Santander's two homers still leave Orioles short in 8-7 loss (updated)

The pose has become familiar. He just needs paparazzi to capture the moment.

Anthony Santander unloads on another ball and admires its flight, tosses his bat and beings a slow trot to first base. He'll glance at the dugout and gesture to teammates. A pointed finger, a few words.

A celebration after crossing home plate with fists and elbows sometimes touching only air.

The hard contact's already been made.

Santander extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games tonight with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning off Blue Jays rookie Nate Pearson, the ball again striking one of the orange awnings on the flag court in right field.

There also are times when the former Rule 5 pick has to vacate the box in a hurry, like in the third inning when his line drive toward the home bullpen carried just far enough to produce his second multi-homer game of the season.

The Orioles lost the lead in the top of the third on Randal Grichuk's two-run shot off Wade LeBlanc. Santander got it back in the bottom half, Grichuk put the Blue Jays ahead again in the fifth, the Orioles tied the game in the seventh and Toronto scored in the 10th on a throwing error for an 8-7 victory at Camden Yards.

The loss is the third in a row for the Orioles and lowers their record to 12-11.

Cedric Mullins singled to center field off Anthony Bass with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Dwight Smith Jr. got caught in a rundown and was tagged at third base. Pinch-hitter Bryan Holaday popped up with the count full.

Cole Sulser tossed a scoreless ninth, returned for the 10th and walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Danny Jansen laid down a sacrifice bunt, defensive replacement Chris Davis made a diving stop of Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s ground ball and catcher Pedro Severino couldn't handle the throw as Travis Shaw scored.

Davis fired home from the seat of his pants. The ball bounced, but was playable.

Tanner Scott replaced Sulser and struck out two.

The Orioles inched closer to the Jays in the bottom of the fifth on Chance Sisco's two-run homer as Pearson's final batter of the night. Rio Ruiz doubled off Shun Yamaguchi, moved to third on an error by Gurriel and scored on Renato Núñez's sacrifice fly.

The Orioles loaded the bases against A.J. Cole with two outs in the seventh on Núñez's infield hit, Severino's double and an intentional walk to Smith. Pinch-hitter Hanser Alberto reached on an infield hit after Shaw made a diving backhanded stop at third base and bounced his throw.

Grichuk is a prime tormentor of the Orioles. He's hit 14 homers against them in 32 games and his two-run double in the fifth off reliever Travis Lakins Sr. increased his RBI total to 34.

Lakins inherited a bases-loaded, no-out mess and couldn't gain control of the situation. Shaw hit a three-run homer before Lakins recorded the first out and the Orioles trailed 7-3.

They're a pesky bunch.

Santander is a powerful one.

The night began with Santander batting .340 (17-for-50) with five doubles, a triple, five home runs, 15 RBIs, 13 runs scored and three walks during his streak. And then he attacked a 95 mph fastball from Pearson and wondered if he reached Eutaw Street for the second time.

And then he clubbed a slider the opposite way and wondered if it would clear the fence, his sprint slowing as the ball disappeared.

Santander moved past Nelson Cruz for second place in the majors with 25 RBIs. He trails the Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr., whose controversial grand slam last night gave him 28.

Sisco, in his first career game as leadoff hitter, ran the count full in the first inning and drew his ninth walk of the season. Pearson issued his 10th in 12 1/3 innings.

The method to manager Brandon Hyde's madness.

Pearson went slider, changeup, slider, fastball, slider and fastball to Santander, who went yard. The next sequence was curveball, changeup, changeup, slider and slider, and Santander repeated Sunday's multi-homer shenanigans against Max Scherzer with a 410-foot liner.

The first ball had a 32-degree launch angle and the second only 18 degrees, per Statcast.

The nine home runs leave Santander 11 behind last year's career high, which came in 93 games. He also had an outfield assist in the seventh after Shaw's leadoff single, making a perfect throw to second base and shuffling his feet to the music as the next batter came to the plate.

Who ordered salsa before Sulser?

Santander doubled to left-center field with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to leave his average at .298 with a 1.035 OPS.

LeBlanc had lasted only 3 1/3 innings in each of his last two starts and allowed nine runs and 13 hits with four walks.

"I just don't think is command has been as good as it was early on, especially in his first start against Boston," Hyde said earlier in the day. "I thought he was real sharp. The cutter to both sides and the changeup. The last couple starts it feels like things are kind of mixing in together a little bit, kind of in the middle. It feels like he's been the victim of some tight strike zones also, where he wasn't getting some pitches his last start that were on the edges."

LeBlanc threw 11 pitches tonight while retiring the side in order in the first. He gave up a two-out single in the second and issued a two-out walk in the third, the latter hurting him with Grichuk standing on deck.

There was a shutdown inning in the fourth, with LeBlanc stranding Gurriel after a two-out single, but Anthony Alford led off the fifth with an infield hit, Santiago Espinal singled, Cavan Biggio walked and Grichuk almost put a dent in the out of town scoreboard.

Shaw followed with his home run to center field on a cutter from Lakins, who had surrendered three earned runs in 10 innings before tonight.

LeBlanc was charged with five runs and five hits in four innings, with two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 66 pitches, 42 for strikes.

The Jays sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth and Lakins couldn't get out of the inning. Shawn Armstrong stranded two runners.

It was a better day for Scott, who lowered his ERA to 0.00 this afternoon based on a scoring change from the Aug. 8 game against the Nationals. Scott is charged with a two-base throwing error. Starlin Castro no longer is credited with an infield hit.

Miguel Castro tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Mychal Givens was overpowering in the eighth, inducing a weak ground ball and striking out two, and hasn't allowed a run in nine innings this season.

Hyde on 10th inning miscues: "To me, that was just a great play getting to the ball and he was trying to make a game-saving play. No fault for that. Just him catching the ball saved a run there. Just tried to make a great play and it kind of skipped up on Sevie when he threw it from his rear end. I give credit to CD for getting to the ball on a tough ball down the line.

"Disappointed that we didn't score in the bottom half. Had an opportunity and made a mistake and tough loss. But really proud of how our guys battled back and how a lot of our bullpen guys threw."

Hyde on Santander: "Just on fire. Really driving the ball. Their starter, that's a great arm and for him to turn him around early, and then the line drive that went out in the bullpen. I thought it was going to be a one-hop double and it continued to carry. Just really good swings. And the double, opposite-field gap off a really tough bullpen arm for them. He's just had a really nice few weeks and nice approach and hitting the ball hard."

Santander (via translator Ramón Alarcón) on team's last three games: "It's been tough for sure. The whole idea is to continue to fight, to work hard, to compete and hopefully get a win at the end of the game. Hopefully, we'll do better tomorrow."

Santander on goals going into season: "My goals for this season are to stay healthy. I can control the only things I can control, not worry about those things. Just come to the ballpark early and try to give my best effort so the team can win."

Santander on whether he's had a hot stretch like this. "I remember back in 2016 I had a similar situation to what I'm experiencing right now. I think the most important thing is to control the emotions, try to come to the ballpark ready to compete and help my team win, which is the most important thing right now."

LeBlanc on margin between winning and losing: "At this level, it is a fine line between winning and losing, but at the same time it's a case study in a baseball season. Whether it's 60 games or 162. The good teams are the ones who can ride out the lows and get back to sea level fast and don't let the sinking kind of prolong. But tomorrow is a new day. We come out and play hard. As you saw tonight, there's definitely no quit in these guys and that's good to see. That's something that bodes well over the course of a season."