Wells carries Blue Jays past Athletics <h3>TORONTO 11, OAKLAND 7</h3>OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- When Vernon Wells bats leadoff,he jump-starts the offense for the Toronto Blue Jays. Wells was a one-man wrecking machine, going 4-for-5 and hittinga pair of home runs as the Blue Jays routed the OaklandAthletics, 10-4, on Monday night. Wells who is 13-for-35 with five homers and 11 games in eightgames as the leadoff man, tied a career high with the four hitsand two homers. "That's different, going up and leading off the game, especiallyon the road," Wells said. "I just made some changes, got backto basics ... see the ball and hit the ball and whatever happensafter that, happens. The (home runs) came in situations whereI was able to get the inning started, we were able to score someruns and hopefully continue to get better as an offense and bemore consistent. "That's something we haven't been able to do this year and I'mone of the reasons it's been that way this year since I've beenone of the most inconsistent people on the team this year." Wells reached base five times Monday as the Blue Jays snapped afour-game losing streak. Josh Towers (4-5) pitched five innings, allowing four runs andfive hits. He struck out four and walked two in improving to6-2 lifetime at the Coliseum with a 4.10 ERA. Towers notchedconsecutive wins for the first time since August 12-17, 2005. "I love this stadium but I don't know what it is that adds extraconfidence," Towers said. "I don't know if it's the extra foulterritory or if I just have good vision with the catcher but Ilove pitching here. We've won three in a row over my last threestarts so that's what feels really good. We weren't (winning) any of mystarts last year or the start of this year so to win three in arow, it's a good sign for us." "I made the decision after five (innings) with the middle oftheir lineup and all those lefties coming up," Toronto managerJohn Gibbons said. "He fell behind and then we bounced back.They got two more but he got us through five." Toronto had six consecutive hits and eight straight battersreached base in a six-run third inning that erased a 2-0 lead.With one out, Wells got it started with a booming home run toleft field off Oakland's Lenny DiNardo. "Wells is one of the better hitters in this league and if youleave a ball over the plate for him, he'll hit it a long way,"Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "He's a big-time player." Alex Rios, Troy Glaus and Frank Thomas singled off DiNardo, withThomas driving in his 42nd run. Aaron Hill doubled down theleft field line to plate Glaus and Adam Lind had a run-scoringsingle. But the insult to injury in the inning was a squibber off thebat of Jason Phillips toward the mound. DiNardo fumbled theball and failed to record an out, allowing the fifth run toscore. DiNardo had an early exit and his worst outing of the season,pitching only 2 1/3 innings and giving up six runs - four earned- and eight hits. He has lost three of his last fourdecisions. "Basically, I was leaving the ball up," DiNardo said. "I lookedat the tape and it was like night and day. My pitches were up.The first two innings, I felt like I was on my game. I waspounding the strike zone down and now I have to look at whathappened in the third and work on it." The Jays took advantage of the error on Royce Clayton'ssacrifice fly, scoring Curtis Thigpen off reliever Colby Lewis. DiNardo was 0-1 with a 9.60 ERA in eight previous lifetimeappearances - including one start - against Toronto. "They got a lot of hits tonight and found all the holes," Gerensaid. "It wasn't our night on the mound. We scored enough runsto win the game on a normal night the way we've been pitching." After the A's scored twice in the fourth on Dan Johnson'stwo-run homer to cut the deficit to 6-4, Wells led off the sixthand again homered to left to start another rally. It was the16th time Wells had homered twice in a game. Rios singled to left center, stole second and scored on Thomas'single to center increasing the lead to 8-4. The Jays added two more runs in the seventh. Reliever RonFlores walked in a run with the bases loaded and Glaus delivereda sacrifice fly. The A's added two more runs in the seventh on Nick Swisher'stwo-run double to get within 10-6. Johnson and Shannon Stewart had three hits apiece for Oakland,which returned home following a 3-7 road trip.
