David Hess takes tough loss and O's go 0-10 in Toronto

TORONTO - Who knew that Orioles right-hander David Hess, entering with an ERA of 5.95 and Toronto lefty Thomas Pannone, making his first big league start, would produce such a great pitcher's duel.

But that duo did today at Rogers Centre. Hess took a no-hitter to the fifth and Pannone to the seventh. In the end the game was decided in the seventh inning when the O's blew a big rally and Toronto got a key home run. And the Blue Jays win was cemented and the pitcher's duel ended with a five-run Blue Jays eighth against right-hander Miguel Castro.

Kendrys Morales' solo shot - his fourth homer of this series - gave Toronto a 1-0 lead and eventual 6-0 win today over the Orioles. The O's finish the year going 0-10 at Rogers Centre and fall to 37-90 for the year.

Morales blasted his seventh-inning homer to right-center, hitting a Hess 2-2 changeup 392 feet for his 18th on the year. In this series he went 7-for-12 with four homers and seven RBIs. He's now homered in four straight games.

Hess was brilliant today. Using mostly a four-seam fastball and slider mix, he retired the first 12 batters he faced through the fourth on 46 pitches. Morales got a leadoff single in the fifth, but Hess got the next three outs. He had fanned a new career-high seven batters through the sixth and was at just 71 pitches.

Leading 1-0, Toronto scored five in the eighth off Castro, who issued three wild pitches in that inning and served up a three-run homer to Devon Travis. Within a few minutes a pitcher's duel turned into a game where the Jays had a big lead with three outs to get. Castro faced five batters getting no outs and allowing three hits and five runs on 22 pitches.

Pannone hit a batter in the first and walked batters in the second and fourth, but then retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth. He had a no-hitter going to that point and was at 88 pitches.

The O's had a big chance to score but failed to in the top of the seventh. Trey Mancini's clean ground single to left produced their first hit of the day. Adam Jones followed with a liner to left and Teoscar Hernandez misplayed that into a two-base error, sending Mancini to third with no outs.

But the two on, no outs rally would not produce a run. Tim Beckham grounded to third, Craig Gentry grounded out to the mound and Renato Núñez popped to third. The top of the seventh ended with the game at 0-0. That would soon change when Morales got his next swings.

Hess went a career-high seven innings, allowing three hits and one run with no walks and a career-best seven strikeouts. He threw 90 pitches and takes one tough-luck loss. He falls to 2-8 with a 5.50 ERA. Pannone got his first MLB win allowing the one hit in seven frames.

The Orioles conclude a 1-5 road trip heading into Thursday's off day. They have lost six of seven, 11 of 13 and 31 of their past 44 games. They are 16-50 away from Oriole Park.

The Orioles were shutout for the 12th time. They are 4-47 when scoring two runs or less.

In going 0-10 at Rogers Centre, the Orioles were outscored 63-28 in the season series. They lost four of the games by one run and one by two runs. The Orioles will host the Yankees for a four-game, three-day series beginning Friday night in Baltimore.