Downs came on in the ninth inning for Toronto to secure his fifth save.
Halladay, whose start came on his 31st birthday, has been the hard-luck partner in the Jays' starting rotation despite pitching a major-league leading four complete games.
Unfortunately for Halladay, he lost three of those complete games — done in by lousy offensive support by his mates, who averaged just 2.8 runs a game through his first eight starts.
Stairs made a bold move at trying to rectify that matter in the first inning last night.
The Fredericton native crushed a first-pitch offering from Minnesota pitcher Boof Bonser into the first row of seats in the upper deck in right field for a grand slam that moved the Jays in front 4-0.
For Stairs, it was his second consecutive home run in as many games and his 11th career grand slam. It was his sixth homer of the season, tops on the team.
"You can't rely on Doc to go out every time to throw a complete game and allow no runs," Stairs said. "It was nice to get some early run support.
"That's the win that sometimes can turn the year around for a guy."
It was a good night in general for Canadians as Morneau, who hails from New Westminster, B.C., responded with a two-run shot in the three-run Minnesota first inning that cut the Jays' lead to 4-3.
"The game needs more Canadians," Gibbons noted.
Minnesota went to work again in the third inning, with Matt Tolbert coming into score on a groundout by Michael Cuddyer that tied the score 4-4.
The Jays helped Halladay out again in the fourth inning when Brad Wilkerson singled to left field to score Shannon Stewart from second base, and Toronto moved back in front, 5-4.
Toronto catcher Gregg Zaun made a great heads-up play to help preserve that lead in the fourth inning after Delmon Young lifted a broken bat single down the line in right field.
With Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay stationed well off first base, Young made a wide turn at the bag and failed to notice as Zaun scampered down the line behind him.
By the time Young did notice, it was too late as Wilkerson's throw from right field to Zaun covering at first was just in the nick of time to get Young as he tried to dive back to the bag.
Halladay departed with two out in the seventh inning.
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