Gausman takes the loss in his debut as Blue Jays beat the Orioles, 12-6

For a while it looked like this could be a real feel good evening for the Orioles. They gave Kevin Gausman an early 3-0 lead in his major league debut and Gausman kept Toronto off the board in the first three innings on just two singles. But the Blue Jays got to the 22-year-old right-hander for four runs over the fourth and fifth innings and then Edwin Encarnacion blasted a grand slam in the sixth off Pedro Strop as Toronto beat the Orioles 12-6. The O's fall to 25-22 in losing for the seventh time in the last nine games and the ninth time in the last 13. After keeping Toronto off the board on 51 pitches through three, the Blue Jays scored two in the fourth against Gausman. J.P. Arencibia had an RBI double that inning and added a two-run homer in the fifth. Over five innings, Gausman gave up seven hits and four runs, taking the loss in his big league debut. He walked two and fanned five, throwing 89 pitches, 58 for strikes. He flashed a fastball that touched 99 a few times and showed some of that talent that led the Orioles to draft him fourth overall last June. With two outs and none on in the sixth, Troy Patton and Pedro Strop combined to walk the bases loaded ahead of Encarnacion's fifth career slam. In just 1/3 of an inning, Strop threw 22 pitches, just eight for strikes. The Orioles hit three more homers in this game, for their third straight, three-homer night. Nick Markakis and Adam Jones went back-to-back in the eighth off starter Brandon Morrow to pull the O's within 8-6. It's the second time this year that duo hit back-to-back homers. Manny Machado doubled in each of his first three at-bats tonight. A fourth double would have tied the Orioles and major league single game record, instead he settled for a 3-for-4, two-RBI night and he takes the AL lead with 21 doubles. He also had three doubles May 15 vs. San Diego. Chris Davis hit a solo homer, his AL-leading 15th, in the fourth. Davis has six homers over his last 13 games. The Orioles have hit nine in their last three games and 20 in the last 10 games. Ahead by just two, Toronto put this game away with a four-run eighth inning that was Oriole aided for sure as the Jays used a J.J. Hardy error, two walks, a passed ball charged to Matt Wieters and three singles to score four. In the end, it was almost hard to remember the Orioles led this game 3-0 early and Gausman was looking very strong. It was an ugly loss at Rogers Centre and a tough start to a six-game road trip.