Toronto Hammers O's, Trachsel Early, Often

Hill's 3-Run Homer in Third Is the Big Blow: Blue Jays 11, Orioles 3

BALTIMORE, April 15 -- As far back as the early days of spring training, Baltimore Orioles Manager Dave Trembley dreaded making the early-innings stroll to the pitcher's mound. So it was easy to understand why he looked so troubled on Tuesday night, when he emerged from the dugout in the third inning to fetch starter Steve Trachsel, who struggled badly as Baltimore fell, 11-3, to the Toronto Blue Jays before a crowd of 15,017 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

"You can't afford to have these kinds of games often because, we've said that repeatedly, it takes its toll on your bullpen," Trembley said. "You need to have your starting pitchers get you to a certain point and place in the game where you're not overusing that bullpen."

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones honored the 61st anniversary of Jackie Robinson's major league debut by wearing his No. 42, and homered on a night in which the team gave out T-shirts with his jersey number. Third baseman Melvin Mora and right fielder Nick Markakis added home runs as well.

Already in the early stages of this season, the Orioles have leaned on the bullpen to get by, even sacrificing a bench player to add a 13th man to the pitching staff to help absorb innings. Meanwhile, Orioles starting pitching entered play on Tuesday night with the second-worst ERA in the American League (4.95), the third-most walks issued (36) and a league-worst 12 home runs allowed, all the while throwing the fourth-fewest innings (72 2/3 ).

Trembley said he has avoided pushing his starters too early in the season, though he said before the game, "It's time for the starting pitchers to start giving us seven each time they go out there."

It would have been reasonable to expect that of Trachsel. The veteran right-hander had pitched into the seventh inning after allowing just two earned runs in his last start. Meanwhile, in his career against Toronto, Trachsel had enjoyed plenty of success, going 6-0 with a 3.12 ERA in seven starts. But Trachsel failed to command his fastball early, causing him to fall behind in counts.

"I was missing both down and then off the plate," he said. "I wasn't even throwing strikes with off-speed stuff really. Once I started walking guys, then I was in big trouble. Four singles out of the five hits, a minor, minor victory. But really, it's a bad, bad start."

The major damage came during the third inning, when the Blue Jays tagged Trachsel for four runs, the biggest blow coming when Aaron Hill pulled a three-run homer to left field. Trachsel left the game after retiring just five of the 14 batters he faced. The other two outs came when catcher Ramón Hernández caught runners trying to steal.

Trachsel allowed five hits and five runs with three walks in just 2 1/3 innings, forcing the Orioles relievers to pitch 6 2/3 innings. The outing raised the team's ERA among starting pitchers to 5.40.

"I was pitching from behind in the count from the very beginning," Trachsel said. "I can't do that. [When] guys are up there and they're able to zero in on the middle of the plate ahead of the count, you're going to get beat."