Blue Jays beat Orioles 6-5 in extra innings

Jim Johnson walked Maicer Izturis with the bases loaded in the 11th inning to force in the tiebreaking run, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Orioles 6-5 Wednesday to avert a three-game sweep and end Baltimore’s run of consecutive extra-inning victories at 17.

The Blue Jays hit four home runs, but the decisive run came without Izturis taking a swing. With two outs in the 11th, J.P. Arencibia and Munenori Kawaski singled before Johnson (1-2) hit Brett Lawrie with a pitch and issued a four-pitch walk to Izturis, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup.

Esmil Rogers (1-1) pitched the 10th and Casey Janssen got three straight outs for his sixth save.

Baltimore’s 17-game streak in extra innings included the final 16 last year. It was the longest run since the Pittsburgh Pirates won 21 straight in 1959-60.

Nate McLouth had two hits, walked twice and scored three runs for the Orioles, who went 6-3 on a homestand against Tampa Bay, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto.

Baltimore missed a chance to win it in the 10th when Manny Machado was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Rajai Davis while trying to score from second on a single by J.J. Hardy.

The Blue Jays hit all four homers off Josh Stinson, who was called up from the minors earlier in the day to make his Baltimore debut. Stinson gave up only five hits in 5 2-3 innings, but those included a two-run drive by Arencibia and solo shots by Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Davis.

In his previous 20 big league games, with the Mets in 2011 and Milwaukee last year, Stinson allowed only two homers in 22 1-3 innings.

Toronto starter Brandon Morrow took a two-hitter and a 5-2 lead into the seventh, but the right-hander got only one more out in his bid to earn his first win of the season.

With one out, Nolan Reimould walked and Ryan Flaherty chased Morrow with an RBI double. Aaron Loup got an out before yielding an RBI single to McLouth, who scored on a triple by Machado.

Morrow gave up three earned runs and three hits — all of them doubles — in 6 1-3 innings.

Toronto manager John Gibbons didn’t go the distance, either. He received his first ejection of the year in the ninth inning after resuming an argument started by Brett Lawrie over a called third strike.

The Orioles got a first-inning run when McLouth hit a leadoff double and scored on a two-out double by Adam Jones, who improved to 12 for 29 (.414) with 10 RBIs against Morrow.

Stinson retired the first four batters he faced before walking Melky Cabrera. Arencibia followed with a shot to centre, his fifth home run in the last 10 games.

Davis made it 3-1 in the third with his first homer in 42 at-bats this season. A throwing error by Lawrie from third base in the bottom half provided the Orioles an unearned run.

Encarnacion hit his second homer in two games in the fourth, and Bautista connected in the sixth to make it 5-2.

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