Halladay Slowed, Blue Jays Still Win

Roy Halladay understood why he didn’t get any more chances to win his 12th consecutive start.

Halladay got a no-decision and Montreal Expo reliever Julio Manon walked Shannon Stewart with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Toronto Blue Jays a 6-5 victory Friday night.

Halladay gave up five runs and nine hits in eight innings. With the score tied at 5-5, Toronto Manager Carlos Tosca didn’t let Halladay pitch the ninth.

He was trying to become only the fourth pitcher since 1950 to win 12 consecutive starts -- only Bob Gibson, Pat Dobson and Brad Radke have done it.

“Going out and trying to win one more game in a row isn’t as important as us winning the game,” Halladay said.

Halladay, a 26-year-old right-hander, went 0-2 in his first six starts before winning 11 in a row.

“It’s nice to get a number like that, but you have to understand why you got it, and the main reason is we’ve been scoring a lot of runs,” Halladay said.

Tosca said it was hard to remove him.

“It was very difficult because he had gotten stronger as the game went on,” Tosca said. “It was not an easy decision.”

Manon (0-1) walked Reed Johnson leading off the ninth before Eric Hinske singled to center. After Dave Berg advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, Manon walked Mike Bordick to load the bases.

The reliever went to a 3-2 count on Stewart before throwing a ball low and outside, scoring Johnson.

Stewart also hit a tying home run in the seventh for the Blue Jays, who are 3-1 this season against their Canadian rivals.

Trever Miller (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.

Montreal’s Orlando Cabrera hit an RBI single in the first, and Jose Vidro followed with an RBI grounder.

Expo starter Livan Hernandez walked Greg Myers with the bases loaded in the bottom half, cutting Montreal’s lead to 2-1.

Toronto’s Chris Woodward hit an RBI grounder in the second.

Montreal scored three runs in the third on Brad Wilkerson’s RBI single and Wil Cordero’s two-run homer.