Rios sparks Jays to comeback win

Alex Rios hit a three-run triple in the seventh, then scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Toronto Blue Jays came from behind to beat the visiting Baltimore Orioles 7-6 on Tuesday night.

Rios keyed the decisive inning against Baltimore reliever Jim Johnson (2-3) by drawing a one-out walk and advancing to third when Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez made a throwing error while trying to catch Rios stealing second.

After an intentional walk to Fredericton's Matt Stairs, Rios trotted home with the winning run when Scott Rolen's two-out grounder to shortstop rolled through the legs of defensive replacement Freddie Bynum.

"He booted it," said Orioles manager Dave Trembley. "That's all you can say."

It was the first walkoff victory of the season for Toronto (43-47), which went 2-4 on its just-completed road trip.

"We needed a game like that, a come-from-behind game, as far as getting the club rolling," said manager Cito Gaston. "Hopefully it will give us a boost."

The win, though, may have been a costly one, as starting pitcher Dustin McGowan left after four innings and 66 pitches with soreness in his throwing shoulder. The team said he'll undergo an MRI on Wednesday.

"It's been tender, but tonight it really started barking on me," said McGowan, who also felt some discomfort during his last outing. "Tonight, it just went a little overboard with it."

Orioles shelve Loewen

Vernon Wells had two hits and two RBIs for the Jays, while B.J. Ryan (2-3) kept the team in position for the win by working a perfect top of the ninth after Toronto came back from a 6-2 deficit to go into the inning tied at six.

Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera was charged with four runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander walked four and struck out three.

Nick Markakis had a pair of runs and a pair of RBIs, and Aubrey Huff hit a solo home run — his 18th of the season — for Baltimore (44-44), which still leads last-place Toronto by two games for fourth in the AL East.

Prior to the game, the Orioles placed left-hander Adam Loewen on the 15-day disabled list.

The team said Loewen, a Surrey, B.C., native, had re-injured the stress fracture in his left elbow — the same injury that led him to have surgery that cost him most of the 2007 season.

Baltimore did not give a timetable for Loewen's return. The 24-year-old former first-round draft pick was 0-2 with an 8.02 ERA in seven games and has already spent two months on the DL with elbow soreness. He initially reaggravated the stress fracture in May.

Rios delivers

Before his last-inning heroics, Rios supplied the key swing in the pivotal seventh inning, when the Jays batted around.

Trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom of the frame, Toronto chased Cabrera from the game by sandwiching singles from Rod Barajas and Adam Lind around a Lyle Overbay flyout. Reliever Dennis Sarfate immediately retired Joe Inglett but followed with a walk to Marco Scutaro to load the bases for Rios with two out.

Rios seized the opportunity, lashing a letter-high fastball into the gap in left-centre and legging out a bases-clearing triple to cut his team's deficit to one.

Wells then smacked a hard grounder to the right of shortstop Brandon Fahey, who dove to knock it down but couldn't make a play, allowing Rios to score the tying run.

Tallet shines in relief

The Orioles took an early lead when Huff clubbed a McGowan fastball into the right-field seats in the top of the first, but Wells answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning.

Baltimore scored two unearned runs in the third after Rolen couldn't come up with Adam Jones's leadoff grounder to third. Jones took third on Fahey's sacrifice and scored on a wild pitch before Brian Roberts walked, stole second, went to third on an infield single by Markakis and scored on Huff's sacrifice fly.

The Orioles made it 4-1 in the fourth when Jones doubled into the right-field corner to score Melvin Mora, who was running on the play, all the way from first.

Toronto got one back after Wells and Stairs drew walks to open the bottom of the inning and Wells scored on a Barajas single.

Brian Tallet pitched a perfect two innings in relief of McGowan before the Orioles went to work on Jason Frasor in the seventh.

Frasor coughed up a walk to Hernandez and a double to Fahey before giving way to Scott Downs with one out. After an intentional walk to load the bases, Downs promptly coughed up a two-run double to Markakis to make it 6-2.