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The Blue Jays' stagnant offense showed signs of emerging from a season-long slump, and Roy Halladay reaped the benefits.
Halladay cruised to an easy win, Chris Woodward had a career-high four hits and Toronto routed the Baltimore Orioles 15-3 Sunday.
Carlos Delgado and Eric Hinske each had three RBIs, and Vernon Wells and Woodward drove in two runs apiece for the Blue Jays, who roughed up Sidney Ponson and won their second straight game for the first time this season.
``Those guys that have track records, you're going to look up at the end of the year and they're going to have numbers,'' Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said.
Halladay (2-3) allowed three runs -- two earned -- and seven hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out three, improving to 10-2 lifetime against Baltimore.
``Obviously, it helps when you go out and score runs like that,'' Halladay said. ``It makes it easier to pitch. It helps you go out and be aggressive. We got on them early today and it made things a lot easier.''
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Toronto, which set season highs for runs and hits (17), has won three of four.
But the Blue Jays' 6-12 start still matches the worst in franchise history.
``Nobody likes to struggle,'' said Delgado, who was 7-for-12 in the series, raising his average from .111 to .246. ``We all worked really hard. There were times we wouldn't hit water if you pushed us out of a boat. We kept battling and it seems everything is clicking in.''
Rafael Palmeiro drove in two runs for the Orioles, who have dropped two straight.
Toronto took advantage of two Baltimore errors to score a pair of unearned runs for a 2-0 lead in the first. Ticketmaster. One scored on third baseman Melvin Mora's major league-worst eighth error and the other on an RBI single by Hinske.
``When you fall behind a team like that and you have Halladay pitching, it's an uphill battle,'' Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli said.
Palmeiro's run-scoring groundout trimmed the lead in half, but the Blue Jays got three runs in the second off Ponson (2-1).
Woodward hit a one-out single and went to third on Howie Clark's double down the left-field line. After Ponson got Frank Catalanotto on a soft liner, Wells slapped a two-run single to center, ending an 0-for-8 drought. He scored from first on Delgado's single to right-center.
AP - Apr 25, 4:49 pm EDT
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Palmeiro's RBI double cut it to 6-2 in the third, but Woodward tripled to right-center
and scored on Catalanotto's sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Miguel Tejada's sacrifice fly in the fifth made it 6-3.
Ponson left after loading the bases with one out in the sixth on Woodward's double, a one-out walk to Catalanotto and Wells' single. John Parrish relieved and Delgado hit his first pitch down the right-field line for a two-run double and an 8-3 lead.
After an intentional walk to Josh Phelps, Hinske lofted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Wells. Delgado was out trying to advance to third.
Ponson allowed nine runs -- seven earned -- and 10 hits.
``I threw some good pitches and they got base hits, I threw some bad pitches and they hit them pretty hard,'' Ponson said. ``That's a bad combination.''
Woodward hit a two-run double in Toronto's six-run eighth. Reed Johnsonadded a two-run single.
Notes
Palmeiro has 1,703 RBIs, moving him past Reggie Jackson and into 17th place
on the career list. Palmeiro's double was the 2,800th hit of his career. ...
Woodward entered 1-for-14 against Ponson. ... Toronto starters other thanHalladay
are 0-7.