02 September, 2017
It's been a awful year for the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Orioles' 11-8 loss to the Blue Jays before 13,802 at Oriole Park Aug. 31 was painful because Hellickson seemed to be on his way to an acceptable outing. Coming off three-game sweeps of Boston and Seattle, Baltimore was seeking its first eight-game winning streak in 12 years. "Plus, we got a win on top of that". He now has 25 home runs this season. "And I'm real proud of the month our guys put together to get back in this". Baltimore is 7-0 in their last 7 games overall and 5-2 in their last 7 division matchups while the over is 14-5 in their last 19 home games against a team with a losing record. But as Jays manager John Gibbons pointed out, Morales' cracks of 417, 430 and 396 feet would have gone out in most venues that they play major league baseball. Welington Castillo led the way, going a ideal 4 for 4 at the dish with a home run, a double and three RBIs. "He's starting to heat up a little bit and I see that too". A win is a win.
"It was the Mo Show", Gibbons said of Morales, who had his third multi-homer game as a Jay. He has 77 strikeouts this season with 32 walks and a 1.40 WHIP.
Morales hit a two-run home run in the third, but the Orioles, as they had been lately, were outhitting Toronto.
"I threw the ball pretty well to be honest with you", Estrada said. Tom Koehler gave up a pair of runs in relief, taking the loss to fall to 0-2 as a Blue Jay. There were a few hard hit balls.
Orioles: The team has delayed making a decision about when to activate SS J.J. Hardy (wrist) from the disabled list, though it probably won't be later than Monday. In his career, Estrada is 5-1 with a 2.66 ERA and 70 strikeouts against Baltimore.
With the Orioles leading by three in the fifth, right-hander Jeremy Hellickson came unglued, allowing a five-run inning.
The momentum turned in the fifth, when Toronto sent nine batters and used two-run doubles by Miguel Montero and Kevin Pillar to go up 7-5.
"Command was a little off". "I just fell behind on way too many guys". "Too many walks. This has happened way too many times this year". Each of Toronto's runs came with two outs. Just like that, there was a five-spot up there.
Morales answered in the third, but Baltimore got a run-scoring groundout from Davis and an RBI single by Mark Trumbo in the bottom half.
Davis hit a solo shot in the fifth that cut the deficit to 7-6. "That's tough", Hellickson said. "We don't want to dwell on that".
Blue Jays: 1B Justin Smoak (sore right calf) was out of the lineup for the second consecutive night. And it hasn't helped that he has struggled at times this season, particularly when chasing curveballs. He is batting.287 with 36 homers and 84 RBIs. "We just didn't pitch well enough to win the game, obviously", manager Buck Showalter said.
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