Ryan Mountcastle hit a three-run home run, leading the visiting Baltimore Orioles to a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.
Adam Frazier added a two-run homer and Anthony Santander had a solo shot for the Orioles in the opener of a three-game series.
The Orioles were coming off a 6-4 homestand. The Blue Jays fell to 4-4 on their 10-game homestand as they fell for the fourth time in five games.
Baltimore right-hander Kyle Gibson (5-3) gave up one run, five hits and two walks in seven innings. He struck out five.
Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (5-1) allowed three runs, three hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Toronto’s Brandon Belt doubled with two outs in the second inning and took third on a wild pitch. After Whit Merrifield walked, Danny Jansen hit an RBI single.
Baltimore’s Joey Ortiz singled to lead off the third, Adley Rutschman walked with one out and Mountcastle hit his 10th home run of the season, a blast to center for a 3-1 lead.
Kikuchi was replaced by Trevor Richards after walking Rutschman with two outs in the fifth. Richards retired Mountcastle to end the inning.
Santander led off the sixth inning against Richards with his eighth home run of the season.
Tim Mayza pitched a perfect top of the seventh inning for Toronto.
Gibson retired the final 10 batters that he faced, including two strikeouts in the seventh inning.
Toronto’s Anthony Bass survived a walk to Santander and an errant pickoff throw in the eighth.
Baltimore’s Yennier Cano allowed Kevin Kiermaier’s single and George Springer’s ground-rule double to open the bottom of the eighth. Bo Bichette’s groundout scored a run to slice the deficit to 4-2. Cano retired the next two batters.
In the ninth, Toronto’s Erik Swanson allowed Jorge Mateo’s one-out single, a stolen base and Frazier’s fifth homer of the season.
Felix Bautista worked around a walk and a single in the bottom of the ninth.
Kiermaier returned to the Toronto lineup after missing two games due to an illness. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.(sore right knee) went 1-for-4 as the Blue Jays’ designated hitter. He did not play Wednesday and was used a pinch hitter on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
