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Burres superb in start, Orioles cruise by Blue Jays

Sep 15, 2007 - 3:41 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Rookie Brian Burres pitched seven shutout innings as the Baltimore Orioles posted a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.

Brian Roberts homered for Baltimore, which won its second straight game for the first time in nearly a month.

The Orioles, who won for just the fifth time in 23 contests, last posted back-to-back victories on August 14-15 vs. the New York Yankees.

"We're not in the spot we wanted to be in when spring training started," Orioles designated hitter Aubrey Huff said. "But you have to redo your goals in a situation like this."

Burres (6-5), who lost here to the Blue Jays, 2-1, on May 16, yielded eight hits in his first win as a starter since July 28. The lefthander, who also won his first road start since May 31, struck out four after returning from 12 bullpen appearances.

"As long as I felt well I was going to keep throwing," said Burres, who threw 105 pitches. "I felt good the whole time and it worked out good. With that time off I still felt fine."

Burres received all the support he needed early.

Baltimore loaded the bases with one out in the first against Toronto rookie starter Jesse Litsch, who uncorked a wild pitch that scored Tike Redman. Two batters later Huff hit an infield single to plate Nick Markakis.

"If you score early and score late, that allows everybody to relax," said bench coach Tom Trebelhorn, who is the acting manager while Dave Trembley serves a three-game suspension.

Roberts blasted a two-out homer over the right field wall in the second to give Baltimore a 3-0 lead.

"I got a pitch to hit and I thought it was going to stay fair when I hit it," Roberts said.

One frame later, Huff belted a triple to the right field wall and scored on a base hit to left by Hernandez to make it 4-0.

"When I was running I thought we had one out," said Huff, who barely beat the throw and slid safely into third with two outs. "When I looked up I saw two outs and I went 'oops, you're not supposed to make the third out at third base.' But I was safe anyway, so it turned out to be OK."

Litsch (5-9), who has lost three straight starts, allowed four runs, seven hits and a walk in three frames.

"I just made some bad pitches like what's been happening lately," Litsch said. "I'm just leaving balls up and they're getting hit."

The 22-year-old righthander has received five runs in the three outings. Redman and Markakis added back-to-back RBI doubles in the ninth for a 6-0 edge.

"Burres shut us down, but we haven't been swinging," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We're not swinging the bats good."

Jim Hoey pitched the eighth and Jamie Walker yielded solo homers to Aaron Hill and Hector Luna in the ninth to spoil the Orioles' bid for a second straight shutout for the second time this season.

Vernon Wells and Reed Johnson each had two hits for Toronto (73-74), which fell a game under .500.