Final
Orioles-Blue Jays Preview
Sep 23, 2010 - 11:16 PMVideo
Baltimore (61-91) at Toronto (76-75), 7:07 p.m. EDT
The Baltimore Orioles' promising second half has included a recent reversal of fortune against the Toronto Blue Jays, but it has still been more than 13 months since their last win in Canada.
Buck Showalter's club hopes to snap an 11-game losing streak at Rogers Centre on Friday night, as Toronto's Jose Bautista will be looking to celebrate a 50-home run season by adding to his total.
Baltimore (61-91) lost its first 12 games against the Blue Jays this season - six in Toronto - but those defeats came before Showalter's arrival Aug. 3.
The Orioles have gone 29-18 under their new manager, including a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays from Sept. 13-15. Despite Wednesday's 6-1 loss at Boston, they're also 13-8 on the road with Showalter after going 14-40.
Their struggles in Toronto, however, go back even further. Baltimore has dropped 20 of its last 22 there, including 11 straight since a 7-5 win Aug. 7, 2009.
The Blue Jays (77-75) have been especially tough at home this season, hitting 133 of their major league-high 234 homers while going 40-32 at Rogers Centre.
Bautista's 50th homer provided the only offense in a 1-0 win over Seattle on Thursday. Bautista is the 26th player in baseball history to hit 50 homers in a season - and perhaps the most unlikely considering his previous career high was 16.
"It's really a big honor to be put in that elite group of hitters," Bautista said. "To tell you the truth, I really haven't let it sink in yet, I haven't thought about it too much. Once I do that, then I'll probably have more feelings to describe. Right now I'm really honored and happy."
Bautista, who started his big league career with the Orioles in 2004, has 31 homers at home and seven in 15 games against Baltimore this year.
He'll take his swings against Chris Tillman, whose biggest problem lately has been keeping the ball in the strike zone.
Tillman (1-4, 6.42 ERA) has walked six in each of his last two outings. Although the Orioles came back to beat the Yankees 4-3 in 11 innings Sunday, Showalter wasn't pleased after Tillman allowed three runs in 3 2-3 innings.
"That's not going to work," Showalter told the Orioles' official website. "He was fortunate in Detroit (on Sept. 12) and he was fortunate (Sunday) not to give up more."
The right-hander is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays - all in Toronto. He's had problems with Lyle Overbay, who is 3 for 5 with two homers in the matchup.
Toronto's Brett Cecil (13-7, 4.25) has found more success against the Orioles, going 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA in three starts. He pitched eight innings in a 5-2 home win over Baltimore on May 29.
The left-hander, however, has allowed 12 runs in eight innings over his last two outings, although he beat the Red Sox 11-9 last Friday.
- Blue Jays 6, Orioles 4 - FINAL
BALTIMORE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
B Roberts 2b 5 1 2 0 0 1 3 .287
N Markakis rf 5 1 3 1 0 0 1 .293
A Jones cf 5 0 0 0 0 3 5 .282
T Wigginton 3b 5 0 3 0 0 1 1 .255
J Fox dh 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 .212
va-L Scott ph-dh 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 .285
N Rei
Sep 24 10:02 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY COREY PATTERSON SCORED LUKE SCOTT
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, C PATTERSON ON SECOND, N REIMOLD ON THIRD, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 4
TORONTO 6 TOP,9TH
DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: C IZTURIS (.236, 0-FOR-3, BB)
Orioles 4, Blue Jays 6 Top 9, 0 OutsSep 24 9:57 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
BASES LOADED WALK TO LYLE OVERBAY SCORED YUNEL ESCOBAR
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, L OVERBAY ON FIRST, V WELLS ON SECOND, J
BAUTISTA ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 3
TORONTO 6 BOTTOM,8TH
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: A HILL (.208, 0-FOR-2, BB)
Orioles 3, Blue Jays 6 Bot 8, 0 OutsSep 24 9:40 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY NOLAN REIMOLD SCORED NICK MARKAKIS
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, N REIMOLD ON FIRST, T WIGGINTON ON SECOND, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 3
TORONTO 5 TOP,7TH
DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: C TATUM (.275, 2-FOR-3)
Orioles 3, Blue Jays 5 Top 7, 0 OutsSep 24 8:56 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY NICK MARKAKIS SCORED BRIAN ROBERTS
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, N MARKAKIS ON SECOND, 0 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 2
TORONTO 5 TOP,7TH
DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: A JONES (.283, 0-FOR-3)
Orioles 2, Blue Jays 5 Top 7, 0 OutsSep 24 8:45 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY JOSE BAUTISTA (52) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT IN
THE 6TH OFF CHRIS TILLMAN SCORED YUNEL ESCOBAR.
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 1, TORONTO 5
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: V WELLS (.271, 1-FOR-2, HR, 2 RBI)
Orioles 1, Blue Jays 5 Bot 6, 0 OutsSep 24 8:37 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY VERNON WELLS (30) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 1
OUT IN THE 4TH OFF CHRIS TILLMAN SCORED JOSE BAUTISTA.
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 1, TORONTO 3
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: L OVERBAY (.247, 0-FOR-1)
Orioles 1, Blue Jays 3 Bot 4, 0 OutsSep 24 8:07 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY BRANDON SNYDER SCORED JAKE FOX
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, B SNYDER ON SECOND, C TATUM ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 1
TORONTO 1 TOP,2ND
DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: C IZTURIS (.237, 1 HR, 28 RBI)
Orioles 1, Blue Jays 1 Top 2, 0 OutsSep 24 7:29 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JOSE BAUTISTA (51) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 2
OUT IN THE 1ST OFF CHRIS TILLMAN.
CURRENT SCORE: BALTIMORE 0, TORONTO 1
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: V WELLS (.270, 29 HR, 81 RBI)
Orioles 0, Blue Jays 1 Bot 1, 0 OutsSep 24 7:20 PM
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