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Orioles-Blue Jays Preview

Sep 26, 2010 - 12:18 AM By NOEY KUPCHAN STATS Writer

Baltimore (61-92) at Toronto (78-75), 1:07 p.m. EDT

Not much has gone right recently for the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre, and they could have a hard time turning things around against Shaun Marcum.

The Orioles look to avoid a 14th straight road loss to the Blue Jays when the teams conclude their season series Sunday.

Toronto (79-75) continued its mastery of Baltimore with a 5-4 victory Saturday, hitting four homers, including Lyle Overbay's in the 11th inning.

Aaron Hill, Edwin Encarnacion and Travis Snider also hit solo homers for the Blue Jays, who have won 22 of the last 24 meetings at Rogers Centre. The Orioles' last victory in Toronto was a 7-5 win Aug. 7, 2009.

Marcum (12-8, 3.77 ERA) will try to beat Baltimore for the third straight time and notch his career-high 13th win. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in three starts against the Orioles this season, pitching six innings in a 5-0 home victory May 27.

He was 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA during a six-start stretch before struggling at Boston on Sunday. Marcum allowed six runs and nine hits over 5 1-3 innings in a 6-0 loss to the Red Sox.

Despite his success against them this season, Marcum is 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA over 11 career starts against Baltimore. Nick Markakis is the Oriole that gives him the most trouble. The right fielder is 12 for 26 (.462) with five homers and three doubles against him.

"I tell you what, he's the best player I've ever faced," Marcum said. "I think he's hitting 7,000 off me."

Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista is batting .308 with nine homers and 19 RBIs in 17 games against Baltimore this season, and looks to have another appealing matchup Sunday.

Baltimore (61-93) will send Rick VandenHurk to the mound to make his first start of the season.

VandenHurk (0-0, 4.38) was called up from Triple-A Norfolk on Aug. 16, and has been pitching strictly out of the bullpen. He has allowed runs in four of six appearances, but had his best performance of the year in his only appearance against Toronto on Sept. 13.

The right-hander came in to relieve injured starter Brian Matusz after the first inning, and limited Toronto to one run and two hits over 5 1-3 innings before the Orioles won 4-3 in 11 innings.

VandenHurk is 8-9 with a 5.92 ERA over 32 career starts, going 3-2 with a 4.30 ERA as a starter with Florida last season.

Baltimore's three-game losing streak matches its longest since Buck Showalter took over as manager in early August.

The Blue Jays have hit a major league-best 241 home runs this season, three shy of matching the franchise record set in 2000.

"It's ridiculous," Overbay said. "I've never been on a team like this that just consistently hits homers. That's what we do, homers, doubles and strikeouts."

Shortstop Yunel Escobar is hitting .370 against the Orioles in 2010.