O's begin series north of the border with Jays

Sep 14, 2007, 14:55 GMT

- Slumping rookie right-hander Jesse Litsch will try for his first win since August 23 and just his second since late July tonight when the Toronto Blue Jays open a three-game series with the visiting Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre.

Litsch, a 22-year-old product of Pinellas Park, Florida, was 4-4 after a 2-0 blanking of Tampa Bay on July 31. He's 1-4 since, however, including consecutive losses to Boston and the Devil Rays in his last two starts on September 3 and 9.

Litsch has faced the Orioles once during the slide, dropping a 5-3 decision on Aug. 18 in which he allowed six hits and two earned runs in six innings. He beat them in his major-league debut on May 15, scattering four hits and allowing a single run in 8 2/3 innings of a 2-1 Toronto victory.

Second-year lefty Brian Burres makes a rare start for the Orioles.

The 26-year-old has made 13 starts in 33 appearances this season after being used exclusively out of the bullpen in all 11 games of his first season with the team in 2006.

In his last outing, on September 7, Burres allowed a hit and a run in 2 2/3 innings of a 4-0 loss to Boston.

He started and lost against Toronto on May 16, allowing seven hits and two runs in five innings of a 2-1 defeat.

On Thursday in Baltimore, Jon Leicester tossed 5 2/3 innings and combined with three other relievers in a five-hit shutout as the Orioles took the finale of their three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 3-0.

One night after the Orioles staff surrendered 18 runs, Leicester (2-1) allowed just four hits, striking out one and walking three. Jim Hoey, Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker then combined for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, combining to give up just one hit.

Luis Hernandez had a career-high three hits, Jay Payton was 2-for-4 with a run scored and Scott Moore drove in a pair of runs for the O's, who won for just the second time in their last eight games.

In Toronto, Frank Thomas drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning as the Blue Jays downed the New York Yankees, 2-1, in the finale of a three-game set.

In the ninth, with Chris Britton (0-1) starting on the mound for the Yankees, Alex Rios led off with a single, stole second, and then crossed the plate when Thomas hit a single up the middle to win the game.

Thomas drove in both runs while Russ Adams also scored a run for the Blue Jays, who snapped a five-game losing streak.

Scott Downs (3-2) got the win for getting two outs in the ninth. A.J. Burnett was stellar in the start, as he gave up just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts in eight innings of work.

Toronto has won seven of its 12 matchups with the Orioles this season and is 28-22 in the series since the start of the 2005 campaign.

© 2007 The Sports Network