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Markakis rallies Orioles past Blue Jays

Apr 21, 2007 - 4:23 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- The Baltimore Orioles never led the Toronto Blue Jays until the final at-bat of the game.

Nick Markakis' bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Baltimore a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays and its sixth win in seven games.

Baltimore had to rally three times in the game before Markakis drove home the game-winner with one out against a drawn-in infield. Seven of the Orioles' nine wins this season have been come-from-behind victories.

"I knew they were going to bring the bases loaded, bottom of the ninth. I was of a mindset to hit one up the middle or hit a fly ball - make something happen," Markakis said. "With two strikes I was up there looking for anything to put the ball in play. It's not really a pressure situation. I was trying to put that in the back of my mind, go up there and be comfortable."

Corey Patterson opened the ninth with a single to right and advanced to second on Paul Bako's sacrifice. Brian Roberts was intentionally walked by Victor Zambrano (0-1) to bring up Melvin Mora, who walked to load the bases and set the table for Markakis, whose third hit of the game was a sharp ground ball into center field.

"It's good to help out the team. We played well as a team tonight," Markakis said. "It's good to be on that end of the pile. We played hard tonight."

Reliever Chris Ray (2-1) earned the win despite allowing two hits in one inning.

The Orioles had rallied to tie the game in the eighth inning off relievers Shaun Marcum and Casey Janssen. With one out, Markakis singled and Miguel Tejada followed with a double down the right field line. A sacrifice fly by Aubrey Huff cut the lead to one and Kevin Millar followed with the game-tying single on a ball that dropped in front of Adam Lind in left field.

"I made just a couple of bad pitches," Marcum said. "The one to Markakis was a little up. The one to Tejada was actually a pretty good pitch and because he's such a great hitter, he got a hold of it."

"We are putting a lot of heat on some young guys. They didn't expect to be pitching this year," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "The worst thing that can happen is they lose confidence, but we're calling on them to do a lot."

Toronto led 2-0 in the fourth inning before Mora hit a two-run homer to left to tie the game.

With two outs and the score still tied, 2-2, in the seventh inning, Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera was replaced by lefthander John Parrish after loading the bases. Parrish was scheduled to face the lefthand hitting Matt Stairs, but Gibbons sent up Vernon Wells, a righthander.

Wells drove a sharp line drive off the glove of Mora at third base, allowing Jason Smith and Gregg Zaun to score. Parrish escaped further damage by getting Aaron Hill to ground out.

Stairs sparked Toronto's offense in the second inning with a rare stolen base. With two outs, the 5-9, 215-pounder swiped second base after noticing that the Baltimore infield wasn't guarding against the steal.

Stairs, who has just 26 stolen bases in 1,426 career games and hadn't swiped a base since May 19, 2005, scored moments later on a single by Lind. Royce Clayton followed with a double down the right field line to score Lind, giving the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

Despite a strong outing, Toronto starter A.J. Burnett did not get a decision. The righthander allowed two runs, three hits and five walks while striking out two in seven innings.

"I felt really good from the get-go," Burnett said. "Just trying not to let things compound upstairs too much."

Cabrera also did not factor in the decision. The 6-9 righthander allowed four runs, eight hits and two walks while striking out seven in 6 2/3 innings.

Patterson provided the defensive play of the game in first inning, reaching over the wall in right-center field to rob Lyle Overbay of his second home run of the season.

"We're a little better ball club than we were last year, there's no question about it," Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. If our pitchers continue to pitch the way they have, especially the bullpen, we feel like we should be able to play better."