THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO -- Comebacks haven't exactly been a speciality of the Toronto Blue Jays this season.

Before Tuesday, they didn't have a single walkoff victory in 2008. Before Thursday, they were 0-35 in games they trailed after seven innings.

Go figure then that they would rally from a three-run deficit with a pair in the eighth and two more in the ninth to beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5, completing a three-game sweep that featured two wins in their final at-bat.

"Better late than never, I guess," said Lyle Overbay, whose fly ball to deep centre tied things up in the ninth. "We're giving ourselves chances and that's something we need to do."

The stirring victory just hours after centre-fielder Vernon Wells was placed on the disabled list with a strained hamstring that will keep him out four-to-six weeks gave the Blue Jays (45-47) a rare chance to feel good about things.

Down 5-2 in the eighth, they picked up a pair of run-scoring grounders to narrow the gap before they went to work on closer George Sherrill (2-4), who has four blown saves in his last 11 games.

Rod Barajas started things with a one-out single, Scott Rolen followed with a double and after Gregg Zaun was walked intentionally, Overbay's fly ball to deep centre knotted things up.

Adam Lind then followed with the first walkoff hit of his professional career, a single through the right side that scored Rolen. Lind was mobbed in the infield by his teammates as a crowd of 22,279 went wild.

"I've had a few (hits) to tie, but never to win the game," said Lind, who matched a season-high with three hits. "I was kind of running away from (the mob). It was fun."

Shawn Camp (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.

The Blue Jays also came back to beat the Orioles 7-6 in the ninth in the series opener Tuesday and held on for a 9-8 victory Wednesday en route to their first sweep since taking four in a row from Kansas City May 23-26.

That the offence kept coming even without Wells, the team's best and most productive hitter, is a good sign although it's going to be difficult for them to maintain without one of their few power threats.

Wells was hitting .287 with nine homers and 42 RBIs, both team highs despite a previous 26-game absence with a broken right wrist, and they managed just four run-scoring groundouts before the rally in the ninth.

"We're going to miss him obviously but we've got to pull along and I think we can do it," said Overbay. "(Small ball) is what we have to do when we're given the chance. ... When we do, we've got to get those runs across."

The Orioles (44-46) suffered a fifth straight loss despite having a three-run lead with six outs to go after seven strong innings from a rarely threatened Jeremy Guthrie.

John Parrish made his second solid start in place of the injured Shaun Marcum, allowing just three runs over seven innings and left the game down 3-2. Melvin Mora's two-run single in the eighth off Brandon League seemed to have put the game out of reach.

Parrish surrendered a run in the first on Aubrey Huff's RBI single and two more in the second on Jay Payton's RBI double and Brandon Fahey's run-scoring groundout. He went into lockdown mode against his former team after that, keeping his team in the game.

"He pitched well," said manager Cito Gaston. "With all the injuries that we have, he's going to go out and start again."

Guthrie worked over the Blue Jays offence during his outing, allowing runs in the fourth and sixth on run-scoring groundouts by Alex Rios and David Eckstein and little else.

The Blue Jays didn't make any more noise until the eighth, when they responded to Baltimore's two-spot in the top of the frame with two RBI grounders off Jim Johnson, this time from Joe Inglett and Eckstein, to make it a one-run game again.

"In the past, it's been a strikeout or a pop up and then a ground ball for a double play," said Gaston. "At least tonight we got the ground ball and got the run in every time we hit one. That's a plus -- a big plus. Just put it in play."

NOTES: OF Kevin Mench was recalled from triple-A Syracuse to take Wells' spot on the roster. ... Alex Rios picked up Toronto's 59th steal of the season when he took second in the sixth inning, moving the team two past its total of 57 in 2007. His 23 steals is the most by a Blue Jay since Jose Cruz Jr. and Raul Mondesi stole 30 apiece in 2001. ... While Marcum is expected to return after the all-star break, Dustin McGowan is gone at least a month with a tear in his right rotator cuff although the team now expects he'll be able to avoid season-ending surgery. The Blue Jays say the tear in McGowan's shoulder is unchanged from the one discovered last year, but he'll still be examined next week by Dr. Timothy Kremchek for a second opinion. ... Ace Roy Halladay (10-6) takes on Joba Chamberlain (2-2) in the series opener versus the Yankees on Friday. ... Brian Tallet, who'll start for McGowan on Sunday, faced two batters in the eighth.