Music: {allcanada} Morrow takes the mound

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

{allcanada} Morrow takes the mound

The Toronto Blue Jays' lengthy home winning streak against the Baltimore Orioles finally came to an end when the clubs last met at Rogers Centre.

Just two days later, Brandon Morrow began an impressive run of his own.

Morrow has won five consecutive decisions and the Blue Jays have won all seven of his starts since June 18, streaks he'll try to extend while helping Toronto restore its home dominance over Baltimore in Tuesday night's series opener.

The Blue Jays (51-51) started a stretch of 16 straight wins against the Orioles at Rogers Centre on Aug. 8, 2009, but they couldn't finish off their fifth consecutive sweep June 16. The Orioles scored twice in the ninth to break a tie, then survived Adam Lind's solo homer in the bottom of the inning for a 4-3 victory.

"It's not something we were thinking about out there on the field, but it's always nice to get a win when you know that's going on," shortstop J.J. Hardy told the Orioles' official website of ending their skid against the Blue Jays.

Toronto should feel pretty good about its chances of avoiding another loss with Morrow (7-4, 4.34 ERA) on the hill.

The hard-throwing right-hander is 5-0 with a 2.85 ERA and a .195 opponent batting average in his last seven starts. He's won both of his home outings since the All-Star break, including an 11-6 victory over Seattle on Wednesday in which he allowed three runs over seven innings.

Morrow is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA in three career starts against the Orioles (40-58), all last season.

Baltimore right fielder Nick Markakis is 4 for 8 versus Morrow. He also did everything he could to help his team earn its first series victory since June 24-26 on Sunday against the Angels, but finishing a triple shy of the cycle wasn't enough as the Orioles bullpen allowed six runs in the eighth and ninth innings of a 9-3 loss.

Adam Jones also went deep - he has five homers and 11 RBIs in his last nine games - but catcher Matt Wieters isn't concerned with who's been hot in Baltimore's lineup.

"It doesn't matter if it's Adam or Nick (who have) been hitting well," Wieters said. "There are guys that aren't hitting well. ... The goal is to win the game, and right now we're not winning games."

The Blue Jays were outscored 17-6 while dropping their first two games in Texas over the weekend, but Brett Cecil made sure they'd avoid a sweep. The left-hander held the high-scoring Rangers to four singles while going the distance in Sunday's 3-0 victory.

Toronto won without a home run, improving to 7-22 in such games and tying them with the Orioles (7-23) for the majors' fewest victories when failing to homer.

Facing the Orioles back home should help the Blue Jays rediscover their power. They've hit 37 homers in their last 16 games versus Baltimore at Rogers Centre versus Baltimore. Jose Bautista has six homers in his last 10 home games in the series, posting a 1.523 OPS in that stretch.

Bautista, however, is 0 for 7 lifetime against Jake Arrieta (9-7, 5.02), who will try for a fifth time to earn his 10th win. The right-hander is 0-3 with a 7.17 ERA in July after giving up three runs over seven innings of a 4-0 loss to Boston on Wednesday.

Arrieta is 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA in three starts versus Toronto. He's also given up six long balls in his last three starts overall - one more than Morrow has allowed all season.

Lind has gone deep in four straight games against Baltimore, totaling five homers while going 10 for 15.