BALTIMORE – Rookie Jake Arrieta allowed four hits over six shutout innings, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones homered, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-3 on Tuesday night to win a fourth straight series for the first time since 2004.
It was the most lopsided victory of the season for the Orioles, who have won twice to begin the three-game set. Baltimore was 0-12 against Toronto at the outset of the series.
The Orioles led 3-0 before pulling away with a six-run seventh inning. Jones and Matt Wieters hit RBI singles before Robert Andino capped the uprising with a three-run double.
Toronto's Aaron Hill homered off Pedro Viola with two on in the eighth, and Jones answered with a two-run drive in the bottom half.
After taking two of three from Tampa Bay, the New York Yankees and Detroit, Baltimore has four successive series wins for the first time since August 2004. The Orioles are 25-15, including 15-8 at home, since manager Buck Showalter made his debut in the dugout on Aug. 3.
Arrieta (6-6) had only one perfect inning, but the Blue Jays were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position while he was in the game. It was the first time in 18 career starts the right-hander did not give up a run.
Although Toronto extended its run of consecutive games with a homer to 16, that was the highlight of an otherwise dreary night. The Blue Jays have lost six of seven and now stand at one game over .500 (73-72) for the first time since July 25.
In his second start since returning from elbow ligament replacement surgery, Shawn Hill (0-2) gave up three runs, two earned, and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Baltimore went up 1-0 in the fourth when Luke Scott hit a leadoff double and scored on a single by Felix Pie.
After the Blue Jays got a runner in scoring position in three of the first four innings, Arrieta had his lone perfect inning in the fifth.
The Orioles made it 3-0 in the bottom half. After Markakis hit his 10th homer, Ty Wigginton singled and took second on a throwing error by catcher John Buck. Pie then bounced an RBI single up the middle.
Much of the damage in the Baltimore's big seventh inning came against right-hander Josh Roenicke, who yielded four runs, three hits and a walk without getting an out. He also made an error.
Roenicke's father, Gary, played for the Orioles from 1978-85 and now is a scout for the team.
NOTES: Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion and Baltimore's Josh Bell both struck out three times. ... Orioles LHP Brian Matusz, who left Monday's game with a bruised left triceps, did not throw Tuesday. Showalter said that at worst, Matusz would miss one start. ... Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts, who was hit by a pitch above his right knee Monday night, did not play. ... Orioles INF Julio Lugo, who has had residual headaches after he was hit in the head by a pickoff throw on Aug. 29, was unavailable.
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