Jason Berken overcame some early trouble in his major league debut. (Nick Wass/Associated Press)The Baltimore Orioles hit home runs to every direction on Tuesday night at Camden Yards to send the Toronto Blue Jays to their eighth consecutive defeat.
Aubrey Huff, Adam Jones and Nolan Riemold all went deep in the 7-2 victory.
Toronto has now been outscored 43-13 during their slide, and the Jays were again bedeviled by a lack of clutch hitting. They stranded 10 baserunners on 2-for-13 hitting with men in scoring position.
"We're just in a rut right now," Blue Jays designated hitter Kevin Millar said. "You just got to go out there and keep having good thoughts, and eventually it's going to turn around. It definitely hasn't been fun, but you got to dig deep."
Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero (2-1) pitched relatively well over the first four innings, with the Huff solo shot the only blemish. The mistakes became more frequent for Romero, and Jones and Riemold tagged him in the fifth and sixth, respectively, for a 5-2 lead.
Romero was making his first start since April 19, after suffering a strained right oblique muscle. He departed with one out in the sixth, having allowed 11 hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
Toronto batters appeared for a time like they might feast on Jason Berken, making his major league debut. The Blue Jays would score in the first two innings, but the rookie settled down.
Berken finished with three strikeouts and three walks over five innings, yielding seven hits.
"It was great. It's obviously been a dream of mine since I was a kid," the right-hander said. "To come out here and get a win, I couldn't ask for anything better."
Only 10,130 fans — the smallest crowd in the 18-year history of Camden Yards — showed up on a miserable night. Temperatures plunged and a steady mist swirled through the stadium from the outset.
The only positive for Toronto was a Boston loss, which kept the Blue Jays 1½ games back of the pace in the American League East.
Roy Halladay (8-1) will help decide if eight is enough for the Blue Jays as he starts Wednesday afternoon's series finale. Rich Hill (1-0) goes for the Orioles.
It took just three batters to get the Blue Jays on the board. Marco Scutaro and Adam Lind both doubled for a 1-0 lead.
Scott Rolen walked at the top of the second and Lyle Overbay and Rod Barajas followed with base hits for a two-run gap, but there was little else to cheer about for the Jays.
Huff blasted an offering over the right-field wall in the bottom of the second, his eighth of the season.
Berken (1-0) settled down, retiring four in a row at one point, but Toronto couldn't capitalize after loading the bases in the fifth.
Vernon Wells hit a two-run double to the gap but third base coach Nick Leyva opted to hold Adam Lind up at third after the hit bounced rapidly off the wall and toward centre-fielder Jones.
Rios rested
Jones then changed the complexion of the game by crushing a pitch into the mostly empty left-field stands, with Brian Roberts on base. Jones now has 11 home runs to put himself within shouting distance of the American League leaders.
After Baltimore reliever Matt Albers retired the Jays in order in the sixth, Ty Wigginton doubled and Reimold smacked a Romero pitch over the centre-field wall for a three-run lead.
"I just left fastballs up, and they made me pay for it," said Romero. "It's disappointing, you know? You try to get a win for the team, and you come up short."
Scutaro's leadoff double in the seventh offered promise for the Blue Jays but the next three batters couldn't get the ball out of the infield, with Albers striking out Wells to end the threat.
In the eighth, Overbay hit into an inning-ending double play.
"It's pretty much been the same thing the last eight days," said Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston. "We just can't get hits with guys on base."
In their half of the inning, Baltimore added two more runs when Roberts doubled over the head of Wells, scoring ex-Blue Jay Gregg Zaun and Cesar Izturis.
It all added up to a winning debut for Berken, who only got the opportunity after Baltimore opted to release veteran Adam Eaton, who went 2-5 with an 8.56 earned-run average.
"The most important thing was his poise," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said of the rookie. "We've had guys before come up, and they've had just as good of stuff. But there's more to it than just having stuff and having tools. It's the ability to focus, the ability to not get out of control, stay in your lane, looking like you fit."
Gaston opted to rest Alex Rios, who had just three hits in last 21 at bats. Lind took his third spot in the batting order, with Joe Inglett inserted in the lineup to play right field and bat ninth.
After closing with the Orioles, the Blue Jays will have a day off before hosting the Boston Red Sox on Friday for a three-game series.
With files from The Associated Press
