Baltimore @ Toronto preview
Rogers Centre
Last Meeting ( Apr 11, 2010 ) Toronto 5, Baltimore 2
The Toronto Blue Jays will gladly accept a visit from a struggling division foe, given what they’ll be up against next month.
The Jays kick off a nine-game homestand tonight as they welcome the Baltimore Orioles to the Rogers Centre. Toronto is coming off a 3-5 West Coast road trip, but remains just two games back of the New York Yankees in the American League wild-card race.
Toronto knows it had better take advantage of a four-game visit from the Orioles, who are buried in the AL East cellar, 18 games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays.
Once Baltimore leaves town, things get a whole lot tougher for the Jays, who will play eight straight series against teams with winning records, including two against the major league-leading Rays.
But first come the Orioles, who just dropped two of three to the visiting Oakland Athletics. Baltimore has struggled offensively all season long, batting around .250 for most of the year while scoring the second-fewest runs in the American League.
The Orioles were expected to have a more potent lineup this season with the acquisitions of Miguel Tejada and Garrett Atkins and the continued emergence of catcher Matt Wieters. But their bats have mostly fizzled: The trio has combined to hit just 12 homers over the first 48 games of the season and all three are hitting below .260.
That's good news for Jays starter Shaun Marcum (4-1), who looks to continue his recent hot streak. The right-hander is 4-0 over his last six starts and has easily been Toronto's best hurler over the past month.
Marcum's last start lasted just five innings, but he was effective enough to earn the win, striking out a season-high eight batters in Toronto's 12-4 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has allowed more than three runs just once this season, holding opponents to a .211 average while issuing just 15 walks in 67 innings.
Making him even more clutch is the fact that each of his victories has followed Blue Jay losses. That bodes well for Toronto, which dropped a 6-5 heartbreaker Wednesday before enjoying a day off Thursday.
The Orioles counter with veteran right-hander Kevin Millwood (0-4), who is without a victory despite being Baltimore's most consistent pitcher.
The 35-year-old right-hander has allowed more than three runs in a start on just two occasions, but has been snakebit by a lack of run support that has left him with six no-decisions. He allowed just 17 earned runs combined in those six starts.
Millwood is just 2-5 with a 4.80 ERA in 10 career starts against the Blue Jays. And with a penchant for giving up the long ball - he has allowed 10 homers in 10 starts this season - Millwood could have some difficulty earning that first win of the season against a Toronto team that leads the majors with 79 home runs, 14 more than runner-up Boston.
The series kicks off a brutal stretch for the O's, who play their next 13 games against the Blue Jays, Yankees and Red Sox before resuming interleague play with a three-game set against the New York Mets.