TORONTO, Aug 7 - Lyle Overbay homered and drove in five runs and Toronto
starter Brian Tallet combined with two relievers on a two-hitter to help the
Blue Jays hammer the Baltimore Orioles 8-1 and rejoin the AL wild card race on
Monday.
Following a seven-game losing streak that dropped them out the AL east
division battle with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the Blue Jays have
now won two in a row.
Toronto's troubles had looked set to continue when scheduled starter Ted
Lilly was ruled out with a sore neck but Tallet, Jeremy Accardo and Brandon
League stepped up to limit the Orioles to just two hits.
Tallet, making his first Major League start since 2003, worked 2 1/3 innings
before giving way to Accardo after walking a pair of batters to open the third.
Accardo, acquired from the San Francisco Giants on July 22 for disgruntled
slugger Shea Hillenbrand, gave up both Toronto hits, including an RBI single to
Fernando Tatis, in his 2 2/3 innings of work before League tossed four scoreless
innings to notch his first save of the season.
"Ted came down with the sore neck and wasn't able to go, but (the relievers)
clutched up," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons told MLB.com. "They were huge. They
sucked it up in the 'pen.
"They've been doing that a lot this year."
The Blue Jays' three pitchers received plenty of support as Toronto batters
unleashed a 14-hit attack.
Vernon Wells had three hits, including a fourth inning three-run homer, while
Reed Johnson also had three hits and scored twice.
"We had a good pitching performance today from the three guys," Overbay said.
"That should be our main focus.
"They haven't been doing as well as they think they should, and as well as we
think they should. It's good to get them on the right foot."
DEEP CENTRE
Toronto broke open a 1-1 contest in the bottom of third on Overbay's 17th
homer of the season, a two-run blast to deep centre.
Wells then put the contest out of reach with his 27th, a three-shot over the
wall in left to put the home side 6-1 up.
Russ Ortiz (0-8) was tagged with the loss, hammered for six runs on nine hits
with three walks in three-plus innings of work.
