Jays 8 Orioles 2

The Jays secure their first win of the season, almost appropriately securing it on a Ryan Mountcastle strike-out. The Jays convincingly thumped the Orioles, going 8-2 and outhitting them by a 14-3 margin.

Kevin Gausman quieted some of the worries coming out, hitting 95-96MPH with his four seamer. The splitter didn’t look as sharp, but he was helped out by some excellent defense, beyond a sliding catch by Roden and a sharp ground ball caught deep in the pocket by Bichette and firing a pill to catch Mountcastle at first. Jackson Holiday opened the scoring with a deep shot to centre. The Orioles worked a walk and a single into a sacrifice fly by Tyler O’Neill to run the score to 2-0, despite the Jays having runners at the corners with 1 out in the first and a runner on second with one out in the second and third.

In the 4th, the wheels came off for Morton and the Orioles. Kirk, Springer and Wagner singled, although as expected with Kirk at the front, they loaded the bases without a run. Lukes walked to bring in the Jays first run. A wild pitch by Suarez – brought in to relieve Morton – brought in the next run. Bichette lashed a single for another and Guerrero hit a sacrifice fly to bring in another. Santander singled and the Orioles tossed the ball to hit off materials in the dugout to allow Bichette home and finish the inning after a Gimenez fly out at 5-2.

The Jays had another shot in the 6th, as a Springer bloop single allowed him to move to third, but he was picked off in a strike em out, throw em out doubleplay to end the inning. The Jays added another in the bottom of the 6th inning as Bichette drove in Lukes from 3B for their sixth run.

The Jays added 2 in the 7th as the Jays caught Perez with a Santander walk, a Gimenez single, and after a balk, Clement golfed a pitch into the corner in left for two runs. That would be all it would need for the Jays to win 8-2.

At the end of the day, Gausman pitched well but only recorded four strikeouts in the start, which continues the concerns about his splitter generating strikes. He enjoyed some excellent defense and made the pitches he needed to.

The Jays even the season at 1-1 and face the Orioles at 1:37pm.