Hit In 9th Lifts Blue Jays Over Orioles 7-6
TORONTO (AP) -- Rajai Davis singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied for their ninth straight win, 7-6 over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Munenori Kawasaki hit his first career home run, a tying two-run shot in the seventh, while Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion also connected for the Blue Jays.
Casey Janssen (2-0) worked one inning for the win as Toronto evened its record at 36-36.
Facing Orioles reliever Brian Matusz (2-1), Maicer Izturis singled to begin the ninth and moved to second on Josh Thole's sacrifice. Pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa was intentionally walked to bring up Kawasaki, who moved up both runners with a grounder.
Pedro Strop came on to face Davis, who lined a single over the head of shortstop J.J. Hardy. Davis' teammates poured out of the dugout in celebration, mobbing him and tearing off his jersey.
Chris Davis hit his major league leading 27th home run for the Orioles, who also got homers from J.J. Hardy and Ryan Flaherty.
Toronto took an early lead when Lind hit a two-run homer off Jason Hammel in the first, his 10th. Hammel has allowed 10 runs in the first inning of his 15 starts this season, the most he's allowed in any inning.
Hardy's hit a two-out solo shot in the second, his 15th, to cut it to 2-1, but the Blue Jays got a run in the fifth on Kawasaki's two-out RBI single.
Nate McLouth singled to open the sixth and Nick Markakis drew a one-out walk. McLouth scored on Adam Jones' base hit and Davis followed with his third homer in the past two games.
Davis had two homers and five RBIs in Wednesday's 13-3 win over Detroit.
Encarnacion answered with a leadoff drive in the bottom half, his 20th, cutting it to 5-4, but Flaherty's leadoff drive in the seventh restored Baltimore's two-run lead.
Tommy Hunter replaced Hammel to begin the seventh and gave up a leadoff single to Izturis, Two outs later, Kawasaki tied it at 6 by hitting a 1-1 pitch into the right field bullpen.
Called out of the dugout for a curtain call, Kawasaki bowed several times before tipping his cap.
All three Baltimore homers came off knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who matched a season-worst by allowing three longballs.
Dickey allowed six runs and seven hits in six-plus innings. The right-hander, who walked two and struck out five, has a 6.02 ERA in eight home starts this season.
Hammel had not pitched since June 12 after being skipped in the rotation because of flu-like symptoms. He allowed four runs and four hits in six innings, walked one and struck out seven.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter was ejected for arguing with plate umpire Angel Hernandez in the second. He was replaced by bench coach John Russell
Davis struck out swinging to begin the inning, but the pitch got away from catcher Thole and Hernandez ruled it a foul ball as Thole threw to first base. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons came out and the umpires huddled, then called Davis out.
That brought out Showalter for an animated discussion with Hernandez. After being tossed, Showalter pointed at all four umpires, then mimicked throwing them out of the game. The ejection was his first of the season.
NOTES: Baltimore 3B Manny Machado's single in the first was his ML-leading 104th hit. ... Blue Jays SS Jose Reyes (left ankle) is scheduled to play three full games with Triple-A Buffalo this weekend, and could be activated Monday. ... Baltimore activated RHP Miguel Gonzalez off the paternity list and put OF Steve Pearce (left wrist) on the 15-day DL, retroactive to Thursday. Gonzalez will start against Toronto on Saturday. ... Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts (right hamstring) is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
