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Burnett pitches effectively, Blue Jays cruise by Orioles

Sep 26, 2007 - 4:12 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- After a minor delay, A.J. Burnett continued his recent dominance.

Burnett pitched 6 2/3 effective innings as the Toronto Blue Jays posted an 11-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.

Frank Thomas clubbed his 513th career homer and all nine batters had at least hit for Toronto, which has won six of eight.

The Blue Jays (80-77) have won nine of 13 vs. the Orioles and are two wins away from reaching their second straight winning season.

"We've been playing good baseball," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We had a good weekend (against New York) but our defense has been a little shaky, which is unusual for us. But the pitching and offense were very very good."

Baltimore (67-90), which has alternated wins and losses in its last seven games, lost for the 90th time this season - the fifth time in the last seven years the Orioles have dropped that many in a season.

"It's about starting pitching and our starting pitching has been spotty," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "It's been real hard to be out there when the runs come as quickly as they do."

Burnett (10-7), who missed his regular turn in the rotation on Monday due to personal business, continued to exhibit mastery over Baltimore.

The big righthander yielded four runs, 10 hits and three walks to run his career record to a perfect 5-0 vs. the Orioles.

"I was using all three of my pitches tonight," Burnett said. "I was mixing things up well."

Burnett also resumed his excellent pitching of late, improving to 5-1 since coming off the disabled list on August 12.

"I would like to see what happens if I stayed healthy all season," Burnett said. "I really look forward to next season. It seems like every time I get going, something comes up and bites me. I always hear what a great talent I am, it's time for me to harness that talent."

Thomas helped end the competitive phase of this contest in the third inning.

With Toronto leading, 3-0, Hector Luna and Alex Rios led off with consecutive base hits before Thomas, who went 4-for-4, sent the first pitch he saw from Orioles starter Brian Burres into the seats in left to increase the lead to six.

It was the 18-year veteran's 26th blast of the season, moving him into 18th place all-time on the homer list ahead of Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews. The four hits also tied a season high for Thomas.

"It's been a decent season," Thomas said. "I started slow but I can accept it. It's not as good as I wanted or expected it to be."

Toronto, which pounded out 17 hits, scored three runs in the second on RBI doubles by Gregg Zaun and John McDonald wrapped around a run-scoring base hit by rookie Curtis Thigpen.

"It was a great hitting performance by the offense tonight," Thomas added. "The season is almost over, we might as well finish strong."

The Blue Jays upped their lead to 7-0 on an RBI double by Reed Johnson in the fourth that knocked Burres (6-7) out of the game.

The lefthander surrendered seven runs, eight hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings. It was the third time this season Burres has given up seven-plus runs in a game.

"You are not going to have your best stuff all the time," Burres said. "It was just one of those days that (my stuff) just wasn't there."

After Baltimore cut its deficit to four by sending nine men to the plate vs. Burnett in the fifth, Toronto made it 8-3 in the sixth when Adam Lind scored on double-play groundout by Russ Adams.

Aaron Hill hit his 17th homer with a man on in the seven vs. Orioles reliever Rocky Cherry before a run-scoring double by McDonald made it 11-3. The blast by Hill tied the club record for homers by a second baseman, matching the total by Roberto Alomar in 1993.

Miguel Tejada, who singled in a run in the bottom of the seventh, had three hits for Baltimore, which fell to a season-high 23 games under .500 for the fourth time in 2007.