Associated Press
TORONTO -- Roy Halladay pitched eight strong innings, rookie Eric Hinske hit three doubles and the Toronto Blue Jays won their home opener Thursday, 7-2 over the Minnesota Twins.
A crowd of 47,469 at SkyDome saw Raul Mondesi get four hits, including a homer, and drive in three runs. The Blue Jays improved to 21-5 in home openers.
Halladay (1-0) allowed one earned run and five hits, three of them infield singles. He struck out eight and walked none.
The 24-year-old right-hander, who won five of his last seven decisions last season, threw 76 strikes and just 20 balls.
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Toronto's Carlos Delgado reached base in his first 10 plate appearances of the season before popping out in the eighth.
Delgado hit an RBI single and walked three times. He went 3-for-3 with a walk and was twice hit by a pitch in the season-opening win over Boston on Monday.
Jacque Jones went 2-for-4 for the Twins, who swept their two-game series against Kansas City.
Joe Mays (0-1) allowed four runs on nine hits in just 3 2-3 innings.
After Jones led off the game with an infield single off Halladay's glove, Doug Mientkiewicz hit an RBI double.
Minnesota's Torii Hunter reached second base on shortstop Felipe Lopez's throwing in the fourth inning. Corey Koskie followed with an RBI single, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead.
Mondesi doubled and scored on Darrin Fletcher's sacrifice fly in the third.
Lopez's RBI double, Mondesi's RBI single and Delgado's run-scoring single gave Toronto a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Delgado's single chased Mays.
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Consecutive doubles by Shannon Stewart and Hinske made it 5-2 in the sixth.
After Hinske doubled in the eighth, Mondesi hit his first homer.
Notes: Minnesota SS Cristian Guzman was given the day off. Denny Hocking started in his place. ... Mays went 17-13 with a 3.16 ERA last season. ... If Delgado had reached base one more time, he would've tied Tony Fernandez for the club record for getting on base with 11 straight.
