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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Toronto Blue Jays' flickering playoff hopes
ended with a thud Thursday night at Camden Yards.
|  | | Delino DeShields had five RBI as the Orioles took out their frustrations on Toronto. |
Delino DeShields homered and had a career-high five RBI as the Baltimore Orioles eliminated the Blue Jays from the postseason race with a record-setting 23-1 rout.
"We're out of it now, but we have some things to look back
on," said Darrin Fletcher, who hit his 20th home run, giving the Blue Jays seven players with 20 or more homers and tying the major
league mark set by the Orioles in 1996.
"We played well and did some nice things offensively,"
Fletcher said. "We have something to build on for next year. This
was a good season for us, but it's disappointing not to go to the
postseason."
The 23 runs scored by Baltimore broke a team mark, set June 13, 1999 at Atlanta in a 22-1 victory. The Orioles abused four Blue Jays pitchers for 23 hits.
"Obviously, it's unusual to score that many, no matter what
offense you have or what team you're playing," said Baltimore's
Brady Anderson, who hit his 200th career home run and drove in four runs.
"Most every ball we hit hard fell, and we probably had four or
five bloopers fall too, for RBIs. To score that many runs,
everything has to go right."
Brook Fordyce also homered for Baltimore.
The Orioles broke the game open with a 10-run fourth, tying a
club record for runs in an inning. Thirteen men batted and all 10
runs, the most allowed by Toronto in an inning this year, were
unearned against the team.
"They should have a mercy rule," Toronto manager Jim Fregosi
joked. "Every ball they hit was either in the hole or flared or
... I don't know if the moon was in the wrong place, if there was a
moon out tonight."
The Blue Jays committed four errors and starter Chris Carpenter,
making his first start since Sept. 16 when he was struck in the
face by a ball off the bat of Chicago's Jose Valentin, was ineffective.
Pat Rapp (9-12), who won only four of 20 previous starts, allowed two hits and one walk in seven innings, striking out seven.
Carpenter (10-12) lasted three innings, surrendering six runs -- four earned -- on five hits and two walks.
The Orioles took a 3-0 lead in the first. Anderson lined a 2-2
pitch into the bleachers in right-center field for a 1-0 lead, his
18th homer of the season. Chris Richard added an RBI double, then
scored on Cal Ripken's single.
Toronto committed two costly errors in the second as the lead
grew to 6-0.
Carpenter allowed a leadoff single to Fordyce and walked
Anderson with one out. Fordyce scored when second baseman Craig
Grebeck booted Jerry Hairston's grounder. DeShields singled in
Anderson, and Hairston came home when third baseman Tony Batista
couldn't handle a throw from center fielder Jose Cruz.
Baltimore sent 13 men to the plate in the fourth, using eight hits and two Blue Jays errors to expand the lead to 16-0.
Roy Halladay relieved Carpenter and walked Anderson before
Hairston reached when Grebeck bobbled his grounder. Albert Belle's
run-scoring single made it 7-0. Hairston went to third on Richard's
fielder's-choice grounder and scored when catcher Alberto
Castillo's attempted pickoff throw to first base glanced off the
foot of umpire Al Clark, who had to leave the game.
Singles by Ripken and Melvin Mora loaded the bases for Fordyce,
who singled to left, scoring Richard for an 9-0 lead. Eugene
Kingsale's bases-loaded single chased Halladay.
Lance Painter relieved and surrendered a two-run double to
Anderson and a run-scoring infield single by Hairston. DeShields
capped the inning with a three-run homer off the right-field foul
pole.
After Fletcher's home run, Baltimore added five more runs in the
fifth to make it 21-1. Eleven Orioles batted with RBI singles by
Kingsale, Hairston, DeShields and Belle, and a sacrifice fly from
Anderson.
Fordyce hit his 14th homer in the sixth off reliever John
Frascatore.
The Orioles got their record-breaking 23rd run in the eighth
inning. Ryan Minor led off with a walk and advanced to second on
Mark Lewis' single. The runners moved up on a passed ball by
Castillo and Minor scored on Fernando Lunar's grounder to
shortstop.
Long ago relegated to spoilers, the Orioles didn't derive any pleasure from ending the Blue Jays' improbable run at the AL East title, manager Mike Hargrove said.
"It was nice to do that to someone else for a change," he
said. "I don't think we take any joy out of ending people's
dreams," he said."
Game notes
Anderson hit his 43rd career home run as a leadoff hitter,
second to Rickey Henderson's 78. ... Batista's error was his team-high 17th. ... Belle's RBI was his first since Sept. 2. From
Sept. 3-26, he missed 20 games with a sore right hip. ... Baltimore
took the season series from the Blue Jays, 7-6.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
Baltimore Clubhouse
RECAPS
Anaheim 6
Oakland 3
Texas 13
Seattle 6
Baltimore 23
Toronto 1
Minnesota 4
Cleveland 3
Tampa Bay 11
NY Yankees 3
Boston 7
Chi. White Sox 6
Kansas City 8
Detroit 5
Florida 7
Montreal 4
Philadelphia 4
Chicago Cubs 2
Arizona 12
Colorado 3
Cincinnati 8
Milwaukee 1
St. Louis 7
San Diego 6
Pittsburgh 3
Houston 2
NY Mets 8
Atlanta 2
San Francisco 5
Los Angeles 3
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