Blue Jays' offense wakes up to end losing streak

TORONTO -- Aaron Hill and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a sweep by coming alive at the plate.

Hill and Vernon Wells drove in two runs each as the Blue Jays snapped a season-high seven-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Dropping the opening two games of the series, the Blue Jays entered the finale with just two runs scored over their last 17 innings after recording three in the first frame of Friday's 6-4 loss.

That streak would be extended to 20 innings until Toronto awoke in the fourth, scoring four times off Jose Contreras (10-4) to continue the Cuban's rough stretch.

"It was a big win for us today," said Toronto manager John Gibbons, whose team halted its longest losing streak since 2002. "We knew we weren't scoring. You go through those ruts and stretches offensively, that's just the way it is. If a number of guys cool off at the same time that's what you run into. We were due."

Toronto trailed, 3-0, before Frank Catalanotto led off with a double and scored on a two-bagger by Wells. Two batters later, Eric Hinske drew a one-out walk and Alex Rios followed with an RBIs ground-rule double to right field.

Hill capped the frame with a two-run single that scored both Hinske and Rios.

"I was looking for a first-pitch fastball middle-in," Hill said. "(Contreras) threw it in the area I was looking for and I got enough of the barrel on it to squeak it through. It worked out well because we were pressing a little bit too much trying to get a win under our belt."

Hill was hit by a pitch from Contreras leading off the seventh and scored all the way from first on another double by Catalanotto to make it 5-3. Wells completed the scoring with an RBIs single later in the frame.

"There's a big sense of relief," Catalanotto said. "During the course of a 162-game schedule you know the offense as a unit is going to hit some slumps. Unfortunately it happened now. I think it surprised all of us, but hopefully we're out of it."

Contreras, who opened the season with nine straight wins, absorbed his fourth loss in his last five decisions. The righthander gave up six runs, six hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings.

"(Contreras) threw the ball good enough at least to win," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He lost it for one inning. We tried to stay away from the big inning but it happened so quick."

Toronto starter A.J. Burnett (2-5) bounced back from a pair of poor starts, allowing three runs and eight hits with five strikeouts in six innings. The righthander had surrendered 10 runs and 14 hits in his previous eight frames.

"I hit a few good pitches, started mixing in a couple changeups and a couple fastballs, and worked well with (catcher Bengie Molina)," Burnett said. "It just shows you what kind of heart this team has. We could have easily just not even shown up after the past couple of days."

Closer B.J. Ryan and two relievers combined to yield two hits and strike out four over the final three frames to seal Toronto's first win since July 25.

"It just shows you how tough it is to sweep a major league team," Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko said. "(Burnett's) got great stuff. That's a big-league win because anytime you get down 3-0 and hang in there and give you're team a chance - that's a good win."

Rios finished with two hits for the Blue Jays, just his third multi-hit game since June 28. The 25-year-old right fielder is hitting .257 (9-of-35) in 10 games since missing more than a month with an infection on his left leg. He was hitting .330 before the injury.

Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye each had two hits and an RBIs for the White Sox, who went 6-3 on their road trip.

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index