BALTIMORE Ryan Adams capped a two-run, 10th-inning rally with an RBI single and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Tuesday night.

Matt Wieters led off the Baltimore 10th by drawing a walk off Brian Tallet (0-2), who was trying for his first career save. Mark Reynolds walked and, after Robert Andino bunted a foul third strike, pinch-hitter Jake Fox hit a game-tying single to right with Reynolds taking third.

Adams followed with a deep fly ball off the warning track beyond a drawn-in outfield.

The victory went to Willie Eyre (1-0), whose wild pitch in the top of the 10th had put the Blue Jays ahead 5-4.

The Blue Jays were without manager John Farrell, who is being treated for pneumonia in Toronto and is expected to miss the three-game series. Bench coach Don Wakamatsu ran the team in Farrell’s absence.

Wieters homered for Baltimore, which has won seven of nine.

The Blue Jays have lost five of six.

Brett Lawrie’s sixth homer staked Toronto to a 3-0 lead in the second. After one-out walks to Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson, Lawrie ripped a 1-2 curveball from Jeremy Guthrie into the left-field stands.

Wieters’ two-run shot cut the lead to a run in the bottom of the inning. Vladimir Guerrero led off with a single and Wieters homered to centre off Brett Cecil, his 15th.

Cecil’s throwing error in the fourth allowed Baltimore to tie the game at 3. Andino doubled with two down and came around on an infield single by Nolan Reimold after Cecil threw wildly past first base.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases with none down in the fifth, but squandered the opportunity. Encarnacion bounced into a 1-2-3 double-play and Johnson flied out to centre.

Guerrero’s RBI double in the bottom of the fifth put the Orioles ahead, scoring Adam Jones, who had drawn a one-out walk.

Cecil yielded four runs on eight hits over six innings, walking two and striking out four. Guthrie allowed three runs on six hits, walked two and struck out five.

Trying to protect a 4-3 lead in the ninth, Baltimore’s Kevin Gregg, a former Blue Jays closer, instead blew his fifth save in 24 chances. J.P. Arencibia led off with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Dewayne Wise. Mike McCoy walked on four pitches and, when the Orioles flubbed their wheel-play defence on Escobar’s bunt attempt, both runners moved up on an unconventional double steal, each benefiting from an unprotected base.

Escobar followed with a game-tying sacrifice fly to right.

NOTES: Toronto reliever Jon Rauch completed a 25-pitch simulated game Tuesday afternoon and appears close to rejoining the active roster. Rauch, who underwent an appendectomy August 16, will be re-evaluated Wednesday but is likely to be activated off the disabled list Thursday, according to Wakamatsu. … 1B Chris Davis, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a torn labrum in his right shoulder, took 25 swings off a tee and participated in throwing drills at the Orioles complex in Sarasota, Fla., on Tuesday. … Orioles RHP Jason Berken’s wife Emily gave birth to a 5-lb., 12-oz. baby girl, Hadley Lane, on Tuesday afternoon. … In 27 starts this season, Guthrie has yet to win consecutive decisions. … Toronto right-hander Henderson Alvarez (0-2) faces Baltimore lefty Jo-Jo Reyes (7-10) on Wednesday.

The Associated Press

SEATTLE  — Jose Bautista hit his major league-leading 35th home run, Colby Rasmus and Aaron Hill each drive in four runs and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied twice in a 13-7 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

The Blue Jays appeared on the way to an easy victory with a six-run first inning, highlighted by Rasmus’ three-run double. But by the third inning, the Mariners had tied it.

The Jays broke away again with a four-run fifth.

Bautista opened the fifth with a walk and Adam Lind singled, ending Jason Vargas’ night. Tom Wilhelmsen, who earned his first big-league win Monday, took over and walked Edwin Encarnacion to load the bases.

Wilhelmsen’s next pitch caromed off umpire’s Tim McClelland shin and into the Mariners dugout. Bautista walked home on the wild pitch.

Rasmus and Aaron Hill each added a sac-fly and J.P. Arencibia had a RBI single to build the lead to 10-6.

It’s the most RBIs for Rasmus since coming over in a July 27 trade with St. Louis.

Hill, who had a two-run home run in the first, matched his career high for RBIs.

Bautista’s two-run home run in the sixth was estimated at 438 feet.

