AMERICAN LEAGUE : Brewers Rally Past Blue Jays, 5-4

The Milwaukee Brewers have just been hangin’ around the last three days against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Brewers fell behind -- but not too far behind -- in each game and then rallied for a one-run victory over the division-leading Blue Jays.

On Saturday, it was Franklin Stubbs’ turn to make a difference. Stubbs, hitless in the series, homered with two outs in the eighth off Jack Morris, giving the Brewers a 5-4 victory.

“We don’t feel we’re out of a game even when we get behind,” said Stubbs, who is trying to put a miserable first season in Milwaukee behind him.

“We felt when the season started we would have a good club. It’s been a matter of getting timely hits. You have to win these type of games.”

Greg Vaughn hit a game-tying homer for the second straight game, a two-out, two-run shot in the fifth that made it 4-4. The Brewers had won 4-3 Friday night on back-to-back homers by Vaughn and Robin Yount.

Stubbs hit a 3-1 pitch to right for his second homer of the season. Stubbs, who batted .213 last season with 11 homers and 38 RBIs on the first year of a three-year, $6 million contract, has worked long hours with batting coach Mike Easler.

After Saturday’s victory, he was still hitting only .242, but said he’s made progress with 11 RBIs.

“You always feel great when you contribute to the victory. Even though I hadn’t had a hit in the series, I’d been hitting the ball hard,” Stubbs said.

“Morris had been throwing me some tough pitches and I finally got a pitch and took advantange of it. He threw one over the plate and it didn’t move a lot. I thought the wind might hold it up but I got enough of it.”

Morris lost for the second time after starting 3-0, giving up eight hits.

“The home runs got me. Both (pitches) were where I wanted to throw them, they just went farther than I expected,” said Morris, not concerned about three straight one-run losses for his new team. Milwaukee won 3-2 Thursday night when Darryl Hamilton threw Dave Winfield out at the plate to end the game.

“I’m not going to give them a whole lot of credit. I don’t think it’s a case of them playing that well. I think it’s more of a case of us not playing that well,” added Morris. “All of it will even out.”

Reliever Mike Fetters (1-0) pitched two innings of hitless relief for his first victory. Doug Henry pitched the ninth for his sixth save and third straight in the series.

“Games when you come from behind are the the best in the world,” Brewers manager Phil Garner said. “They’re intense and exciting, particularly when you got Jack Morris on the mound.

“Fetters shut them down and then got us to the closer. I’ve said all long you just keep plugging away and keep getting opportunities.

The Blue Jays have lost some wild games at County Stadium over the years. The Brewers have a better home record (61-38) against Toronto than any other AL team.

“The only time I feel safe is when I get on a plane out of here, because I’ve seen us lose all sorts of ways here,” Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said.

Toronto took a 4-2 lead with three runs in the third as Pat Tabler continued his uncanny career-long success with the bases loaded with a two-run single. Candy Maldonado followed with a run-scoring double off Dan Plesac, who retired 11 straight before giving up a hit and leaving the game in the seventh.

Tabler, who also had an RBI single in the second, hit his bases-loaded single in the hole to left, giving him 500 career RBIs. He has a .494 average with 106 RBIs in bases-loaded situations.

The Brewers got two runs in the first off Morris as Pat Listach walked and scored on Yount’s double. Yount went to third on an infield out and scored on Dante Bichette’s two-out bunt down the third-base line.

The Blue Jays got a run back in the second on Winfield’s double, extending his hitting streak to 10 games, and a single by Tabler.

Notes: Roberto Alomar’s 11-game hitting streak came to an end. He was 0 for 4, dropping his average to .381. ... Fetters hasn’t allowed an earned run in 6 2-3 innings this season. ... Milwaukee stole two more bases and has been successful on 12 of 14 steal attempts in the series.