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Millar's blast propels Orioles past Blue Jays

Apr 15, 2008 - 4:27 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Kevin Millar's two-run homer in the fifth inning lifted the Baltimore Orioles to a 4-3 triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday in the opener of a two-game series.

Matt Albers (2-0) pitched five effective frames and Adam Jones went 3-for-3 for the Orioles, who had lost four of their previous five games.

Millar, who also had an RBI single, broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth when he blasted a 2-2 offering from Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan (0-1) over the wall in left-center field for his second home run of the season.

"It felt good," Millar said. "(McGowan) was pounding me in, but I was looking for a breaking ball and put a good swing on it."

McGowan had a golden opportunity to end the inning just before Millar's blast but made a costly throwing error. After recording the first two outs, the 26-year-old righthander walked Nick Markakis on four pitches.

McGowan then appeared to have Markakis picked off, but his throw to first base was low and skipped past Lyle Overbay. Markakis advanced to third on the play, and McGowan surrendered the home run to Millar on the next pitch.

"That's going to happen, it's baseball," McGowan said. "Sooner or later, we'll get to scoring more runs and nobody will remember days like this from early in the season."

McGowan lasted six innings, allowing 10 hits and three runs with a walk and six strikeouts.

Albers, who received the start after a weekend doubleheader left the Orioles' staff thin, yielded just one run on five hits and a walk with one strikeout.

"I'm here for whatever the team needs," said Albers, who started 18 games last season for the Houston Astros. "If they need me in the bullpen, that's where I am, but I've (started) a few times so I knew what to do."

"I told (Albers) before the game that he'd done it 18 times last year, so don't make a big deal of it," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "He just threw strikes, which allowed us to stay away from using too many guys from our bullpen, so that gives us more options for the rest of the week."

Aubrey Huff scored a much-needed insurance run in the eighth on Luis Hernandez's sacrifice fly.

George Sherrill then registered his sixth save of the season despite giving up a two-run homer to Alex Rios.

Vernon Wells gave Toronto an early lead with an RBI single in the first, but Millar's base hit in the bottom half of the inning plated Brian Roberts and tied the game at 1-1.

Jones raised his batting average from .211 to .268 just one day after striking out four times.

"That just shows the kind of makeup he has," Trembley said of the 22-year-old outfielder. "I know he is going to have his bad days like everyone else, but he came here today as if he was 4-for-4 yesterday instead of 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. I think he is going to be special."