Casper Wells hit his fourth home run in his fourth straight game, a two-run shot in the second. That matched Danny Tartabull for the Mariners’ rookie record. Tartabull hit his four straight April 12-15, 1986.

Trayvon Robinson had two hits, including a two-run single for the Mariners.

Nine Jays batters went to the plate in the six-run first, and Vargas came within a strike of getting out of the inning unscathed. With the bases loaded and two outs, he had a 2-2 count on Rasmus. Rasmus then drilled a cut fastball into the right-center gap to clear the bases.

Brett Lawrie, who had three hits, drove in Rasmus with a single to center. Hill followed with his sixth home run.

Vargas (7-11) settled down and made it four-plus innings, long enough to watch his team rebound to tie it.

The Mariners cut the lead in half in the second. After a leadoff walk to Mike Carp, Wells hit his blast into the left-field bullpen, his ninth.

Miguel Olivo followed with a home run over the left-center wall, the fourth time this season the Mariners have had back-to-back home runs and second time in two nights.

Eight batters went to the plate in the third as the Mariners scored three more. Robinson had his two-run single and Kyle Seager tied it with a RBI single.

Shortstop Yunel Escobar saved two runs with a diving stop of a Jack Wilson grounder. He got up and threw him out, stranding runners at second and third.

Luis Perez (2-2), who took over for Brad Mills in the fourth, earned the victory. He matched his career high with four innings, allowing three hits, one run, two walks and striking out three.

Carp extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the third. He’s hitting .385 with four home runs and 18 RBI during the streak. He entered the game with the most August RBI in the majors with 17.

Notes: RHP Jon Rauch gave the Jays medical staff little warning before Monday’s game that he would eventually have to have an appendectomy Tuesday morning. “Before the game he felt some stomach discomfort. But he checked out OK and certainly felt he was capable of pitching,” Jays manager John Farrell said. “Then after the game things began to intensify a little bit and at that point we felt like it was time to get him checked.” Rauch was placed on the 15-day DL. LHP Trever Miller also was designated for assignment and two lefties, Wil Ledezma and Rommie Lewis, were called up from Triple-A Las Vegas. … An MRI has revealed that OF Rajai Davis has a hamstring tear. Farrell said for Davis’ mindset “our goal is to get him back on field before season’s out.” … With the last-minute signing Monday of first-round pick, LHP Danny Hultzen, the Mariners also agreed to give him a big-league contract. Room needed to be cleared on the 40-man roster so RHP Chris Ray, on the DL with a right shoulder strain, was released. … RHP Brandon Morrow (8-7, 4.55), traded to the Blue Jays two years ago, finally makes his first start against his former team at Safeco Field Wednesday. “I think anytime a player comes back to his original organization, there’s going to be some added adrenalin, maybe some emotion,” Farrell said. … the Mariners will send out RHP Blake Beavan (3-3, 3.39), acquired in the Cliff Lee trade with Texas last season. He has never faced Toronto.

–The Associated Press
 
 

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays avoided arbitration with three more players on Tuesday, but appear headed to a hearing with breakout slugger Jose Bautista.

The Jays avoided arbitration with right-hander Brandon Morrow, who signed a one-year, $2.3-million contract, shortstop Yunel Escobar (one year, $2.9 million) and outfielder Rajai Davis (two years, $5.25 million, with a $3-million club option for 2013).

Bautista — who led the majors with 54 home runs last season — and reliever Jason Frasor — appear headed to arbitration.

Toronto had a deadline of 1 p.m. ET Tuesday to sign its arbitration-eligible players. The Jays and players not signed before the deadline are to exchange salary figures and an arbitration hearing will take place sometime between Feb. 1-21.

Although teams can continue negotiating with players up until a scheduled hearing, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has a stated policy of not negotiating after Tuesday’s deadline.

“If we can’t come to terms by the exchange date and both parties have to file a number, we would end up going to (arbitration) hearings,” Anthopoulos told MLB.com.

Bautista’s case should prove to be one of the most interesting this off-season. Before the 2010 season, the 30-year-old journeyman hit 59 homers over parts of nine seasons, with a career-high 16 in 2006 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Last season, Bautista exploded for 54 — a Jays club record — and 124 RBIs.

Some observers believe Bautista, who made $2.4 million last season, could land a one-year deal worth up to $9 million.

On Monday, the Jays signed arbitration eligible pitchers Casey Janssen, Jesse Litsch and Shawn Camp to one-year deals.

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