Slugging O’s roll past Jays

BALTIMORE — It was only three years ago that Josh Towers was the Baltimore Orioles’ top pitching prospect.

My, how things have changed around Camden Yards.

These days, the Orioles are loaded with young pitchers, not to mention a stacked lineup with no discernable weak links. Towers, meanwhile, toils with the Toronto Blue Jays, subjecting himself to such torture as last night’s 11-3 beating.

These aren’t the same Orioles that Towers remembers from his days as a promising rookie right-hander in 2001. For one thing, this team currently has the second-best record in the American League.

How long the good vibes remain, especially in the same division as the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, remains to be seen. For now, though, Baltimore is enjoying life back on top of the AL East, a perch this franchise hasn’t occupied since 1997.

“I know and everybody knows we have a good team,” shortstop Miguel Tejada said following the Orioles’ sixth win in seven games. “Right now, we’re all working together. We’re just thinking about having fun.”

The Orioles (10-5) have returned to prominence thanks to their new-look, nine-deep lineup that last night pounded out 15 hits and knocked Towers from the game after four innings. And they have a chance to stick around for awhile thanks to a pitching staff that, while young on experience, is performing like a veteran unit.

Last night it was Eric DuBose’s turn to shine. The left-hander, who entered the season with four career wins, picked up his second in as many starts with a strong seven-inning effort.

DuBose, who probably is the Orioles’ third-best pitching prospect behind Matt Riley and Erik Bedard, escaped a third-inning jam with only two runs scoring and held the Blue Jays scoreless the rest of the way.

Forced to wait out a 61-minute rain delay before the game started, DuBose (2-2) scattered five hits over his seven innings, walked two, struck out three and retired the last 11 batters before giving way to the bullpen.

“It just took him an inning or two to get ready,” manager Lee Mazzilli said. “But he started pitching ahead with his breaking ball and his changeup. He was kind of forcing it early on, but he just gained his composure back.”

While DuBose was cruising along, Towers (0-1) was struggling through a performance all too reminiscent of his awful sophomore season with the Orioles, when he opened up 0-3 with a 7.90 ERA and was demoted to the minors, where he went 0-9 and was dumped altogether.

Towers was done in by a barrage of hits last night, not to mention his own throwing difficulties. Usually the owner of pinpoint control, the right-hander plunked Melvin Mora with the bases loaded in the fourth to force in a run, then allowed two more when his pickoff attempt sailed over first baseman Carlos Delgado’s head. Rafael Palmeiro added a run-scoring single, giving him a team-high 14 RBI in 15 games, and giving Baltimore a 7-2 lead.

The Orioles weren’t done incurring damage, though. Mora scored on Tejada’s sixth-inning double and throwing error by left fielder Frank Catalanotto. Jay Gibbons crushed a solo homer onto Eutaw Street. Three singles and a sacrifice fly produced two more runs in the eighth.

“This lineup, there’s not a whole lot of outs there,” DuBose said. “We’ve got [high] average hitters, we’ve got power hitters. It’s a great mix. This team does more damage with two outs than anything I’ve ever seen. This should be a lot of fun this year.”

Notes — Mazzilli gave center fielder Luis Matos, mired in a 6-for-44 slump and batting .176, his first night off of the season. Larry Bigbie started in center field with B.J. Surhoff in left field, but Mazzilli said the move was temporary. … Following the game, the Orioles optioned outfielder Tim Raines Jr. to Class AAA Ottawa and promoted left-hander Bedard, who will start today against the Blue Jays. … Second baseman Jerry Hairston, out with a broken finger since the first spring training game of the year, took ground balls yesterday afternoon and appears close to returning. Hairston will take batting practice today and hopes to begin a minor league rehab assignment next week. …

A scene from the season finale of “The West Wing” was filmed just before the game. Actor Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlet in the NBC series, threw out a ceremonial first pitch to Orioles catcher Javy Lopez. Sheen was joined by fellow cast member John Spencer (chief of staff Leo McGarry).