• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Guthrie faces Marcum in series finale at Baltimore

May 24, 2007 - 1:27 PM Toronto (20-25) at Baltimore (21-25) 7:05 pm EDT

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -A pair of pleasant surprises will oppose each other when the Baltimore Orioles host the Toronto Blue Jays in the finale of a three-game series on Thursday.

Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie (2-1, 2.95 ERA) spent the first month of the season in the bullpen with the exception of one start. Injuries in the Orioles' rotation moved Guthrie into a starting role this month and he has made the most of the opportunity.

In three starts this month, the righthander is 1-0 with an 0.85 ERA in 21 1/3 innings. In his last start on Saturday against Washington, he struck out a career-high 10 batters.

Toronto's Shaun Marcum (2-2, 4.13) also has come out of the bullpen to provide his club with a pair of quality starts. In fact, the 25-year-old righthander pitched six no-hit innings in his first start on May 13 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Marcum followed that performance with four more innings of no-hit ball on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies. His string of 10 consecutive no-hit innings ended in the fifth inning of that game, as the Phillies tallied their only two runs in a 13-2 defeat.

Aubrey Huff's two-out two-run single in the seventh inning of Wednesday's game keyed the Orioles 5-2 win over the Blue Jays. Corey Patterson stole home in the fifth inning of the game on the back end of a double-steal with Brian Roberts.

Toronto's Frank Thomas was hitless in the game and has just two hits in his last 21 at-bats. The 6-5, 275-pound slugger has 492 home runs, but has not gone deep since May 12.

The teams have split the first two games of this three-game set, which puts the Orioles in rare position to take a series from Toronto. Baltimore is just 9-23-4 in their last 36 series against the Blue Jays dating to June 2001.

The teams have split eight meetings this season.