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Orioles begin road trip against Blue Jays

Jul 26, 2011 - 2:35 PM (Sports Network) - The Baltimore Orioles hit the road for a 10-game trip that carries them into the first week of August, beginning with a three-game set versus the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre tonight.

Like clock work, the Orioles are again the team in the American League East that is looking up at the rest of the division, already more than 20 games out of contention as the only club under .500 among the group. On Sunday Baltimore finished up a three-game series with the LA Angels at home by dropping a 9-3 decision, which means the team has fallen in three of the last four contests and been outscored during that stretch by a 21-7 margin.

Nick Markakis and Adam Jones both tried to keep the O's competitive as they connected on home runs and accounted for five hits, three RBI and three runs scored, but the rest of the roster managed only a combined two hits in the setback.

"Adam and Nick have been hitting well and some guys aren't hitting well," Baltimore's Matt Wieters said. "We're all trying to win, it doesn't matter if we're getting hits or we're not getting hits the goal is to win games and right now we're not winning games."

Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie gave up just three earned runs on six hits and four walks over seven innings, but it was Mark Worrell who opened the flood gates when he permitted five runs on four hits -- two home runs -- in a mere two-third innings of action as the team fell to 18 games under .500 and continue to show the weakest record in the AL, second-worst in baseball at this stage.

As for the Jays, they somehow managed to leave Arlington on Sunday with one win in three tries against the streaking Texas Rangers, thanks to a 3-0 triumph in the series finale. Yunel Escobar accounted for three hits and a run scored for the visitors as they snapped a two-game slide and evened their record on the season yet again at 51-51.

Starting pitcher Brett Cecil went the distance for Toronto as he allowed just four hits, walked two and fanned seven batters in his first career shutout and drew closer to .500 himself with his third win in seven decisions in 2011.

This time around the Jays are hoping to get the same result out of starter Brandon Morrow, who already has a record of 2-0 in his career versus Baltimore. The right-hander out of California tallied his second straight win and the fourth in the last five outings on Wednesday when the Jays recorded an 11-6 win over the slumping Seattle Mariners at home.

Against Seattle, Morrow permitted just three runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out seven over as many innings. Not only has the five-year vet been on a roll himself over the last month, Toronto has also responded with seven wins in each of his last seven appearances.

As for the Orioles, their plan is to hand the ball to Jake Arrieta and see how the chips fall tonight. The right-hander, already 1-1 this season and 2-1 in his brief career versus Toronto, started off the 2011 campaign with five wins in his first six decisions, but since then he's run into some trouble and now finds himself with a mark of 9-7.

Arrieta is winless in the month of July, with Baltimore losing all four of his starts, including a 4-0 setback versus Boston last week. Against the Red Sox Arrieta gave up three runs on nine hits -- two home runs -- and struck out four over seven innings of action. While the hurler has been tagged for seven home runs this month, the fact that he didn't issue a single base-on-balls for the first time this season had to be encouraging.

A product of TCU, the Missouri native has had considerable control issues this year, already having handed out 51 free passes in 109 1/3 innings of action.

The most recent series between the teams took place in the middle of June when Toronto won the first two at Rogers Centre and then bowed in the finale, which means the Jays have taken four of the first six games between the squads this season. In 2010 Toronto dominated the series with 15 wins and just three losses, stating perfect at home in nine opportunities.