Chamberlain shaky as Blue Jays prevail

NEW YORK -- Joba Chamberlain struggled with his control, walked off the mound in the third inning and threw his glove in the dugout.

His first major league start was a memorable one, just not for the reasons he’d hoped.

Chamberlain lasted only 2 1/3 innings and Roy Halladay held the New York Yankees in check despite some control problems of his own, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 9-3 victory on Tuesday night.

Alex Rios extended his hitting streak against the Yankees to 24 games and David Eckstein had three runs batted in for Toronto, which patiently concentrated on Chamberlain’s pitch count and forced New York to use six pitchers total.

Halladay (7-5) won his fourth consecutive decision and improved to 5-1 with a 2.58 earned-run average in his last seven games. He gave up two runs and six hits in six innings. The former AL Cy Young Award winner got off to a rough start but quickly settled down and improved to 11-5 with a 3.03 earned-run average against New York.