The Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles will be looking to show they're back on track when they open a three-game series Friday at the Rogers Centre (7:07 p.m. ET).
Toronto (73-73) avoided its sixth consecutive defeat — and a sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees — with a dramatic 2-1 home win on Thursday night.
A.J. Burnett tossed eight innings of four-hit ball, and Frank Thomas drove home Alex Rios from second base with a single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Blue Jays their first victory in nearly a week.
Despite getting back in the win column, Toronto continued its recent struggles at the plate. The team had just three hits — two by Thomas — in the series finale with New York, and has totalled just 15 runs in its last six games, failing to score more than four in any of them.
The Orioles, meanwhile, are looking to win consecutive games for the first time in nearly a month.
After being pounded in two losses — the second of which saw manager Dave Trembley get ejected for arguing a call and being suspended three games — the Orioles (62-83) bounced back with a tidy 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday to avoid a sweep. Jon Leicester and three relievers combined for a five-hitter as Baltimore won for just the fourth time in 22 games.
Interim manager Tom Trebelhorn credited Trembley with designing a detailed pitching plan — using relievers James Hoey, Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker, in that order — that provided the blueprint for the win.
"I asked him, why haven't you planned like this before?" joked Trebelhorn, who will be in charge for the next two games.
Even with the win, the Orioles are just two games up on the the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the American League's worst team.
Litsch looks to limit long ballsThe Orioles, who are opening a 10-game road trip Friday that also includes stops in New York and Texas, will send Brian Burres (5-5, 5.85 ERA) to the mound for his first start since Aug. 4.
The rookie left-hander struggled in the bullpen in the interim, posting an 11.50 ERA in 12 relief appearances, but did manage to limit the powerful Boston Red Sox to one run over 2 2/3 innings last Friday in his most recent outing.
In his only start against the Blue Jays, Burres gave up two runs on seven hits over five innings and was tagged with the loss in a 2-1 Baltimore loss at the Rogers Centre.
Toronto will counter with a rookie of its own Thursday in Jesse Litsch (5-8, 4.11). The 22-year-old righty is trapped in a personal three-start winless streak, during which he has received a total of just five runs of support.
Litsch was hit for three runs — all on solo homers — in five innings in a 3-2 loss at Tampa Bay on Sunday. The long ball has been a problem for him throughout the season, as he has given up 12 homers in just 87 2/3 innings in his 16 starts.
"It was definitely a battle," Litsch said of Sunday's game. "I knew I was going to have to battle through it. That's pretty much what I did all game."
Litsch has split two starts against the Orioles, coming one out shy of a complete game on May 15, but giving up five runs — two earned — in six innings of a defeat Aug. 18.
With files from the Associated PressBlue Jays send Burnett to the hill against Boston
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