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(Sports Network) - Returning 20-game winner Josh Beckett makes his first appearance of the 2008 season when the Boston Red Sox close out a three- game set with the Toronto Blue Jays today at Rogers Centre.

Beckett, who went 20-7 with a 3.27 earned run average in 200 2/3 innings last season for the World Series champions, missed his initial start this year after a stint on the 15-day disabled list with recurring back spasms.

He threw five innings in an extended spring training game Tuesday and pronounced himself ready to go.

The 27-year-old Texan is 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA in eight lifetime starts against the Blue Jays.

Toronto ace Roy Halladay makes his second 2008 start for the Blue Jays this afternoon.

A 6-foot-6, 225-pound right-hander, Halladay took a tough-luck loss Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, allowing seven hits and three runs over seven innings of a 3-2 defeat by New York.

He was 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA in 225 1/3 innings last season.

Halladay has made 32 appearances, including 29 starts, in his career against the Red Sox, going 9-10 with a pair of complete games and a 4.82 ERA in 201 2/3 innings.

Toronto has taken the first two tests of this weekend set. On Saturday, Frank Thomas hit a two-run homer and David Eckstein went 2-for-5 with three RBI as the Blue Jays hammered the Red Sox, 10-2.

Alex Rios chipped in with a pair of doubles, an RBI and run scored for the Blue Jays, who have won three of their last four.

Toronto starter Jesse Litsch (1-0) was effective in earning the win. He surrendered two runs on five hits over five-plus innings. The right-hander fanned two and walked three. The Toronto bullpen allowed only three hits in four innings of relief work.

Manny Ramirez had a RBI double, while Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew each had a pair of hits for Boston, which had won three of its first four contests coming into this series.

Clay Buchholz (0-1) went five innings for the Sox, giving up four runs -- three earned -- on six hits, while striking out seven and walking two in the loss.

Toronto split its 18 matchups with the Red Sox last season, but has gone 34-23 against them since the start of the 2005 campaign, including a 19-11 mark at the Rogers Centre in that time.