TORONTO (AP) - Two bigs swings from Kendrys Morales made sure the Toronto Blue Jays stayed perfect at home against Baltimore.
Morales homered twice, Marco Estrada pitched 5 1/3 innings to win his second straight start and the Blue Jays beat Baltimore 5-3 on Monday night, improving to 8-0 at home against the Orioles.
Morales broke his bat on his one-out solo homer in the fourth, then added a three-run drive into the second deck in the fifth - both coming against Baltimore right-hander Andrew Cashner (4-11) - for his 22nd career multihomer game.
“I guess maybe the wind was blowing out,” Morales said through a translator when asked about his first homer.
And the second?
“He just threw me a meatball and I hit it much better than the first one,” Morales said.
Renato Nunez replied with a solo home run for the struggling Orioles, who have lost nine of their past 11.
Toronto is 10-1 overall against Baltimore, five more wins than the Blue Jays have against any other opponent.
Estrada (7-9) allowed three runs and seven hits, improving to 9-2 in 18 career games against Baltimore.
“I was happy with the way I was locating,” Estrada said. “Maybe two or three hard hit balls, but that’s going to happen. For the most part I felt like we were in control.”
Ryan Tepera got four outs and Jaime Garcia struck out the only batter he faced. Tyler Clippard worked the eighth and Ken Giles finished for his 16th save in 16 opportunities.
Baltimore became the first team mathematically eliminated from playoff contention when Oakland won later Monday.
Toronto’s Kevin Pillar went 2 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI. On Sunday, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons publicly berated Pillar in the dugout after the outfielder ended the sixth inning by getting thrown out attempting to steal third. Toronto trailed the New York Yankees 6-2 at the time.
After Pillar doubled in his first at bat Monday, Gibbons stared into the camera trained on his seat in Toronto’s dugout, then flashed a smile and a thumbs up.
Cashner allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings to remain winless in four starts against Toronto this season.
“You’ve got to get strike one,” Cashner said. “I worked behind a lot of guys which allowed them to just sit fastball.”
Craig Gentry had three hits for the Orioles, while Chris Davis hit a sacrifice fly.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Before the game, Orioles OF Adam Jones tweeted a welcome message to new Blue Jays C Danny Jansen, who was promoted from Triple-A on Aug. 12. The two first met in 2004 when Jones played for the Class-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and lived with 9-year-old Jansen and his family in nearby Appleton. Jansen flied out to Jones for the final out of the second.
STREAKING
Jansen doubled in the fourth, becoming the third player in Blue Jays history with hits in each of his first six major league games. The others were Jesse Barfield (eight games in 1981) and Ryan Goins (eight games in 2013).
EXTRA, EXTRA!
Six of Toronto’s seven hits went for extra bases. The lone exception was a single by SS Aledmys Diaz in the sixth, Toronto’s final hit of the game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: Baltimore put DH Mark Trumbo (right knee) on the 10-day DL and recalled OF John Andeoli from Triple-A Norfolk. … Jones was reinstated from the bereavement list and returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games. He went 0 for 3 with a walk.
Blue Jays: Toronto reinstated C Luke Maile from the paternity list and optioned RHP Sean Reid-Foley to Triple-A Buffalo. … RHP Aaron Sanchez (right index finger) allowed four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings in his first rehab start at Double-A New Hampshire and third overall. Sanchez threw 86 pitches, 42 for strikes. He could rejoin the Blue Jays this weekend to start against Philadelphia.
UP NEXT
Orioles RHP Dylan Bundy (7-11, 4.99) faces Blue Jays RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-6, 5.13) on Tuesday night. Bundy is 0-2 with an 8.27 ERA in three August starts. Gaviglio is 0-6 with a 5.75 ERA in 16 starts since his most recent win, May 25 at Philadelphia.
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