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Saturday, Jul. 1 7:05pm ET
Ponson goes distance, gets 4-HR support | |||||
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GAME LOG
BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Baltimore Orioles made it easy for Sidney Ponson to enjoy a reversal of fortune against the Toronto Blue Jays. Harold Baines homered twice and Will Clark and Charles Johnson also connected as the Orioles once again beat Toronto, 12-5 Saturday night. Baines hit a solo shot in the third inning and put Baltimore up 10-1 with a three-run drive in the fifth. It was the 13th two-homer game of his career. Ponson (5-4) pitched an eight-hitter and tied his career high with nine strikeouts. He came in 0-3 with a 10.19 ERA in four career starts against Toronto, but his first victory in four starts since June 10 was all but assured after Baines' second homer cleared the right-field scoreboard. "You get a seven-, eight-run cushion and you're always more relaxed. It gives you more room to make mistakes. But I didn't win the game, those guys did," Ponson said, waving his arm in the Orioles' clubhouse. "Right now we're hitting the ball good." Clark went 3-for-4 with a walk to help Baltimore to its fourth win in five games. Before their 8-3 victory Friday, the Orioles had lost 13 straight to the Blue Jays since April 10, 1999. By losing the first two games of the four-game series, the Blue Jays saw their run of winning seven straight series come to an end. "They're in first place. They're the team to beat," Ponson said. "Hopefully we win tomorrow and the next day, then see what happens." Raul Mondesi homered for Toronto but left the game in the fifth inning after injuring his right ankle chasing down a ball in right field. X-rays were negative; he's listed as day-to-day. Tony Batista hit a two-run shot in the Blue Jays' ninth, his 22nd homer of the season, following Ponson's lone walk of the game. Chris Carpenter (6-7) surrendered nine runs and seven hits, including three homers, in 4 2/3 innings. He has allowed 23 earned runs and 21 hits in 10 innings over his last three starts. "I felt a lot better than I had the last few starts, but I still made some bad pitches," Carpenter said. "I was leaving the ball over the plate too much and they hammered them. But I definitely felt a little more comfortable than I did the last couple of starts, so I can build on that -- not that it's a good start to build on." With the Blue Jays up 1-0 in the third, Albert Belle robbed Homer Bush of a two-run shot with a leaping grab at the right-field wall. Baltimore took a 5-1 lead in the fourth. Clark led off with his fourth home run of the season, the second in two games, and Johnson hit his 18th after Jeff Conine singled and Baines walked with two outs. The Orioles sent nine men to the plate in a five-run fifth. Belle drove in a run with a grounder and B.J. Surhoff singled in a run before Baines greeted Matthew Dewitt with his eighth homer. Chris Woodward hit an RBI double and Brad Fullmer singled in a run in the Toronto sixth. Mike Bordick doubled in a run and Clark hit an RBI single in the eighth to make it 12-3. "It was nice to be on the other end of something like that," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "It's been a while since we've had a game like that, where you didn't have to sweat every pitch and every out." Game notesCarpenter, who had given up first-inning runs in eight of his 10 previous starts, retired the first six batters in order. ... Six of Baines' eight homers have been solo shots. ... The Blue Jays are 3-14 in games in which they yield at least 10 runs. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Toronto Clubhouse Baltimore Clubhouse RECAPS Chi. White Sox 7 Boston 2
Baltimore 12
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