AL RECAP (DETROIT-TORONTO) TORONTO (Ticker) -- The no-hitter was over early for rookie Roy Halladay, but this time he got the shutout. Halladay, who came within one out of throwing a no-hitter last season in his second major league start, fired a seven-hitter for his first career shutout as the Toronto Blue Jays ripped the Detroit Tigers, 7-0. Halladay (3-2) recorded his first win since April 18 and did it against the team that helped him to his first career victory last September 27. In that game, Halladay's no-hit bid was thwarted on pinch-hitter Bobby Higginson's two-out homer in the ninth. This time, Damion Easley singled with one out in the first to end any dreams of a gem. But it did not deter Halladay, who yielded six singles and a double. He walked none, struck out six and may have saved his spot in the rotation. Joey Hamilton, who has been on the disabled list since mid-April, made a start with Triple-A Syracuse tonight but allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings. Had Hamilton been impressive and Halladay unable to snap his five-start winless streak, Hamilton could have stepped into Halladay's spot in the rotation. Halladay is 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA in two starts against the Tigers, giving up one run and seven hits with 14 strikeouts and no walks. During his winless stretch, he surrendered 25 runs and 37 hits in 20 1/3 innings. "When he fell behind, he was a little tentative and left the ball up," Blue Jays catcher Mike Matheny said of Halladay. "If you go back and watch the majority of the outs we got tonight, the pitches were down. That's a big part of pitching. When he gets the ball down, he gets different movement on the ball, and that's what he needs to do." "We changed (speeds) up pretty good," said Halladay. "Mike did a good job helping me out, he mixed things up pretty good. I enjoy throwing to him a lot." Shawn Green had three hits, including a two-run homer, and three RBI. Tony Fernandez went 4-for-4 with two RBI for the Blue Jays, who won for only the fourth time in their last 13 home games. "You kind of expect him to get three or four hits every game," Green said of Fernandez. "He's unbelievable, he seems like he's getting better every year." Dave Mlicki (1-4) was shelled for seven runs and 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings for Detroit, which has lost seven of its last nine games. The Tigers were shut out for the seventh time in 40 games this season after being blanked eight times all of last year. "He's got to like seeing the Tigers come to town right now," Tigers manager Larry Parrish said, referring to Halladay. "I was looking through the stat sheet and we're almost in last place in every offensive category. You couldn't have foreseen that coming out of spring training." The Blue Jays staked Halladay to a 2-0 lead in the first. Shannon Stewart had a leadoff single and Mlicki hit Homer Bush. Green plated Stewart with a single before Bush took third when Carlos Delgado hit into a double play. Fernandez followed with a run-scoring single. Detroit's only legitimate threat came in the second. Karim Garcia had a one-out single and took third one out later on a single by Brad Ausmus. But Halladay retired Deivi Cruz on a groundout to end the inning. "I really enjoyed it, I had a good time with it," Halladay said. "The first couple of innings were a battle, but after that, it got fun." Jose Cruz had an RBI single in the third and Fernandez's run-scoring double in the fifth pushed the lead to 4-0. The Blue Jays tacked on two runs in the sixth to complete the scoring. Bush had an infield hit before Green crushed the first pitch he saw over the center-field fence to make it 6-0. Mlicki walked Delgado before rookie Masao Kida relieved. Fernandez was hit by a pitch and Cruz delivered an RBI single. Halladay retired the final seven batters he faced and recorded three 1-2-3 innings. He struck out two batters in both the fourth and sixth innings. "He threw the ball pretty well, he moved it in and out, he kept us off-balance," said Higginson. "The balls we hit hard seemed to be right at people." The 36-year-old Fernandez raised his average to a league-leading .392 with his 17th career four-hit game. He is batting .500 (37-of-74) at SkyDome this season, the best home average of any player in the American League. "It was a good sign today, we haven't seen that in a long time," Fernandez said of the Blue Jays' offense. "When you come in September, now we're talking. But now it's too early." -=-=- 