TORONTO -- Long before the happy ending, it did not start well. John Lackey yielded a homer to Brad Wilkerson, the first man he faced.

That pretty much took care of the satisfaction for the Blue Jays on a decidedly frustrating Tuesday night indoors in front of 31,487 at Rogers Centre.

Lackey weathered early storms, relying in fairly equal measures on his All-Star form and his defense, as the Angels carved out a 3-1 victory in a house that usually leaves the Southern California tourists feeling the blues.

Looking to victimize the Angels for the 39th time in 57 games under the big top since 1996, the Jays loaded the bases with none out in the eighth against Scot Shields and with one out in the ninth against Francisco Rodriguez.

Both times they were denied, with Shields striking out Matt Stairs before second baseman Sean Rodriguez started a double play to end the eighth, and K-Rod getting Aaron Hill to pop up before catching Alex Rios looking at a third-strike fastball to end it.

"Good thing I got out of it," K-Rod said, the save his Major League-leading 18th in 19 chances. Three consecutive walks were the product of "trying to do too much, be too fine."

Facing Rios, K-Rod fell behind 2-0 on curveballs, then went to the heat.

"I challenged him with fastballs," Rodiguez said. "He missed a couple of pitches he usually can hit." And then Rios watched a fastball go "right down the middle," K-Rod said, surprised Rios didn't take a hack.

"I thought he was going to go away for some reason, and he didn't," Rios said. "So I got caught up in that pitch. I just took it. Everybody saw it. I just took a pitch and it was a strike. That's it."

Those high-wire theatrics notwithstanding, the big news was the excellence of the ace, Lackey. Manager Mike Scioscia was thrilled with the hard-edged Texan, whose second start after missing six weeks with a strained triceps was highly impressive.

"John was terrific," Scioscia said. "He backed his last start [seven innings, one run], which was great, with another great effort. He had good fastball command, good breaking ball. He gave us a chance to win."

Catcher Mike Napoli guided Lackey and the relievers through, getting the Barry Bonds treatment (two intentional passes along with a walk and a 94-mph heater in the shoulder) after his two homers Sunday gave him 10 blasts in 89 at-bats.

"It's huge," Napoli said of Lackey's gold-plated return. "He's showing he's back. He's our top dog, and we need him. It's good to see him giving us strong innings and keeping us in games."

The American League's ERA leader in 2007, Lackey moved to 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA after going seven innings, yielding seven hits and three walks while striking out six. He liberally praised a defense that featured excellence up the middle from Maicer Izturis at shortstop, Rodriguez at second and Torii Hunter in center.

Lackey left the bases loaded in the second inning and escaped a two-on, none-out jam in the fourth by inducing a double-play ball handled by Izturis.

Izturis was there -- not at third, where he began the game -- because Erick Aybar dislocated his right pinky on the carpet making a diving stab in the first inning. Aybar is to be re-evaluated Wednesday after X-rays taken after the game were negative.

"Sliding on grass [not artificial turf] the finger would not get caught like that," Angels coach Alfredo Griffin said. "On the dive, the finger got stuck, he rolled over and felt something pull. He couldn't stretch it out."

If Aybar is forced out for a while after starting 39 consecutive games at shortstop, the anticipated return of Chone Figgins after missing 15 games with a hamstring strain would ease the loss.

The play of Rodriguez at second was especially impressive on a night that brought struggles (two strikeouts, double-play grounder, popup) at the plate.

"He basically helped win the game -- if not win the game -- with his glove," said first baseman Casey Kotchman, who doubled home the go-ahead run in the third against losing pitcher Dustin McGowan (2-4) after Hunter's two-out double.

After Hunter's superb play on Lyle Overbay's drive to left-center ended the sixth, Rodriguez dazzled on Lackey's 106th and final pitch. Wilkerson hit a one-hop shot that the second baseman turned into two outs with quick hands and an accurate feed to Izturis.

Rodriguez and Izturis repeated the act behind Shields to end the eighth.

"That's what you hope for," Rodriguez said. "If you're not swinging well, you've got to do something to help the team out."

The Angels used an error on shortstop Marco Scutaro -- ranging far to his left on Izturis' leadoff grounder -- and Vladimir Guerrero's single for a first-inning lead that Wilkerson erased with one swing.

After Hunter and Kotchman produced a 2-1 lead, the Angels were hitless until Gary Matthews Jr. lashed a one-out triple to right-center in the seventh, beating a strong relay with a headfirst slide. Jason Frasor replaced McGowan, and Guerrero's sacrifice fly delivered a two-run lead.

"Seems like a lot of my games last year were close games," said Lackey, a 19-game winner who finished third in the Cy Young Award balloting. "You go to the top of the rotation, you're not going to get a lot of runs. You've got to make 'em work."

The Jays certainly made Shields and K-Rod work to nail down a hold and save that had hearts beating fast.