Toronto's trio of three-run shots lead Jays past O's

The Orioles have not been hitting many homers this year, but did get one tonight. But Toronto hit three and those three big swings produced a 9-3 win for the Blue Jays over the Orioles at Rogers Centre. The O's let another lead get away. They led 3-0 heading to the last of the sixth. Evan Meek started the last of the eighth of a 3-3 tie. He had pitched 9 1/3 scoreless innings this season. But he gave up a single, walk and then three-run homer to Brett Lawrie. It was the fourth of the year for Lawrie, who began tonight batting just .127. Toronto wasn't done. A few batters later, Melky Cabrera blasted another three-run shot - this one came off Josh Stinson - and it was a 9-3 game. Both starters took shutouts into the sixth, but then both gave up three-run homers in the inning. First, the Orioles took a 3-0 lead on R.A. Dickey. Steve Lombardozzi led off the sixth with a bloop double that probably should have been caught by Cabrera in left. A walk and three-run homer by Nelson Cruz followed. It was Cruz's fourth homer and first against a team other than Boston. He has 16 RBIs on the year and nine over his last five games. The homer was just the second by an Oriole over the last seven games - both by Cruz. The O's had scored just five runs in 35 innings this season against Blue Jay pitchers until that homer. Lombardozzi made an error to start the last of the sixth. A single and three-run blast to center by Edwin Encarnacion followed. It was his first homer of the year and his 15th off the Orioles since the start of the 2012 season. Miguel Gonzalez went 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs (two earned) on 102 pitches. This was the fifth time in six games and 12th time in 19 games in 2014 that an O's starter failed to complete the sixth. The Orioles have just one quality start over the last eight games. Lombardozzi had three hits for the Orioles, who were trying to go a game over .500 for the third time, but instead fall to 2-3 on this trip and 9-10 overall. In the second game of the series on Wednesday night, Chris Tillman (2-1, 1.71 ERA) faces Dustin McGowan (1-1, 4.85 ERA).