Atlanta Braves' Matt Diaz, left, is greeted to cheers after scoring the winning run in the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday in Atlanta. (John Amis/Associated Press)Kenshin Kawakami outlasted Roy Halladay and combined with closer Mike Gonzalez on a four-hitter to lead the Atlanta Braves past the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 on Friday night in the interleague opener for both teams.
Kawakami (3-5) lasted eight innings вЂ" his longest outing of the season вЂ" and gave up only three hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Casey Kotchman drove in the only run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly.
Halladay gave up five hits with one walk and six strikeouts in seven scoreless innings, ending his streak of wins in five straight starts.
Gonzalez escaped a jam in the ninth for his seventh save.
The Braves took advantage of Halladay's exit to score the game's only run and hand the Blue Jays their fourth straight loss.
Matt Diaz, pinch-hitting for Kawakami, led off the eighth with a double to centre off Jesse Carlson (1-3) and moved to third on Yunel Escobar's groundout to first. Diaz scored on Kotchman's fly to left field.
Aaron Hill hit a one-out double to left field off Gonzalez and advanced to third on Alex Rios's weak grounder to Gonzalez.
Vernon Wells followed with a grounder that a charging Martin Prado bobbled briefly before recovering to throw to first. The throw beat Wells by a half step.
The Blue Jays scored a total of five runs in losing three straight at Boston before continuing their nine-game road trip in Atlanta.
"We couldn't score any runs," Gaston said. "We're having trouble scoring runs right now. [Kawakami] threw the ball well. You can't take anything away from him. They both pitched a very good game."
Shut out for the first time this season, the Blue Jays remain one-half game ahead of Boston in the AL East.
Kawakami shines
Kawakami gave up only two hits through seven scoreless innings before Scott Rolen led off the eighth with a double to left.
Rolen was left standing at second as Lyle Overbay grounded out to Kawakami, Rod Barajas hit a fly to shallow right field, and pinch-hitter Joe Inglett struck out.
Kawakami, who had lost five of his last six decisions and entered the game with a 5.73 ERA, looked to be an unlikely bet to keep pace with Halladay, the 2003 Cy Young winner who was looking to win his sixth straight start.
"When you run into a guy who's pitching well, it makes it tough," Halladay said. "We ran into one who was pitching well. You have to tip your hat to him."
Kawakami, a 33-year-old rookie, didn't last more than six innings in any of his first seven starts, but he looked strong against the Blue Jays after limiting his pitch count early in the game.
Kawakami struck out the side in the sixth inning and again retired the Blue Jays in order in the seventh.
Halladay kept pace by pitching out of trouble in the first and fourth innings.
The Braves had runners on first and third in the first following singles by Kotchman and Brian McCann, but Kelly Johnson took a called third strike to end the threat.
Garret Anderson and McCann led off the fourth with singles before Johnson struck out after two failed bunt attempts. Anderson advanced to third on Martin Prado's groundout, but Jeff Francoeur's flyball to right field ended the inning.
