TORONTO -- Needing a prime-time performance, the Angels turned to Kelvim Escobar -- and the man from Venezuela delivered in a style that is becoming his signature.

Escobar slammed the door on the Blue Jays, but he wasn't alone. He found an accomplice in Gary Matthews Jr., a force with his arm, his legs and his booming bat, helping Escobar drive the Angels to a 4-3 decision on Thursday night that averted a three-game Rogers Centre sweep.

Next stop: Fenway Park, and four games in three days.

"It was a very important game for us," said Escobar the stopper, who moved to 13-6 by reversing some negative momentum with his supremely positive effort. "Seattle's right behind us. We want to win as many games as possible."

The American League West Division leaders go to Boston with the second-best record in the Majors, 70-49. Only the Red Sox, at 72-48, are better.

"Being part of a winning team in a pennant race, that means everything," said Matthews, who meant close to everything to Escobar with a homer, two walks, a steal and a rally-killing throw to cut down a runner in the first inning.

"He's been one of our horses," Matthews said of Escobar, who has yielded a total of 10 earned runs in his past eight starts with only four wins to show for it. "[John] Lackey is tied for the league lead in wins [Boston's Josh Beckett also has 15], but Eskie could be right with him if we gave him support in a couple of starts."

The Jays didn't go down without an argument, scoring twice in the ninth against Francisco Rodriguez before the closer retired Matt Stairs on a fly ball -- fittingly squeezed by Matthews in center -- to leave two runners stranded for his 30th save.

Escobar was at his dominant best, making his Cy Young Award case by spreading five hits across seven innings, striking out nine while walking none and holding the Jays to one run.

"No walks, that's the big key," Escobar said. "I got behind a few guys, but I was able to make them put the ball in play. That's big."

Matthews crushed a mammoth homer to right-center in the second against Dustin McGowan, who struck out seven in six innings with his extreme heat but fell to 8-7 with the loss.

"That ball was killed -- it got out of here in a hurry," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That was one of the longest I've seen."

Matthews also walked leading off the seventh against McGowan, triggering a two-run inning that turned a one-run lead into a three-run cushion.

A pair of Jays errors contributed to the uprising, and 5-foot-8 Maicer Izturis once again stood tall with an RBI double. The little big man continues to flourish with runners in scoring position, delivering on 23 of 57 opportunities for a club-best .404 average.

Upset after lining out in the ninth inning in a potential game-turning situation the night before, Matthews didn't wait long to make his presence felt.

In the bottom of the first, the center fielder charged Lyle Overbay's line-drive single and gunned down Reed Johnson at third, Johnson having singled leading off.

"A big play, a big statement," Matthews said. "They get the first guy on, going over to third base with no outs. ... They think they're going to get at least one and get a lead. I made a play, and Eskie went out and handled it the rest of the night."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Escobar went to work carving up Blue Jays hitters on his old turf, retiring 15 in a row after Matthews' throw into the sixth inning.

Ray Olmedo doubled with one out and scored on Johnson's single, cutting Escobar's lead in half. Another single by Overbay had the ex-Jay in trouble, but Escobar got busy, striking out Alex Rios and retiring Vernon Wells on a fly ball to Matthews.

After Matthews' blast, his 15th of the season, the Angels created a run in the third when Jeff Mathis walked, moved up on Reggie Willits' groundout and scored on Chone Figgins' double into the left field corner.

Matthews, who'd walked and stolen second in the fourth, took another free pass in the seventh. When first baseman Overbay couldn't handle Kotchman's shot, sending it into the right-field corner, Matthews was stopping at third. But the Jays botched the relay, with right fielder Rios charged with an error, enabling Matthews to score.

Izturis' double past first cashed in Kotchman with an insurance run.

Scot Shields shut down the Jays in the eighth, but they made the Angels squirm against K-Rod. Wells tripled and scored on Frank Thomas' RBI single. A walk to Troy Glaus preceded Aaron Hill's lineout to Figgins at third, but Gregg Zahn's two-out singled cashed in pinch-runner Hector Luna.

"Bottom line," Scioscia said, "Frankie gets it done."

And that's what the closer did when he produced a lazy fly ball from Stairs that sent the Angels off to Boston with a round of sighs along with two potential Cys, Escobar and Lackey.