Carpenter Solid In Jays Win

Chris Carpenter knew early that he had his best stuff.

The Toronto right-hander got his sixth straight win with a complete-game seven-hitter, beating the Minnesota Twins 6-3 Wednesday night.

Carpenter (9-5) allowed six singles and a two-run homer, striking out a season-high nine and walking none.

"You try to take the stuff you had in the pen with you into the game," said Carpenter, who hasn't lost in 10 starts. "For me tonight, I brought it with me. Right from the get-go, all my stuff was pretty good."

"I'm just trying to go out and do the best job I can every night," Carpenter said. "If I throw well, those things will come."

With the win, Toronto maintained its one-game lead over Boston in the AL wild-card race.

Carlos Delgado hit his 34th home run and Tony Batista hit his 17th, ruining a strong outing by Minnesota starter Eric Milton. The left-hander struck out a career-high 12, including Jacob Brumfield three times and Delgado and Shawn Green twice each.

"I'm not trying to rack up K's, I'm trying to get wins," Milton said. "I don't know what else to do, they're just hot right now."

Milton (4-9) gave up four runs and nine hits while walking one in seven innings.

"I hit a fastball for my home run," Delgado said. "I was cheating on that first at-bat. But aftethat, he made some really, really good pitches on me. I think he's one of the best left-handers in the league."

Delgado's solo homer was a high, arching shot that landed deep in the upper right field stands at the Metrodome, helping Toronto to its second straight win at Minnesota. The Blue Jays' slugger has homered in four straight games and has eight home runs in his last six games.

Delgado's homer leading off the second gave the Blue Jays to a 1-0 lead. They added another run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Shannon Stewart and two more in the sixth on a run-scoring triple by Brian McRae and an RBI single by Green.

Batista's two-run homer in the eighth off reliever Eddie Guardado gave Toronto a 6-1 lead.

Jacque Jones drove in all three Twins runs with a bloop single in the fourth inning and a two-run homer in the ninth, his fifth of the season.

Notes