Halladay Beats Diamondbacks in His Return

Roy Halladay looked good and, more important, felt great in his return from the disabled list.

The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner pitched 5 2/3 solid innings, and Eric Hinske homered and drove in a career-high five runs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 15-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.

“I’m really happy with the way it went,” said Halladay, who skipped two starts because of a sore shoulder. “I was pretty confident that if I got rest and treatment I would be OK.”

Halladay (6-4) gave up two runs and three hits, struck out five and walked one. He was kept on a pitch count by Toronto Manager Carlos Tosca.

“It’s not fun to sit out,” said Halladay, who threw 82 pitches.

The 15 runs tied a season high for the Blue Jays, who have been waiting for the offense to produce. Toronto has hit the second-fewest homers in the American League (48).

Hinske had three hits in four at-bats, raising his average to .238. He hit a three-run homer off Andrew Good (0-1) in the third, and his two-run single in the fourth gave Toronto an 8-0 lead.

“I’ve just been trying to keep my head up all season,” Hinske said. “I’ve been struggling, but you can’t get mad.”

Vernon Wells homered and tied a career high with four hits, including a three-run homer off Scott Service in the seventh.

“It looked like Roy didn’t miss a beat,” Arizona Manager Bob Brenly said. “We couldn’t get anything going against Halladay early on. He kept us honest early, and then they put it away, and we didn’t have a chance.”

The Blue Jays sent 10 men to the plate in the fourth and scored five times on Frank Menechino’s home run, Reed Johnson’s sacrifice fly, Hinske’s two-run single and Chris Woodward’s RBI double.