MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Josh Phelps is erasing any early indications of a sophomore slump.
Phelps belted a solo homer off Eddie Guardado with two out in the 11th inning to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
After a superb 74-game rookie campaign, Phelps was expected to be a big part of the Blue Jays' lineup in 2003. He was hitless in his first seven at-bats but is 5-for-7 since, homering twice in as many games against the Twins.
Phelps opened the scoring in Friday's series opener with a solo homer and provided the decisive blow Saturday, driving an 0-1 pitch from Guardado (0-1) the opposite way to left-center field.
"I know Eddie features a high fastball," Phelps said. "He pitches with some 'big ones,' if you know what I mean. His first fastball was good, but his second one probably didn't get as high as he'd have liked."
Toronto's Kelvim Escobar struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first save. Pete Walker (1-0) notched the victory after retiring five of the six batters he faced.
Carlos Delgado had three hits and Shannon Stewart reached base five times for the Blue Jays, who have won consecutive games after opening the season 0-3.
"It was a nip-and-tuck sort of game, the kind where any sort of mistake can be the difference in a win or loss," Toronto manager Carlos Tosca said. "I just had a feeling that we'd win tonight, it never went away."
The Twins, who last season had the American League's best home record at 54-27, have lost their first two games at the Metrodome.
"Our bullpen beared down and kept battling, but we couldn't quite do it tonight," Minnesota left fielder Jacque Jones said. "But we always feel we can win at the end, especially at home, and that's what we tried to do."
Kenny Rogers, who was signed to replace injured starter Eric Milton, made his debut with Minnesota and gave up three runs and eight hits in just four innings.
Delgado gave Toronto a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first inning. The Twins scored twice in the second to take the lead against Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, who bounced back from a rough season debut and gave up just two runs and eight hits in seven innings.
"I would have liked to see Halladay get the win, but it wasn't a waste of his talents at all," Tosca said. "He looked great and gave us a solid outing."
Stewart, who had two hits and three walks, singled with one out in the fourth and scored on Vernon Wells' ground rules double to forge a 2-2 tie. Delgado followed with a single to plate Wells for a 3-2 edge.
Halladay pitched around two hits in the fifth and worked around a leadoff double in the sixth. He surrendered a two-out triple to Cristian Guzman in the seventh but retired Torii Hunter to end the threat.
"We certainly had chances out there," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "And even when you lose, you like to see those opportunities."
Toronto's Doug Creek started the eighth and walked Corey Koskie before giving way to Cliff Politte, who retired the next two batters. But Kielty followed with a double to score Koskie for a 3-3 tie.
Minnesota's J.C Romero pitched a perfect eighth but loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. He struck out Eric Hinske, who was ejected for arguing the third strike, before Wells getting well on a flyout to escape the jam.
