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Blue Jays defeat Orioles in completion of suspended game

Jul 24, 2008 - 9:52 PM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- The Toronto Blue Jays scored a few insurance runs late and came away with a 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday in a completion of a suspended game.

Heavy rain and lightning caused Wednesday night's game to be suspended in the top of the sixth inning shortly after the Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead on Lyle Overbay's RBI single.

Toronto tacked on three insurance runs in the eighth when it loaded the bases and Baltimore first baseman Kevin Millar's throw to the plate sailed high, allowing two runs to score on an Adam Lind grounder. John McDonald followed with a sacrifice fly to left to give Toronto a 5-1 lead.

"Millar's error was big," Blue Jay manager Cito Gaston said. "It gave us a nice cushion."

Jesse Carlson, Shawn Camp and Scott Downs combined to pitch four scoreless innings of relief for Toronto.

"Their bullpen was exceptional," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.

Toronto used aggressive baserunning to score both of its runs on Wednesday night.

In the third, Lind led off with a single off starter Jeremy Guthrie (6-8), then stole second. He went to third on a single by McDonald and scored the game's first run on a groundout by Marco Scutaro.

"I like the way we are playing," Gaston said. "When we score runs, it takes some pressure off our pitcher."

Baltimore pulled even in the fourth as Aubrey Huff ripped a leadoff triple and scored on a single by Melvin Mora. But Toronto moved ahead in the sixth, when Alex Rios opened the inning with a single, stole second and scored on Overbay's base hit.

Guthrie allowed two runs and six hits while walking two and striking out four in 5 2/3 innings.

"He did a good job for us," Trembley said. "He kept us in the ball game, but once again we didn't score many runs for him."

Counterpart A.J. Burnett (11-9) yielded a run and six hits with seven strikeouts in five innings to get the win.

"Just thankful for the bullpen today," Burnett said. "They came in and finished up what I started from the get-go, set a good tone and lucky break with Millar gave us a little insurance. It was a good 'W'."