TORONTO - A night after the Orioles allowed 11 runs, 13 hits and five homers, some pitching order was restored as they handily beat the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Right-hander Dylan Bundy was dealin' Dylan, pitching the Orioles to a win in Game 2 of this series. Bundy went seven strong innings, the Orioles hit three homers and Trey Mancini went 5-for-5 in an 11-4 win over Toronto.
Mancini doubled in the first and third and added three singles in setting a new career high for hits and raising his average to .293.
"I feel good about it," Mancini said of his big night. "I don't think I've had five hits in a game before if I'm not mistaken. Definitely cool to do. I thought (left fielder Derek) Fisher caught that first one out there. After that, things just started bouncing my way a little bit."
Bundy gave up just three hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts on 86 pitches. He had a one-hitter on 52 pitches through five innings. Bundy is now 7-14 with an ERA of 4.79.
But when asked the best thing about his game tonight, Bundy first went to the O's hitters.
"The offense," Bundy said. "Our offense put up runs early and it really relieves the starter to go out there and attack hitters. Unlike last start, there was a lot of early contact today and not as quality of pitches as I would like, but they hit it right to guys. And some starts you need that.
"Early contact, you can get some quick outs and that keeps your pitch count down. That allows you to do some different things later in the game and allows you to go deep into the game as well."
Bundy missed his innings season high by one out, but pitched seven innings or more for the fourth time. He now has 10 quality starts and in five starts this year against Toronto, is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA.
The Orioles (52-106) won for the third time in five games and improved to 8-10 against Toronto and 5-3 at Rogers Centre. They are 27-50 on the road with four games left. Toronto (64-94) lost for just the third time in nine games.
So Bundy praised the hitters, but manager Brandon Hyde lauded Bundy when asked if the offense or pitching was more pleasing to him tonight.
"I think anytime we throw the ball like that, the pitching for sure," Hyde said. "Dylan Bundy with seven great innings. Worked ahead all night long. Was just fantastic. We scored for him early and he threw strikes and mixed speeds very well. Loved the slider tonight. Threw some really good changeups. Was locating his fastball and was outstanding for seven. He was going back out there for the eighth (if the top half didn't go so long)."
Renato Núñez produced a two-run double and Dwight Smith Jr. an RBI single as the O's took a quick first-inning 3-0 lead. Lefty Thomas Pannone got the start as an opener for Toronto and the only thing he opened well was a lead for Baltimore.
Jonathan Villar singled to center and with one out went to third on Mancini's 37th double. Then Núñez doubled down the right field line and that made it 2-0. He came in on Smith's single that produced his 51st RBI and a 3-0 advantage.
Bundy was rolling early, retiring the first eight in a row. But then No. 9 hitter Fisher lined a homer to right. That made it 3-1 and was the 300th homer allowed this year by Baltimore pitching. That extends the O's single-season major league record for homers allowed.
But the Orioles got two of their own in the fourth to add to their lead. Smith led off with a homer off Wilmer Font. He hit No. 13 a distance of 382 feet to right-center. With two outs Austin Wynns hit No. 1 on the year and the fifth of his career for a 5-1 lead. Wynns drilled the ball 413 feet to left center. At that point, the Orioles had hit seven homers in the first 13 innings of this series.
But they would get another longball. DJ Stewart hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Brock Stewart and Mancini added an RBI single and that made the lead 8-1. Breyvic Valera's RBI hit in the Blue Jays sixth cut that to 8-2. The O's scored three in the eighth as Rio Ruiz singled in a run, and so did Smith and Stewart. Their season high for runs is 14 on Aug. 30 at Kansas City. Toronto scored two in the ninth off Tayler Scott for the final margin.
Mancini extended his current hitting streak to 11 games, during which he is 24-for-51 (.471) with six doubles, four home runs and 17 RBIs. Smith went 3-for-4 and drove in three and Stewart added three RBIs.
Mancini said it was big for the team to bounce back with a good performance after Monday's 15 innings loss.
"It was huge," he said. "You know, that was obviously a long night and we lost that game. So it was big for us to come back and respond today. From the first inning, we set the tone there and Dylan just had such a good night on the mound. He's had a strong second half and it's been fun to play behind him."
The Orioles have scored 21 runs in the first two games of this series and 10 runs or more in three of their last four games versus the Blue Jays.
With three home runs tonight, the Orioles have now homered in 18 straight games since Sept. 6. That is the second-longest active streak in the majors behind Houston at 19 in a row. The O's team record of 20 consecutive games with a homer was set in 1998.
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