Holliday hits go-ahead homer and Santander connects twice as O's top Jays (updated)

TORONTO – The kid did it again. Jackson Holliday hit yet another homer off the Toronto Blue Jays and this one was huge.

With the Orioles down 3-2 in the seventh, Holliday connected on a two-run shot – his fourth in seven games since rejoining the club – and the O’s had a 4-3 lead.

Anthony Santander provided insurance, with a solo homer in the eighth, his second home run of the game. It came not long after he made a leaping catch against the right-field wall in the seventh to rob Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The robbery came with a man on second and two outs, which preserved the 4-3 lead.

The O’s bullpen got the outs late to make it stand up as the Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 to even this three-game series.

They improved to 68-47 and are 10-9 since the All-Star break. The Orioles are 24-11 in AL East games and 12-4 in division road games.

Holliday’s two-run shot was hit on an 0-2 fastball from reliever Ryan Burr. He smoked the ball 107.2 mph off the bat and it went 424 feet. He has now homered in three straight games and three of his four homers have come off Toronto pitching. 

Even Ryan Mountcastle would be impressed.

Holliday tonight became the youngest player in American League history to homer in three straight games.

It was Holliday's second homer on an 0-2 count. His grand slam in Baltimore came via an 0-2 pitch.

Earlier, this game started well enough for the Orioles. Santander’s two-run homer to right two batters into the game gave them a 2-0 lead.

But by the last of the second, the lead was gone and the Orioles trailed the Blue Jays 3-2.

Against right-hander Bowden Francis, who entered with a 5.64 ERA, Colton Cowser led off the game and walked. On a 1-2 curveball up and over the outside corner, Santander yanked the ball out to right for a quick 2-0 lead.

He hit his 33^rd to tie his career high from 2022. He exceeded his career high with the blast in the eighth.

Santander has now hit 10 homers his last 19 games and 25 in 59 games since June 1. This year versus American League East opponents, he has homered 13 times in 34 games and six times in 12 games against Toronto.

Santander began this night second in the AL in homers behind Aaron Judge, 41 to 32 and tied for third in the majors. 

But Toronto got one back in the home first versus lefty Trevor Rogers making his second start for the Orioles.

Three straight singles with one out loaded the bases. The third single, a hot smash to third off the bat of Alejandro Kirk was originally scored an E5 on Coby Mayo. But that last hop took a leap up and the scoring was later changed to hit. A Spencer Horwitz line out to left went for a sac fly and Toronto was down 2-1.

The Blue Jays’ two-run second put them ahead by one. Leo Jiménez, batting eighth, doubled to left and scored on a single by No. 9 hitter, catcher Brian Serven. His soft liner to center glanced off the glove of second-sacker Holliday and the game was tied 2-2. Serven moved to second on a groundout and then scored when Ernie Clement hit a grounder wide of third. Mayo made a nice stop ranging left but his throw bounced by Mountcastle as the go-ahead run scored on the error and it was 3-2 Toronto.

The Orioles had their frustrations tonight with the balls and strikes called by home plate umpire Larry Vanover. In the O’s fifth, not long after Mayo was called out on strikes on a borderline pitch, manager Brandon Hyde was ejected by Vanover.

The next batter, Cowser was rung up on strikes to end the inning. None of the three strikes called against him made it into the strike zone box. Vanover missed all three strike calls.

Both starters pitched just five innings. Francis allowed three hits and two runs with seven strikeouts and one walk on 81 pitches.

Rogers gave up seven hits and three runs (two earned) with two walks and strikeouts on 94 pitches. Two opponents have gone 13-for-38 against him and he has allowed seven earned runs in 9 1/3 in his two games with the Orioles.

He is 0-1 with an ERA of 6.75 for his new team.

But the frustrations of the plate umpire and trailing for much of this game seemed to go away when the O’s 20-year-old phenom hit his latest home run.

He hit 10 homers at Triple-A this year in 346 plate appearances and now has four in 24 at-bats since rejoining the club.

After Santander's homer in the eighth extended the O's lead to 5-3 it grew to 7-3 on an Eloy Jiménez two-run double to right. He is now 8-for-16 with four RBIs for his new club. 

Seranthony Domínguez got the final three outs for O's. The former Phillie gave up a leadoff double to Jiménez but was perfect afterward. He now holds a 1.50 ERA with seven strikeouts in six innings with the O's. 

Hyde on Holliday's homer: “Huge hit when we needed it. Didn’t feel like things were going our way especially early. Made some mistakes defensively. And we just didn’t have much momentum. Santander with a huge hit to the start the game, but we were kind of flat offensively. But what a massive hit and we added on from there. That was a big win."

Hyde on Santander's impact on the game: “It is just what he has been doing this year. He’s just been playing unbelievable baseball on both sides. To make that type of play – he is just so locked into win right now. When he comes to the ballpark it’s all about winning tonight’s game. Tonight he carried us offensively and makes the catch of the game. What a tough play he made."

Hyde, where is Holliday's power coming from?: "Well, he’s got a nice swing and there are a lot of things that work in that swing and he’s got a lot of confidence. He really can get on a fastball. We see the confidence growing at this level. Little bit of success and all a sudden you start feeling good in the batter’s box and he’s getting some huge hits. That is three nights in a row. Really happy for him."

Hyde on his ejection: "I have known Larry for a long time. I didn't want to be disrespectful to him but I kind of voice that I didn't feel like the strike zone was very fair."

Rogers, was this a step forward tonight?: "Absolutely. Definitely thought we had a really good plan in place tonight. Got my feet underneath me. Really got my routine back in order. I think Adley (Rutschman) and I really executed the game plan all night long. Didn't go for me really well the first couple of innings, but we settled down and got it done.

"It was one of those days that, whatever I was thinking, Adley was calling. It was smooth sailing."

Holliday on a hit that turned the game around: "Obviously it was a pretty important moment in the game, to kind of flip the score. I think we kind of needed a little bit of momentum. Got that and Tony's catch and he turned around and hit another homer. Glad to be able to help the team."

Holliday on Santander: "He is unbelievable. So fun to watch. Great leader in the clubhouse and a great presence. Just awesome to watch him from the dugout instead of on TV. He's having an unbelievable year."

Holliday, what is allowing you to homer for the second time on an 0-2 pitch: "Yeah, that is a great question. Just trying to hit line drives the other way and trying to keep it as simple as possible. Whenever I am on the fastball, good things seem to happen."