Final
Litsch pitches Blue Jays past Orioles
Sep 28, 2008 - 9:13 PM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Vernon Wells went 4-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI and Jesse Litsch tossed seven strong innings as the Toronto Blue Jays recorded a 10-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.Wells belted a solo homer in the second to open the scoring and smacked an RBI single in the following frame to give Litsch all the support he would need.
A run-scoring double by Melvin Mora was the only blemish against Litsch (13-9), who yielded three hits and struck out five.
"When you get runs on the board, you get confidence and it makes it a lot easier to go out there and pitch," Litsch said.
The Blue Jays (86-76) finished the regular season in fourth place in the American League East Division, but finished 10 games over the .500 mark for the third time in seven years.
A major reason for their second-half surge was the impact interim manager Cito Gaston made on a deteriorating clubhouse morale. General manager J.P. Ricciardi fired John Gibbons on June 20, when the team was saddled with a pedestrian 35-39 record.
"It was nice to finish with a win today and go 10 games over .500," Gaston said. "That was a goal I set at one time and we did get there. Hopefully, next year we will be heading to a playoff game. The guys played hard and finished up good. Very proud of them."
Under Gaston's reign, the Blue Jays went 51-36 despite suffering season-ending injuries to key starting pitchers Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan.
Lyle Overbay hit a solo shot in the fourth off Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie (10-12), who exited the game after four innings. Alfredo Simon came on in relief in the fifth, but Wells greeted him rudely with a three-run homer to extend the Blue Jays' lead to 6-0.
"Vernon had a great game today," Gaston said. "He finished up strong with 20 home runs and hit .300 on the nose. If you look back on all the time he missed this year he could have 10-15 more home runs and 20 to 25 RBI."
Toronto added three runs in the eighth, sending the Orioles to their 11th loss in 12 games.
"Litsch pitched a great game," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "We had minimal opportunities."
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TORONTO 0 1 1 1 3 1 0 3 0 10 15 0
BALTIMORE 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 2 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: TOR - JESSE LITSCH, JESSE CARLSON (8TH), BRANDON LEAGUE (9TH) AND
GREGG ZAUN
BAL - JEREMY GUTHRIE, ALFREDO SIMON (5TH), BRIAN BURRES
(7TH), BOB MCCRORY (8TH), RAND
Sep 28 4:12 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY KEVIN MENCH SCORED MARCO SCUTARO.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, K MENCH ON FIRST, B WILKERSON ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 10
BALTIMORE 1 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: A LIND (.283, 0-FOR-4)
Blue Jays 10, Orioles 1 Top 8, 0 OutsSep 28 3:49 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY BRAD WILKERSON SCORED JOE INGLETT.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, B WILKERSON ON FIRST, M SCUTARO ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 9
BALTIMORE 1 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: V WELLS (.300, 4-FOR-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI)
Blue Jays 9, Orioles 1 Top 8, 0 OutsSep 28 3:45 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY MARCO SCUTARO SCORED GREGG ZAUN.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M SCUTARO ON FIRST, J INGLETT ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 8
BALTIMORE 1 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: A RIOS (.291, 0-FOR-4)
Blue Jays 8, Orioles 1 Top 8, 0 OutsSep 28 3:43 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY MELVIN MORA SCORED ALEX CINTRON.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M MORA ON SECOND, N MARKAKIS ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 7
BALTIMORE 1 BOTTOM, 6TH
DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: A HUFF (.305, 0-FOR-2)
Blue Jays 7, Orioles 1 Bot 6, 0 OutsSep 28 3:09 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY TRAVIS SNIDER SCORED SCOTT ROLEN.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, G ZAUN ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 7
BALTIMORE 0 TOP, 6TH
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: J INGLETT (.297, 1-FOR-2, BB)
Blue Jays 7, Orioles 0 Top 6, 0 OutsSep 28 2:54 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
THREE-RUN HOME RUN BY VERNON WELLS (20) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT
IN THE 5TH OFF ALFREDO SIMON SCORED JOE INGLETT AND MARCO SCUTARO.
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 6, BALTIMORE 0
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: A LIND (.285, 0-FOR-2)
Blue Jays 6, Orioles 0 Top 5, 0 OutsSep 28 2:42 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY LYLE OVERBAY (15) TO RIGHT WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 4TH OFF JEREMY GUTHRIE.
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 3, BALTIMORE 0
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: S ROLEN (.262, 1-FOR-1)
Blue Jays 3, Orioles 0 Top 4, 0 OutsSep 28 2:18 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY VERNON WELLS SCORED JOE INGLETT.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, V WELLS ON FIRST, M SCUTARO ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 2
BALTIMORE 0 TOP, 3RD
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: A LIND (.286, 0-FOR-1)
Blue Jays 2, Orioles 0 Top 3, 0 OutsSep 28 2:11 PM - AL
AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY VERNON WELLS (19) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 2ND OFF JEREMY GUTHRIE.
CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 1, BALTIMORE 0
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: A LIND (.287, 9 HR, 40 RBI)
Blue Jays 1, Orioles 0 Top 2, 0 OutsSep 28 1:50 PM
Related News
- Tuesday Bird Droppings: The slow march to Opening Day Dec 26
- Merry Christmas Dec 25
- Happy Birthday Rickey Henderson Dec 25
- Christmas Bird Droppings: Enjoy the holiday season, Birdland Dec 25
- Hall of Fame Poll: David Wright Dec 24
- Christmas Eve Bird Droppings Dec 24
- Hall of Fame Poll: Billy Wagner Dec 23
- Off Topic: What is the worst Christmas song? Dec 23
- Saturday Bird Droppings: Ryan Minor has passed away Dec 23
- Today in Blue Jays History: Brandon Morrow Trade Dec 22
- The 2023 ALDS, Game 1 (Camden Chat’s version) Dec 22
- Friday Bird Droppings: The Dodgers won the Yamamoto sweepstakes Dec 22