Music: {allcanada} Romero returns to form, leads Jays past Orioles

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

{allcanada} Romero returns to form, leads Jays past Orioles

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TORONTO -- Buoyed by a convincing effort that ended their worst losing streak of the season a night earlier, the Toronto Blue Jays restored more order to their world Tuesday as ace Ricky Romero regained his command and led his team to another victory.

The left-hander found his way back into the strike zone over six innings of four-run ball during an 8-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, most crucially walking just one batter after issuing 21 free passes over his previous 23.1 frames.

While certainly no panacea, the outing should certainly help stabilize him after a career-high seven walks last week at Tampa Bay, a performance that left him puzzled and frustrated, lamenting that he'd never experienced such a loss of control before.

This time out, Romero (6-1) featured better body language and threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 26 batters he faced, and the bulk of the damage against him, came during a three-run sixth that cut into what had been an 8-1 lead.

Some nervous relief work - capped by Casey Janssen, who surrendered a two-run shot to Adam Jones in the ninth before a crowd of 17,352 - carried things home from there as the Blue Jays (25-24) won their second straight after a five-game skid, while the falling-back-to-Earth Orioles (29-20) lost a fourth straight and seventh in nine outings.

The bottom of the lineup did much of the damage against Jake Arrieta (2-6) to back Romero, with Brett Lawrie's three hits, three RBIs and three runs leading the charge. The key blow was his two-run double in the fourth that opened up a 4-1 lead and the Orioles were faced with a hill too big for them to climb from then out.

Rajai Davis, the left-fielder for now after Eric Thames' demotion to triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the day, also had three hits and drove in a pair, but got things going with his legs in the third. Laying down a bunt after singles from Lawrie and David Cooper to open the frame, his charge down the line led Arrieta to throw the ball away into right field, allowing Lawrie to score and tie the game.

Yunel Escobar's groundout brought home Cooper later in the frame to make it 2-1.

Davis then cashed in Lawrie's double in the fourth with a base hit to open up a 5-1 edge, and in the fifth he followed Lawrie and Cooper with a third consecutive RBI single to make it 8-1.

Romero, meanwhile, allowed only Jones' solo shot in the second before surrendering an RBI groundout to Mark Reynolds in the sixth before Chris Davis's solo blast.

Orioles catcher Matt Wieters was ejected for the first time in his career in the fifth after Davis's RBI single, upset over a couple of debatable ball calls by home plate umpire Dana DeMuth earlier in the at-bat.

Notes: The Blue Jays held a private workout for a handful of draft eligible players Tuesday morning at the dome, with GM Alex Anthopoulos, assistant GM Tony LaCava and others looking on. … Vladimir Guerrero went 3-for-5 with homer and double as the designated hitter in single-A Dunedin's 8-3 win over Lakeland. … A group of students from Academie Ste. Marie in Quebec formed a heart shape with the number 38 across two sections in the upper deck seats, according to the Blue Jays. They were honouring classmate Steven McAllister, who was unable to attend while he recovers from an injury suffered in an accident. His hockey jersey number is 38.