Morales homers three times in Toronto's win (quotes added)

The Orioles overcame two poor starting pitching performances and won against Seattle, but they not could not do it again tonight.

Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson allowed seven runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Orioles 11-8 at Oriole Park. The loss ends the O's win streak at seven. Their last eight-game streak was April 22-May 1, 2005.

Toronto's Kendrys Morales went 4-for-5 with three homers and a career-high seven RBIs. It is his second career three-homer game. The first came on Sept. 20, 2015 at Detroit. It's his third multi-homer game of the year and the 20th of his career.

The Orioles fall to 68-66 and to 30-23 in American League East games. They fall 2 1/2 back of Minnesota in the chase for the second AL wild card spot. The Blue Jays (62-72) had lost six of their past seven on the road and 10 of 12 overall before getting the win in the opener of a four-game series.

The Orioles opened a 5-2 lead at the end of three innings. Adam Jones hit a two-run homer to left in the first for a 2-0 lead. Jones pulled a 2-2 changeup from Jays starter Marco Estrada into the left field corner. The Orioles added three singles in the second, the last by Tim Beckham to score a run, for a 3-0 lead.

But in the Toronto third, with two outs and none on, Josh Donaldson doubled, Morales hit a 417-foot homer to right and it was a 3-2 game.

The Orioles got those runs right back. Jonathan Schoop and Jones led off with singles in the third and later scored on a Chris Davis RBI groundout and Mark Trumbo single to center for a 5-2 Orioles lead.

That lead held up only to the top of the fifth. With two outs and a man on second, Hellickson allowed a walk, RBI single, walk, two-run double and two-run double as the three-run lead turned into a 7-5 deficit. Miguel Montero and Kevin Pillar had back-to-back two-run doubles to end his night. All seven runs he gave up scored with two outs.

Hellickson lasted just 4 2/3 innings and gave up seven hits and seven runs with four walks and two strikeouts. He threw 88 pitches and has an ERA of 6.55 in six starts for the Orioles.

After two promising starts for his new team, Hellickson has allowed six, seven, three and seven runs his last four starts. His ERA is 9.28 in that span.

The Orioles pulled within 7-6 on a Davis solo homer to right-center in the fifth. He hit No. 22. The two homers tonight give the Orioles a major league-record 57 for August. They broke their own record of 55 from last August.

But Morales put down the dagger with a three-run shot to right off Mychal Givens in the top of the sixth. That gave Toronto a 10-6 lead. He added to the lead with another homer off Givens two innings later. His solo shot in the eighth made it 11-6. He now has 25 homers and 69 RBIs. All 11 of the Blue Jays runs scored with two outs.

The Orioles offense was not completely done though. They added two more runs in the eighth, with the first run scoring on an error and the second on Schoop's single to right, his 100th RBI of the year.

The Orioles have scored 60 runs their last eight games and 268 in 46 games in the second-half for an average of 5.8 per game.

In the second game of this series on Friday night, Kevin Gausman (10-9, 4.98 ERA) faces right-hander Joe Biagini (3-9, 5.40 ERA).

Postgame quotes:

Hellickson on whether command was the biggest issue tonight: "Yeah, command was a little off. Just fell behind way too many guys. Way too many walks and this has happened way too many times this year. I mean, two outs, no runs (in). Just like that, five-spot up there. Just got to find a way to get the third out that (fifth) inning."

Hellickson said it started well early on: "Yeah, I made the mistake to Morales and that was about it. Command was just way off. I really haven't had that poor command this year. Couldn't get a feel for it and off-speed I couldn't throw for strikes either."

Hellickson was disappointed to do so poorly on a night the O's did well on offense: "We scored eight runs. That's tough. I don't know, when you score eight runs you've got to win the ballgame. This offense is too good to give up that many runs. You've got to make it easy on them sometimes. So it sucks right now, but you've got to forget about it and just be better next time."

Tim Beckham on finishing August with 50 hits: "Yeah, man, it's wild, it's wild. It's a blessing. Everything that's happened. I thank God above for that. We need to keep it going and get this team to the playoffs."

Beckham said the Orioles will try to start another winning streak Friday: "Yeah, I mean, we don't want to play like we have to get another roll going. We're a good ballclub. Every night, you put us out there we have a better ballclub if you ask me. We don't have to think, 'Oh, we've got to win this, we've got to get on another roll.' Every game is crucial, and we know that as a team. We want to continue to have fun on the baseball field and play relaxed and keep hitting the ball around the ballpark."

Beckham on the offense still clicking: "Yeah, for sure. Like I said, man, every night you run us out there, we have a better lineup. We want to continue to hit the ball around the ballpark and play good defense and back our pitchers up and just be ready to go. Whatever the game situation is, we expect each other to get the job done, so with that being said, we're going to continue to play winning baseball and don't be surprised if you see us in the playoffs."