TORONTO (AP) – Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki each hit solo home runs in the first inning, Marco Estrada snapped a four-start winless streak and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 on Friday night.
Encarnacion reached base three times and scored twice as the Blue Jays won the opener of a three-game series between the top two teams in the AL East, cutting Baltimore’s division lead to half a game. The Orioles have lost four straight.
Estrada (6-4) allowed four runs, three earned, and five hits in six innings.
Joaquin Benoit worked the seventh, Jason Grilli gave up Manny Machado’s solo home run in the eighth and Roberto Osuna finished for his 22nd save.
Mark Trumbo’s two-out double gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead in the top of the first but the Blue Jays answered with a trio of solo shots in the bottom half. Bautista drilled Kevin Gausman’s second pitch of the game off the facing of the second deck, Encarnacion hit a one-out blast and Tulowitzki added a two-out homer.