Mora's Home Run in 12th Powers Orioles Past Jays
Orioles 4, Blue Jays 3
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Sunday, July 12, 2009
BALTIMORE, July 11 -- Melvin Mora ended a 50-game homerless drought with an opposite-field drive in the 12th inning, giving the Baltimore Orioles a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night.
Mora had gone 189 at-bats without a homer since May 7 before connecting with one out against Jesse Carlson (1-4). The liner barely made it into the right-field bleachers. The homer drought was the longest of his career.
Luke Scott also homered for Baltimore to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games.
Mark Hendrickson (5-4) worked the 12th for the Orioles, who improved to 6-0 after being shut out.
Toronto got the potential go-ahead run to third base with one out in the 11th inning after Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters dropped the ball in a botched rundown. But Brian Bass worked out of trouble by striking out pinch hitter Lyle Overbay and retiring Rod Barajas on a sharp grounder to third.
Baltimore wasted a one-out double by Nick Markakis in the bottom half.
Aaron Hill had two hits and drove in a run for the Blue Jays, who have lost 11 of 14 despite opening the three-game series with a 2-0 victory.
Baltimore used successive doubles by Markakis and Aubrey Huff to go up 3-2 in the sixth, but Toronto tied it in the eighth. After Jim Johnson hit Marco Scutaro with a pitch, Adam Lind singled and Scott Rolen hit a sacrifice fly.
Bidding to become the first Blue Jays rookie to win eight games before the all-star break, Toronto starter Ricky Romero left with the score tied after giving up three runs and seven hits in eight innings.
Rich Hill allowed two runs and seven hits in six-plus innings for the Orioles after yielding a total of 21 runs and 23 hits in his previous three starts. Hill was given the starting assignment after a virus forced Jeremy Guthrie out of the rotation.
Both teams played a second straight game without their managers. Baltimore's Dave Trembley finished a two-game suspension for his actions after an ejection in Seattle on Tuesday, and Toronto's Cito Gaston was attending the funeral of his sister.
