Logan Ondrusek on joining O's (Toronto routs Orioles 9-1)

TORONTO - New Orioles reliever Logan Ondrusek pitched in Japan the last two seasons but has not been on the mound in a major league game since he pitched for the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 14, 2014.

After he signed with and joined the Orioles yesterday, the 31-year-old right-hander now looks forward to his debut with his new team.

"You know, I'm happy to be here," he said this morning in the Orioles clubhouse. "It's a good opportunity for me and the team has been doing really well. Nice to join a contender. It's funny how things work out. Had a little disagreement over in Japan. It was kind of obvious we were going in two separate directions. Had an opportunity to come back to the states and took advantage of it.

"I'm sure they were scouting over there. My agent reached out to some teams and the Orioles were one of the teams that responded and said we'd like to bring me in."

Ondrusek went 8-3 with a 2.17 ERA in 102 games with the Yakult Swallows of the Japan Central League over the last two seasons, including a 3-1 record and 2.45 ERA in 30 games this season. In 281 career major league games, Ondrusek has gone 21-11 with a 3.89 ERA and 214 strikeouts.

O's manager Buck Showalter cited his solid big league numbers against lefty batters with a .236 average against.

"You know it is just a mix and throwing everything at them," Ondrusek said of trying to get lefties out. "I like to throw cutters and splits. That is kind of what I've done throughout my career once I learned the cutter. Took that over to Japan and that's been a big out pitch for me. Want to keep that going here."

He is excited to return to the majors.

"It's great. This is where you want to be," Ondrusek said. "It's the best competition in the world. To be away, it was tough, but it was a nice learning experience and it helped me as a pitcher. But this is familiar and this is where I feel I belong and I'm out to prove it now."

O's get the early lead: The O's took a 1-0 lead on Toronto this afternoon on a Pedro Alvarez solo homer to right in the second inning. He hit an 0-2 curveball for the homer off left-hander J.A. Happ. Making a rare start against a lefty, Alvarez is now 4-for-8 in his career against Happ. This was his first homer of the year of a lefty in his 25th at-bat and his 13th homer of the season.

O's starter Yovani Gallardo pitched out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the first inning, but needed 28 pitches to do it. After two walks and a single loaded them up, he got Troy Tulowitizki to pop out and he fanned Russell Martin, both on 3-2 pitches. Gallardo then needed 30 pitches combined to get through the second and third as he began to settle in.

So the O's have the early lead in a game they must win to remain in first in the American League East.

Lead blows up in the fifth: Gallardo took a shutout into the last of the fifth today. Before that half-inning was over, he was out of the game and the Orioles were down 7-1. Toronto batted 11, scored seven and took control of this game. Devon Travis hit a one-out solo homer to tie it 1-1, and then Gallardo walked two, gave up an RBI double and intentional walk, and was out of the game. Mychal Givens came on and issued a bases-loaded walk and two-run doubles to Martin and Kevin Pillar before stopping the bleeding.

O's pitching just can't stop Toronto this year in this park. This is the sixth game here between the teams and they've allowed 43 runs, including 34 the past four games.

Jays in a blowout: There is a new leader in the AL East as the Toronto Blue Jays moved a half-game ahead of the Orioles with today's 9-1 rout of Baltimore at Rogers Centre in front of a sellout crowd of 47,305. With Jays fans chanting "First place," Ryan Flaherty was called out on strikes to end this one.

Winning pitcher J.A. Happ, now 14-3 with a 3.16 ERA, allowed just three hits in seven innings plus one batter, fanning 11. The game turned in Toronto's favor during that seven-run last of the fifth. Kevin Pillar drove in four runs for the Blue Jays, who are now 59-45.

The Orioles fall to 58-45 overall, to 21-29 on the road and to 5-7 versus Toronto. They have tied their season high with five straight losses. Since June 30, the Orioles have had two five-game and one four-game losing streak.

The Orioles are 1-5 this year at Rogers Centre and have allowed 45 runs in those games. They've allowed 11, 10, six and nine runs their past four games here. O's starters have an ERA of 9.85 this season at Rogers Centre.

In the series finale on Sunday, Chris Tillman (14-3, 3.47 ERA) faces right-hander Aaron Sanchez (11-1, 2.72 ERA).