Jesse Litsch dazzles in Blue Jays debut

Last Updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 | 11:34 PM ET

CBC Sports

Toronto Blue Jays rookie Jesse Litsch bears little resemblance to fellow redhead Roy Halladay, but certainly pitched like him Tuesday night. 

Litsch hurled 8 2/3 tidy innings to earn the win in his major-league debut as the Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 in front of 30,958 fans at the Rogers Centre.

Rookie pitcher Jesse Litsch throws to first base in Tuesday's 2-1 victory.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

"It is the best day of my life," Litsch said. "It's awesome.

"It's a great deal and I love this feeling. I'm very, very happy with myself right now."

Litsch survived some first-inning jitters to come within one out of a complete game, retiring 21 of 25 batters on groundouts.

And he did it with his father, Rick, a Florida resident, sitting in the stands on his 57th birthday.

"Icing on the cake," Rick Litsch said. "What more could I ask for?"

Halladay was scheduled to start for the Blue Jays, but was sidelined four to six weeks following an appendectomy last Friday.

Enter Litsch (1-0), who limited the Orioles to one run on four hits and two walks with one strikeout.

The 22-year-old right-hander posted a 5-1 record in six starts for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and was leading the Eastern League with an 0.96 earned-run average when promoted to Toronto.

"That was a dominating performance," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "The kid was outstanding.

"He works fast, throws strikes. And you saw the defensive plays behind him — it's the same thing when Doc is pitching.

"The pace was good, so guys don't get back on their heels. The baseball gods shined on everybody tonight."

Alex Rios homered and scored two runs as the Blue Jays (17-22) earned their fourth win in five games since ending a nine-game losing skid.

Troy Glaus singled in Toronto's other run and Jeremy Accardo notched his third save of the season by retiring Aubrey Huff for the final out.

"He threw a good game," Huff said of Litsch, who he knew as a bat boy with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays five years ago.  

"It's too bad it was against us. It's probably one of the special days of his life."

Orioles suffer 4th straight loss

Miguel Tejada had the lone run batted in for the Orioles (18-22), losers of four straight and eight of nine on the road.

Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera absorbed the loss, allowing two runs and three hits in eight innings.

Cabrera (3-4) struck out six batters and walked five.

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when leadoff batter Brian Roberts walked, took third base on a single by Nick Markakis and scored on Tejada's RBI groundout.

But Rios tied it with a leadoff home run to left field in the bottom of the inning, his eighth of the season.

It remained 1-1 until Rios walked to open the sixth, advanced to second on rookie Adam Lind's groundout and scampered home on Glaus' RBI single to right.

Baltimore swept a three-game series from Toronto last month at Camden Yards, but has lost nine of its last 12 meetings at the Rogers Centre.