Baltimore @ Toronto preview
Rogers Centre
Last Meeting ( May 29, 2010 ) Baltimore 2, Toronto 5
After getting shelled in his old stomping grounds, Ricky Romero hopes to get back on track at his adopted home.
Romero will look to continue his Rogers Centre dominance this afternoon as he leads the Toronto Blue Jays into the finale of a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles.
Toronto has won the opening two games of the series, helping keep pace with the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees in the ultra-competitive American League East.
The Blue Jays enter today's play 5 1/2 games back of the Rays, who own the best record in the majors. Toronto trails the Yankees by just one game in the race for second place. A big reason for the strong start has been the Jays' 50 home runs in May, a franchise record for long balls in any month.
Romero (4-2) has also been a big part of Toronto's surprising play. The second-year left-hander has recorded seven quality starts in 11 outings and has been especially stingy at home, going 3-1 with a 1.74 ERA. He's also among the league leaders with 72 strikeouts.
Yet, while Romero has been strong in his home ballpark, he was downright wretched five days ago in his first major league start in his hometown. The Los Angeles native was torched for seven runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings last week as the Jays dropped an 8-3 decision to the Angels.
Fortunately for Romero, today's opponent doesn't hit nearly as well as the Angels do.
The Orioles have dropped four straight games, scoring just eight runs over that span. They own the worst record in the major leagues and aren't likely to climb out of that hole anytime soon. Once they leave Toronto, they play their next nine games against the Yankees (six) and the Boston Red Sox (three).
Jeremy Guthrie (3-4) will try to reverse Baltimore's fortunes in the series finale. The veteran right-hander may be able to slow down the Jays' powerhouse lineup, having allowed just seven home runs in 10 starts this season.
Guthrie looked destined for the bullpen earlier in the season; he opened 0-4 and the Orioles lost his first six starts. But the 31-year-old has been on a tear of late, allowing just six runs over his last 26 2/3 innings.
He'll need to be equally sharp to keep the Jays from completing the sweep. The league's most potent offense has been at it again this weekend, belting six home runs over the first two games -- two each from Aaron Hill, Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay.
For Hill and Overbay, the outbursts represent what they hope will be long-awaited ends to prolonged slumps. Hill comes into today's game batting just .167 on the season while Overbay's two dingers ended an 0-for-17 drought.
Wells is faring far better, sitting among the AL leaders with 13 home runs. His solo shot Friday moved him past Joe Carter and into sole possession of second place on the franchise's all-time list.