THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Maybe the Toronto Blue Jays should make Bruce Walton their official slump buster.
Hours after getting some extra work in hitting against the pitching coach, Aaron Hill emerged from a dreadful 3-for-33 funk with a home run and RBI single in Friday night’s 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
The all-star second baseman’s pre-game session, overseen and critiqued by manager Cito Gaston and hitting coach Dwayne Murphy, was similar to one held for John Buck on April 29. The catcher responded that night with three home runs in a 6-3 win over Oakland, and has been a steady performer ever since.
Hill went 2-for-4, pushed his average from a dismal .154 up to .164, and hopes the tide has turned for him, too.
"I got a long way to get to Buck," he quipped.
Still, the Blue Jays seem to be on to something with Walton, who puts more zip into the offerings than those more typical of batting practice fare.
"I wish we could use him more but he can’t throw like that every other day," said Gaston. "There are some other guys we’d like to do that with, we just have to give Bruce a few days off. He throws pretty hard, so that helps, it takes the batting practice from about 50 m.p.h. to something that’s at least 70, 80, m.p.h. and he can throw a few curveballs."
Gaston said they focused on getting Hill "ready on time, getting that front foot down, loading up … just trying to make sure he’s doing those type of things," and it worked wonders during the game. Hill’s line drive single in the first opened the scoring and the home run, his seventh of the season, came leading off the sixth to make it a 4-0 game.
Both came on two-strike pitches.
"I told myself both times, stay ready for the fastball and as long as your foot is down, you can adjust to the rest," said Hill, who said the session with Walton helped clear his head. "The skipper had some good points and it wasn’t really mechanically, it was just get things going, just get some confidence barrelling the ball.
"It’s kind of screaming that you’re struggling when you’re the only player on the field, but it was just fun for me. I like doing that type of thing."
Hill’s outburst helped back Shaun Marcum (5-1) as the Blue Jays (28-22) opened up a nine-game homestand with an impressive performance before a crowd of 16,360. Marcum grinded through six shutout innings, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out seven, to win for the fifth time in six outings following a Toronto loss.
"A little bit," Marcum said of embracing a leadership role as a stopper. "Everybody wants to step up and pitch well and everyone wants to do it that much more after a loss. Somebody has to get us back on a winning streak and on the right note, but it’s not only me, it’s the guys that are swinging the bats and playing defence behind us."
The Blue Jays capitalized early on some flawed fielding by the Orioles (15-34), who lost their third straight while veteran Kevin Millwood fell to 0-5.
They took control during a three-run first, as Fred Lewis opened things up by beating out a weak grounder to second that Scott Moore should have charged, and then stole second when Moore couldn’t corral a throw that beat the runner.
Hill followed with his single and wisely took second when left-fielder Corey Patterson made a silly throw home instead of to the cutoff man. Two batters later Jose Bautista drilled a triple off the right-field wall to score Hill and came around himself when Moore’s relay escaped third baseman Miguel Tejada.
Things quieted from there until the sixth, when Hill turned on an 0-2 Millwood fastball and drilled it into the left-field seats. Five of his last eight hits are home runs, but the hits have been too few and far between.
Vernon Wells followed with his 12th homer one batter later to make it 5-0 and essentially shut the door on Baltimore. It was the 204th homer of Wells’ career, moving him past Joe Carter into second all-time on the Blue Jays’ career list.
"I’ve been here for a while," said Wells.
Hill’s big night may prompt Lyle Overbay to be the next Blue Jays player to seek a pre-game session with Walton. The first baseman was dropped from fifth to seventh in the batting order — Bautista moved up in his place — and he responded by going 0-for-3.
Gaston said the time had come to drop Overbay, and hoped the decision would help spark him.
"I certainly talked to Lyle before I moved him," said Gaston. "I told him, ‘Hey, you can get back up there, too. Swing the bat and you’ll be back up there."’
Some wondered if a similar course of action might have been needed for Hill, but Gaston insisted beforehand there would be no change in the two-hole.
"He’s earned that spot there, so I’ll go with him there for a while," he said. "If I think it’s going to help him mentally, I would do that. I’m not sure that would help him, that might hurt him more than help him."
Turns out a date with Walton may have been just the right tonic.
Notes: Gaston said the Blue Jays were still kicking around their starter for Tuesday’s game versus Tampa Bay. Brian Tallet, rehabbing a sore left forearm at triple-A Las Vegas, is a strong possibility, with Brad Mills and Marc Rzepczynski also in the mix. … Former Blue Jays 2B Roberto Alomar, in town to pedal his clothing line, said he’s feeling more and more ready for a coaching job with the team. He’d like to be a roving instructor, helping players with a variety of things. "I think in the game of baseball now, what’s lacking is the little things that we do to win games," he said. "I think I can be able to help them with that. Mainly the mind and how to help the team win some games." … Jays LF Fred Lewis, scratched Tuesday, was back in the lineup after having a bunion on his foot drained.
