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Orioles-Blue Jays Preview

Sep 25, 2010 - 3:57 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Baltimore (61-91) at Toronto (77-75), 1:07 p.m. EDT

Jose Bautista and the Toronto Blue Jays keep hitting the ball out of the park.

Bautista looks to add to his major league-leading home run total when the Blue Jays try to win their 13th straight at home against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon.

After his homer in Thursday's 1-0 win over Seattle made him the 26th player in major league history to hit 50 in a season, Bautista went deep twice in a 6-4 victory in this series opener Friday.

He has six homers in the last eight games and the most in a season since Alex Rodriguez hit 54 in 2007 with the Yankees.

"I've learned over the course of the season not to put any limitations on what (Bautista) can do," said teammate Vernon Wells, who added a two-run shot Friday to become the fourth player in franchise history to reach 30 three times.

The 82 homers between Bautista and Wells are more than any other pair of teammates in the majors this season. It is also the most by a Blue Jays duo since Carlos Delgado and Tony Batista had 41 apiece in 2000, when the club hit a franchise-record 244.

With nine games remaining, Toronto (78-75) needs eight homers to break that mark. The Blue Jays also have an outside shot of challenging the major league record of 264 set by the 1997 Seattle Mariners.

The Blue Jays, who have outhomered Baltimore 30-7 while winning 13 of 16 this year, will give the ball to Ricky Romero (13-9, 3.75 ERA) as they try to improve to 8-0 at home in the season series.

The left-hander is 3-0 with a 1.14 ERA in three starts against Baltimore this season after going 0-2 with a 5.47 ERA versus the Orioles as a rookie last year.

Romero, who has won three of his last four starts, is looking to set a career high in wins after going 13-9 last season.

Baltimore (61-92), which entered this series having won three straight against Toronto after losing the first 12 matchups this season, will try to rebound with Jeremy Guthrie (10-14, 3.92) on the mound.

The right-hander was 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA in his previous three starts before allowing six hits and seven runs in five innings of an 11-3 loss to New York last Saturday.

It was his shortest outing since July 8.

"My command wasn't great - that was evident from the first pitch (a hit batter) on," Guthrie told the Orioles' official website.

Looking to also set a career high in wins, Guthrie is 0-2 with a 2.29 ERA in three starts against Toronto this season. The Orioles scored three runs in those outings.

Bautista is 6 for 18 with a homer, and Wells has 10 hits - two homers - in 32 at-bats against Guthrie.

Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis, 8 for 18 in his last four games, is batting .385 at Rogers Centre in 2010.

Toronto has won 21 of 23 at home against Baltimore, which had won nine of 11 on the road before Friday.