TORONTO — George Sherrill hopes this is as bad as it gets for the struggling Baltimore Orioles.
Aaron Hill hit an RBI single in the 11th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-4 victory Saturday, sending the Orioles to their fifth straight loss.
Baltimore has led in each game of its skid. Sherrill felt especially bad after its latest loss, picking up his second blown save when Hill tied it with a 10th-inning homer.
“This is one of those (losses) that usually is at the end of a losing streak,” Sherrill said. “You battle back the next day and start a winning streak, hopefully. It’s either going to tailspin or get better. Hopefully it gets better.”
Rod Barajas led off the 11th with a base hit off Brian Bass (0-1). After Travis Snider popped his bunt attempt to the mound, Barajas took second on Marco Scutaro’s sacrifice and scored on Hill’s single to right-center.
“It just seems like every miscue that we make comes back to hurt us and the other teams take advantage of their opportunities,” Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said.
Jason Frasor (4-0) pitched a scoreless inning for the win.
It was a wild final two innings for Hill, whose tying homer came after his error in the top half helped the Orioles take a 4-3 lead.
Hill said he wasn’t trying to make amends for his fourth error.
“You can’t go up to the plate thinking something like that,” he said. “Obviously it worked out, everyone wants to redeem yourself, so to speak, but you can’t take anything that happens in the field up to the plate, just like you can’t take anything that happens at the plate on the field.”
Nick Markakis went 0-for-4 with a pair of walks for Baltimore, ending his hitting streak at 17 games. The Orioles have lost 13 of 16, with six of the past seven defeats coming by two runs or fewer.
“It gets annoying but as long as we’re in them, as long as we’re not getting blown out, beat by six or seven,” outfielder Adam Jones said. “We know losing close games, it’s just one or two key situations that if they went our way, if we got that done, then we win.”
The Orioles took a 4-3 lead in the 10th against Scott Downs. Markakis reached on Hill’s error, moved to second on Aubrey Huff’s single and took third on Melvin Mora’s flyout. He scampered home on pinch-hitter Ty Wigginton’s grounder to shortstop, sliding in ahead of the throw from Scutaro.
Hill tied it in the bottom half with a leadoff drive off Sherrill for his sixth homer.
“I thought it was a pretty decent pitch, it was just (over the) middle,” Sherrill said. “He was able to get extended on it and hit it out.”
Jones hit his third homer into the second deck in left in the first, but Toronto scored three times in the second. Adam Lind drove in a run with a groundout and Raul Chavez and Scutaro each had RBI singles to make it 3-1.
Huff tied it with a two-out, two-run double in the third.
Robert Ray allowed three runs and four hits over 5 2-3 innings for Toronto in his major league debut. He walked four and struck out two.
Baltimore right-hander Brad Bergesen, who made his third career start, allowed three runs and six hits in a career-high six innings.
Baltimore put runners at first and second in the fourth but left fielder Snider made a sliding catch on Brian Roberts’ shallow pop to end the threat.
Snider turned the Orioles away again in the seventh, making a running catch on Markakis’ drive to left-center to leave Cesar Izturis stranded at third.
Notes: Roberts played in his 1,000th career game, all with the Orioles. He’s the 15th Baltimore player to reach the mark. … Orioles RHP Dennis Sarfate, who left Friday’s game with numbness in his right middle finger, was unavailable. … Toronto LHP Ricky Romero, on the 15-day disabled list with a strained muscle in his right side, threw a bullpen session before the game and reported no pain. Romero will throw another bullpen Monday. … Toronto RHP Casey Janssen (shoulder) pitched four no-hit innings in a rehab start at Class A Dunedin on Saturday.
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