McGowan a bright spot in loss

TORONTO — On Wednesday the Toronto Blue Jays lost Brett Lawrie for the season, but in the process they may have found a potential starter for 2012.

Shortly after the Jays rookie third basemen was placed on the disabled list and shut down for 2011 with a broken right middle finger, Toronto starter Dustin McGowan went out and struck out eight over five impressive innings in a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles of Anaheim before 14,784 at Rogers Centre.

"I seem to get better each and every time, so that’s all I can ask for right now," said McGowan. "I’ve got one more start. Hopefully that goes well and get a little confident, get a whole off-season to rest and build some strength back up."

For Toronto (78-77) the loss dropped them to a game above .500 while the win allowed Los Angeles (85-70) to keep pace in the AL wild-card race.

As for Lawrie, his first season in the big-leagues came to an end eight games prematurely after a spectacular start in which he batted .293/.373/.580 with nine home runs and 25 RBIs in 43 games.

"He’s had a fantastic six weeks or so that he’s been here," said Jays manager John Farrell following the game. "It’s unfortunate that the year ends prematurely. When you look at the broken bones, it’s been a tough year for him in that regard, but what he’s shown on the field is a very, very bright future."

Lawrie suffered the non-displaced fracture during Wednesday’s pre-game warmups while fielding groundballs. He was replaced in the starting lineup at third base by Edwin Encarnacion, with David Cooper assuming DH duties.

As for McGowan, the 29-year-old made his most emphatic bid yet for a potential spot in the 2012 rotation after holding the Angels to two runs on five hits over five mostly dominant innings.

His performance was a welcome development for Toronto 24 hours after two of its starters to begin the season — Brett Cecil and Kyle Drabek — combined to give up 10 runs on 13 hits over five innings in Tuesday’s 10-6 loss.

Yet given McGowan’s medical history, Farrell remained reluctant to project a role for him beyond this season.

"The one thing that we’ve stated all along is this is clearly a rehab year for him," said Farrell, adding McGowan won’t be stretched beyond 85 pitches this season. "Hopefully we go into spring training, and if all things work out, he would then join the group with no restrictions, but then using a reasonable judgment with his situation."

Speedy Angels centre fielder Peter Bourjos—who put on a show at the plate and in the field Wednesday—led off the second with a triple and one batter later scored on second basemen Maicer Izturis’ RBI single to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

The score remained that way until the top of the fifth when Bourjos tuned on an inside fastball from McGowan and sent it over the left field wall for his 12th home run to make it 2-0.

Despite the strong outing, McGowan (0-1) is still searching for his first big-league win since June 22, 2008 vs. Pittsburgh.

With McGowan at 79 pitches at the end of the fifth, Farrell turned to Jesse Litsch to open the sixth. The right-hander gave up three hits in the frame, including a bases-loaded, two-run single to Vernon Wells to give the Angels a 4-0 advantage.

For good measure, Wells added a two-run blast to right-centre in the eighth, his 24th of the season, to make it 6-1.

Meanwhile, McGowan’s counterpart Dan Haren (16-9) was solid over his eight innings of work to pick up the win and snap a five-game road winless streak.

His lone blemish was a solo home run to Eric Thames (11) to leadoff the bottom of the sixth.

In the bottom of the eighth, Haren took a line drive from the bat of Thames off his left wrist and fell the ground in considerable pain. Thames was retired on the play to end the frame, but Haren did not return for the ninth.

X-rays on Haren following the game were negative and he is listed as day-to-day with a left wrist contusion.

In the ninth, Hisanori Takahashi surrendered a two-out, RBI double to Kelly Johnson before retiring J.P. Arencibia on a flyball to centre to end the game.