"It was one pitch. Thats all it was tonight. One pitch. But he

KANSAS CITY – His Blue Jays mired in their first prolonged slump of the season, losers of six of eight and prone to giving away games in which theyve enjoyed healthy leads, star shortstop Jose Reyes has noticed bad habits creeping into the teams games and wants them nipped in the bud. "We cannot stay the same way the whole season long," said Reyes. "This is not acceptable. Something needs to change because were a better team than what were showing right now. Its a long season and we just need to continue to push." Its been a frustrating week for the ballclub. Dating back to the start of the last homestand, a week ago Tuesday versus Baltimore, the Jays have lost four games in which theyve led by at least three runs. The bullpen, usually reliable, has allowed 23 earned runs in 25 2/3 innings (8.06 ERA) in that span. Making matters worse, the Jays played perhaps their worst game of the season on Tuesday in Kansas City, which starts a string of 20-consecutive games without a day off. There were fundamental mistakes sprinkled throughout, including a run-scoring throwing error; the Royals taking an extra base twice on balls hit to left field; an arcing fly ball that bounced on the warning track for a double to start the Kansas City comeback; and Edwin Encarnacion not hustling out a ground ball and wild throw with two runners on. "This is baseball," said Reyes. "Sometimes the stuff in baseball doesnt go perfect. Sometimes youre going to make a mistake but you have to learn from that mistake." Its early and the Jays entered action on Wednesday only three games behind the division-leading New York Yankees but Reyes doesnt want the club consistently giving away games any longer. "When you go through September, if youre competing for making the playoffs those are the games you say, Oh man, I lost those games in April and you see where we are now and we need those games," said Reyes. "But like I said thats in the past and as a player you have to put stuff in the past and try to get it the next day." LAWRIE OUT OF THE LINEUP Brett Lawrie missed his first game of the season on Wednesday night, sitting out with tightness in his back. The 24-year-old is hitting .192/.243/.384 in 107 plate appearances. His six home runs rank second on the club behind Jose Bautista (8). Lawrie leads the Blue Jays with 20 RBI. Lawrie gave no indication he was concerned for the long-term, deeming himself day-to-day. GIBBONS CONSIDERING McGOWANS ROLE Dustin McGowans six-inning, two earned run effort on Tuesday night may have earned him another start. "As of right now its going to stay the same," said manager John Gibbons. "Were still debating adding that extra guy for that long stretch. Weve got to decide quick." McGowan, a type 1 diabetic, wore his insulin pump for the first time in an attempt to regulate his blood sugar and maintain energy throughout the game. It worked. McGowan alluded to "feeling stronger" as the night progressed. "He did a helluva job (Tuesday) night," said Gibbons. "Hes probably going to start again. My only reservation about it is how good he was in the bullpen. Weve struggled at times down there. Im still not sure where it all leads." On top of McGowans move out of the bullpen, Gibbons is without his closer, Casey Janssen, meaning hes down two quality late-game right-handers. JANSSEN THROWS BULLPEN Casey Janssen is making tangible progress toward his much-anticipated return from an oblique strain. He threw a bullpen session of more than 30 pitches on Wednesday. "Yeah, pain free, just trying to get my arm to work fast again," said Janssen. "I didnt get much of a spring training and want that to start building up and getting strong and getting used to the grind of throwing all those pitches off a slope and throwing aggressively." Janssen will throw another bullpen on Friday in Pittsburgh. If all goes well hell head out on another, hopefully his final, rehabilitation assignment. Hell ask the Blue Jays to place him at Double-A New Hampshire, hoping for better competition than he would get at Single-A Dunedin. Janssen also wants to be closer to Toronto and with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons scheduled to play early next week against the Braves affiliate just outside Atlanta, New Hampshire seems the appropriate spot. As for the recent struggles of his bullpen mates, Janssen doesnt expect the issues to persist. "Honestly, I kind of use this line, but I truly feel that zeroes can be contagious," he said. "When everyones putting up zeroes it seems easier to put up zeroes. Unfortunately when those hitters are comfortable in the box and putting good swings, their confidence level goes up and makes our job a little bit tougher. Its the same guys that had unbelievable years last year, and I dont want the first month to skew anybodys vision of what our bullpen is and what they can be, because its an electric bullpen." LIND TO RESUME BASEBALL ACTIVITIES Adam Lind, out with lower back tightness, is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday. He wont be back then but the Blue Jays are hopeful his return will come soon. "Hes feeling better," said Gibbons. "Hes going to take some ground balls either today or tomorrow. Hes swinging the bat. Hes starting to feel better. They backed him off a couple of days ago because it was still irritating him but hes back to go." Lind is under the care of team doctors in Dunedin, Florida. He received a medicinal injection nine days ago to alleviate his symptoms. Hell appear in at least one extended spring training game and could play in a Gulf Coast League game before rejoining the Blue Jays no sooner than this weekend in Pittsburgh. 