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one of the tightest Six Nations
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TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays relied on their big bats in the first two games of their nine-game homestand. Indiana Pacers Jerseys 2022 . The power game was minimized Friday and it proved costly in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels that ended Torontos season-high five-game winning streak. Angels leadoff man Erick Aybar tripled to open the ninth inning and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Raul Ibanez. Ernesto Frieri earned his fourth save to end a choppy, mistake-filled game that at times was not pretty to watch. Torontos bullpen struggled after a five-inning effort from starter Dustin McGowan. Sergio Santos left the game in the seventh with the bases loaded and Steve Delabar followed by walking in a run. Brett Cecil (0-3) was uneven in the ninth as the Blue Jays fell back to the .500 mark. "Thats where weve struggled this year -- throwing strikes out of the bullpen," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "If they beat you, make them hit it to beat you." Toronto (18-18) pumped out 22 runs over its two-game mini-sweep of Philadelphia leading into the opener of a four-game series against the Angels. The Blue Jays scratched out runs where they could on this night, scoring twice on wild pitches and getting another run on a Jose Reyes solo homer. McGowan was hit and miss on the mound and did well to escape with just two earned runs allowed. Santos breezed through the sixth inning but gave up a one-out double to Aybar in the seventh. Aybar moved to third on a groundout and after an intentional walk to Albert Pujols and another walk to Ibanez, Delabar threw four straight balls to Howie Kendrick that were well out of the zone. "It was one of those days where I thought it was right there," Delabar said. "When I released the ball, I thought it was in the zone but it was nowhere close." Mike Trout hit his seventh homer of the season for Los Angeles (17-17). Aybar, meanwhile, was 3 for 5 and is hitting .397 over his last 15 games. "Hes swinging the bat nice, he has confidence up there," said acting Angels manager Dino Ebel. "Hes putting good wood on it and he wants to be the guy ... hats off to him getting that big triple there in the ninth inning." Reyes had three hits and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who were outhit 9-7 in front of 21,383 spectators under the roof at Rogers Centre. Los Angeles starter Garrett Richards was wild at times but turned in a solid performance overall, allowing five hits, two earned runs and two walks while striking out six. "Richards is one of the best young pitchers in the game," Gibbons said. "He can overpower you. He shut down a pretty offence too tonight. So that was the key there. "We were in a position to win, we just didnt win it." Richards second wild pitch in the first inning allowed Reyes to open the scoring. Trout gave the Angels a 2-1 lead with his solo shot in the third inning but another wild pitch from Richards allowed Melky Cabrera to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame. The Angels nearly went ahead when McGowan fired a wild pitch of his own with two outs in the fifth inning. The ball bounced back toward catcher Dioner Navarro, who tagged Ibanezs leg as he slid at home plate. Umpire Angel Hernandez ruled him safe but Gibbons challenged the call and the decision was reversed to end the inning. Reliever Joe Smith (2-0) replaced Richards in the eighth and Reyes greeted him by lashing a pitch that barely cleared the wall in right field. It was the third home run of the year for the Toronto shortstop, who has struggled to find a groove after missing time with a hamstring problem last month. "He looks back," Gibbons said. "Hes feeling good, hes bouncing around. He got off to a slow start with the bat but its coming. He can do so many things." The Blue Jays put the potential go-ahead run at second base later in the eighth but Juan Francisco struck out to keep the game tied. Notes: Ebel, the Angels bench coach, will also serve as skipper on Saturday as regular manager Mike Scioscia is away at his daughters college graduation. ... Toronto slugger Jose Bautista singled in the eighth inning and has now reached base safely in a club-record 36 straight games to open the season. Its the longest season-opening on-base streak since Pujols had a 41-gamer in 2008. ... The game took three hours nine minutes to play. ... McGowan allowed seven hits, two walks and struck out a pair. ... The Blue Jays entered play Friday with five players in the American Leagues top 10 in home runs. Bautista and Colby Rasmus were tied for third spot with nine apiece. Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., and Cabrera were tied for ninth with six homers apiece. Chicagos Jose Abreu leads the AL with 12 homers and Pujols is next with 10. ... J.A. Happ (1-0) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday. Fellow left-hander Tyler Skaggs (2-1) goes for the Angels. ... The challenge in the fifth inning lasted much longer than usual. The unofficial time was three minutes 20 seconds. ... Toronto has hit at least one homer in all 15 home games this season. ... The Blue Jays have dropped eight of their last nine games against the Angels. Indiana Pacers Store . The stress, the waiting, the whispers about whether he doped during his stellar cycling career, all of it ended when - after nearly two years - federal prosecutors closed an investigation of him last week without bringing any charges. Wholesale Indiana Pacers Jerseys . -- Syracuse was dangerously close to letting another less talented opponent pull off the upset when C.ROME -- England cheered for France, to no avail. France couldnt do itself or England a favour by beating Ireland in the Six Nations finale, as Ireland won 22-20 to take the title and leave England runner-up for a third straight year on Saturday. England did its bit with a 52-11 win over Italy at Stadio Olimpico hours earlier, putting added pressure on Ireland to win in bogey Paris. Ireland pipped England on points difference by 10. The English underlined their game-by-game improvement, rebounding from an opening loss to France with four straight statement wins over Scotland, Ireland, defending champion Wales, and Italy, which conceded 50 points at home to the English for the first time in a decade. Italy, which wound up with the wooden spoon and winless, also hadnt shipped 50 to a Six Nations team in five years. "Credit to Ireland - they are deserved winners and its a fitting finale and send-off for Brian ODriscoll, a legend of the game whom everyone in this squad respects massively," England coach Stuart Lancaster said in a statement. "We always knew this was going to be one of the tightest Six Nations and go down to the wire." England scored seven tries to one in perfect spring conditions in front of a sell-out crowd. Indiana Pacers Jerseys 2021. . Owen Farrell scored a try and converted all seven to finish with 22 points. He made all eight of his goalkicks. Man-of-the-match fullback Mike Brown crossed twice. "We scored some great tries and weve come here and scored 50, and not many teams have done that," Lancaster said. "There were some errors in the first half, but Im just proud of the boys. Its a great squad weve got developing and the bigger picture is important." Lancaster emptied his bench in the second half, and centre Manu Tuilagi, on for Luther Burrell, made his first England appearance in a year, and six month after a chest surgery, and scored the teams sixth try. Then England conceded an intercept try to winger Leonardo Sarto, which hurt Englands hopes of making a bigger impact through points differential. It was little comfort for Italy. "We started this tournament well and we finished negatively," Italy coach Jacques Brunel said, referring to a narrow opening loss at Wales. "Were behind in terms of what our goals were." ' ' '