THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Aaron Hill wasn’t after redemption, but his red-hot bat provided it anyway.
Hill’s single in the top of the 11th drove home Rod Barajas from second base and gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.
The Toronto second baseman had an eventful couple of extra innings. He committed an error in the top of the 10th that led to Baltimore nabbing the lead, then tied the game in the bottom half of that inning with his sixth homer of the year off Orioles closer George Sherrill.
That set the stage for his game-winning hit in the 11th.
So is it fair to say Hill was trying to atone for his mistake with the mitt?
"No," he said flatly. "You can’t go up to the plate thinking something like that. Obviously it worked out, everyone wants to redeem yourself so to speak, but you can’t take anything that happens in the field up to the plate, just like you can’t take anything that happens at the plate on the field.
"It happened. It sucked. You don’t want it to happen, luckily we got out of it."
Toronto manger Cito Gaston concurred. He’s far more focused on the way Hill who has been the Jays’ best hitter all season is swinging the bat.
"Errors come, you play long enough, you’re going to have errors," Gaston said. "It’s just the way this kid comes to play every day. I like his style."
Jason Frasor (4-0) pitched one inning to get the win for Toronto, which used five hurlers in all. Brian Bass (0-1) took the loss for the O’s, who’ve now dropped five straight.
Baltimore took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th when pinch-hitter Ty Wigginton grounded to shortstop and Nick Markakis, standing on third, was able to beat John McDonald’s throw to the plate. Markakis originally reached base when he led off the inning with a grounder Hill bobbled.
Hill then drilled the second pitch he saw from Sherrill in the bottom half of that inning over left-centre field wall for his team-leading sixth homer of the year to square things up.
Barajas started the 11th with a single, but failed to advance when Travis Snider popped up a sacrifice attempt. Marco Scutaro then dropped a successful bunt, advancing Barajas to second and giving Hill the chance to drive him home with two out.
Hill’s mindset with the game on the line was the similar to how he approached his at-bat in the 10th.
"Same situation, just sitting fastball, hopefully get something up and that was a pitch I thought I could handle so luckily it worked out," he said.
Toronto starter Robert Ray turned in a respectable performance while picking up a no-decision in his major league debut in front of 18,331 spectators. The 25-year-old right-hander was lifted after issuing a two-out walk in the fifth inning, having surrendered four hits, four walks and fanning two batters.
Lefty Jesse Carlson came on in relief and got former Blue Jay Gregg Zaun to lift a lazy flyball to right on the only pitch he saw to end the inning.
Baltimore freshman Brad Bergeson also got the no-decision after a fairly sturdy six-inning effort.
Orioles centre-fielder Adam Jones welcomed Ray to the big leagues by smashing a second-deck home run to left in the first inning, staking his team to a 1-0 lead.
The Jays offence struck back against Bergeson in the second as Toronto (17-9) scored three runs while sending eight men to the plate. Things got rolling when Vernon Wells hit a sinking liner that ducked under the glove of a hard-charging Jones in centre. Markakis came over from right field to cut the ball off, but bobbled his pickup, allowing Wells to scamper to third.
After Adam Lind pushed Wells home with a groundout, Jose Bautista smacked a hard single to precede a walk by Lyle Overbay. Raul Chavez singled to right and Bautista just beat the throw home from Markakis to make it 2-1 Toronto. Overbay ultimately crossed the plate thanks to a single by Marco Scutaro.
Baltimore (9-15) answered right back in the top half of the third when Aubrey Huff swatted a long, looping two-run double to right-centre field.
The Jays had a chance to claim the lead in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Kevin Millar flied out to right field with the bases loaded and two out.
Ray, a Texas native who had his parents and fiancee in the stands, admitted to some early nerves before settling in.
"Every inning I got out there I became more comfortable and it got more and more natural," he said.
His dad looked far more unsettled in the stands.
"He said he wasn’t going to be (nervous), too," Ray chuckled. "I told him last night, `Don’t be too nervous,’ but I’m surprised he was sitting down. Normally he paces."
Notes: Ray was the 12th pitcher to make his debut with the Blue Jays since the start of the 2007 campaign. … The Jays have now won their first four home series of the season, each of which has been at least three games long. It’s the first time that’s happened since 1992 when they won their first five. … Markakis had a 17-game hitting streak tied for a career best snapped. … Jays right-hander Casey Janssen, who’s recovering from a shoulder injury, went four innings giving up no runs or hits while fanning three batters and walking one for class-A Dunedin on Saturday.