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Englands only win in the four most recent trips north had been tight, and Scotland was expected after losing 28-6 to Ireland six days ago to show some venom against its archrival.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Clayton Kershaws first home win of the season was a perfect example of how the two-time Cy Young Award winner has made a living out of pitching through early adversity and getting stronger as the game goes along. Kershaw shrugged off a two-run homer by Jose Abreu in the rookies return from the disabled list, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 Monday night. "It was one pitch. Thats all it was tonight. One pitch. But he was great all the way to his last one," Dodgers catcher Drew Butera said. Kershaw (4-2) allowed four hits over eight innings, striking out nine and walking none. Kenley Jansen got three outs for his 17th save. "I think Kershaw just continues to fight no matter what. If they get him once, hes going to keep it right there," Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. "Hes not happy about the home run, but hes able to put it behind him and keep going. Thats the sign of a guy with a short memory. The great ones dont worry about the past. They just know what theyve got to do going forward." Justin Turners two-run single keyed a five-run sixth inning in which all the Dodgers runs were unearned. "Thats how you win games. You take advantage of one little mistake, and a lot of times it ends up rolling into a big inning," outfielder Scott Van Slyke said. "Good teams do that. When they get the opportunity, they take advantage." Jose Quintana (3-5) gave up six hits through six innings and was charged with all five unearned runs. The Dodgers parlayed two infield errors, four singles and a walk into the five-run rally that put them ahead. All the runs came with two outs. Kershaw led off with a single and Matt Kemp reached on one-out grounder that went under second baseman Gordon Beckhams glove for an error with the infield overshifted to the left side. Yasiel Puig struck out on a high fastball and slammed his bat in frustration, but the Dodgers got a break when third baseman Conor Gillaspie fielded Hanley Ramirezs grounder behind the bag and bounced his throw past first base as Kershaw scored. "He had a chance to get the force at third, but thats an error and thats part of it," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "Q pitched a great game, going inning for inning with Kershaw, and he deserved a better fate. Theres no two ways about it. But when you dont play defence, and give a team like that opportunities, you leave that littlle crack in the door.ddddddddddddAnd they kicked it wide open." Adrian Gonzalez drove in Kemp with an infield hit, and Quintana gave up a two-run single to Turner and an RBI single to Butera after a walk to Van Slyke. "Its always fun to get hits, and its always fun when youre part of the run-scoring," Kershaw said. "Sometimes with us, it takes a couple times to get through the lineup. I knew if I just kind of kept us in the game, gave us a chance, we were going to break out." Kershaw needed only 12 pitches to get through the first two innings and retired his first 10 batters before Beckham singled and Abreu followed with his 16th homer. The Cuban slugger was leading the majors in homers and ranked second in RBIs with 42 before missing 14 games with tendinitis in his left ankle. The White Sox were 8-6 in his absence. "It was nice, coming against a guy like Kershaw," Ventura said. "It didnt seem like he missed too much of a beat. When we have that guy swinging the bat good, were a better offence." The only other baserunner the White Sox had against Kershaw through the first six innings was Moises Sierra, who hit a dribbler to the right of the mound and beat the left-handers throw to first base with two outs in the fifth. Kershaw, who led the majors in ERA each of the previous three seasons, made only 66 pitches through six. "I was throwing strikes. They were swinging and my pitch count was low those first four, five innings," Kershaw said. "Theyve got some aggressive guys over there. It doesnt really bother me as long as I make my pitches early." NOTES: The Dodgers announced after the game that RHP Chris Withrow will undergo Tommy John surgery Tuesday. ... Abreu set major league rookie records for homers (10), RBIs (32), extra-base hits (19) and total bases (71) in April and was named AL rookie of the month. ... Beckham committed another error in the seventh, booting a routine grounder by Puig. ... Abreu and Puig, teammates with Cienfuegos before defecting from Cuba to the United States, are among six Cuban-born players in uniform for this series. The others are Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo, Adrian Nieto, and the Dodgers Erisbel Arruebarrena. ... Ventura gave 1B-DH Adam Dunn the night off even though he is 8 for 13 against Kershaw with four home runs. ... Quintana has not allowed a home run in 43 1-3 innings over his last seven starts, after giving up one in each of his previous four outings. ' ' '