Jul 24, 2008 1:34 pm US/Eastern
Blue Jays Beat Orioles In Suspended Game
BALTIMORE (AP) ―
A.J. Burnett registered his 11th victory a day after he pitched, and Toronto used a strong performance by its bullpen to beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-1 Thursday in the completion of a suspended game.
The game was suspended by rain Wednesday night in the top of sixth with Toronto leading 2-1. Play resumed 13 1/2 hours later before the regularly scheduled finale of the four-game series.
The victory was worth the wait for the Blue Jays, who had lost seven consecutive road series since taking two of three from Oakland on May 27-29. By winning the suspended game, Toronto was assured no worse than a split.
Burnett (11-9) watched from the dugout as three Blue Jays relievers preserved his solid start. Burnett struck out seven in five innings, allowing one run on six hits.
Jesse Carlson took over in the sixth and got four straight outs, Shawn Camp retired the only two batters he faced to end the seventh, and Scott Downs finished with two innings of two-hit ball.
When play resumed, Lance Cormier replaced Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie (6-8) and retired Scott Rolen on a comebacker with Lyle Overbay on third base.
Overbay singled in the tiebreaking run earlier in the inning, shortly before a thundershower ultimately rendered the field unplayable.
The loss was Guthrie's first in seven starts since June 12. The right-hander was 3-0 in that span.
Toronto pulled away with three unearned runs in the eighth. With the bases loaded and one out, Kevin Millar fielded a grounder to first and threw wildly to home, allowing two runs to score. John McDonald followed with a sacrifice fly.
Long before the rain came Wednesday, Toronto broke on top in the third when Adam Lind singled, stole second, took third on a single by McDonald and scored on a groundout by Marco Scutaro.
After stranding a runner at second base in the first and second innings, Baltimore pulled even in the fourth. Aubrey Huff tripled to left-center and scored on an infield hit by Melvin Mora.
Burnett gave up a double to Brian Roberts in the fifth but struck out the side.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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