Tough opener: O's trounced 12-5 by Toronto at Camden Yards

Well, that could have gone a lot better.

The Orioles had lost just two home openers since 2001, but today they got crushed by the Toronto Blue Jays 12-5 in front of a sellout crowd of 45,936 at Camden Yards.

This is the most runs the O's have allowed in a home opener since a 12-0 loss to Milwaukee in 1988.

The Orioles fall to 2-2 for the season and to 41-21 all-time in home openers.

norris-ALCS-disappointed-orange-sidebar.jpgBud Norris, who pitched to an ERA of 9.26 in spring training, gave up eight runs in three-plus innings today.

Toronto started hitting not long after the 3:11 p.m. first pitch. The Jays scored four in the first, one in the third and five in the fourth to build a 10-1 lead.

The first three batters had hits. Jose Bautista's single made it 1-0. He had gone 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts in the Blue Jays' first series at New York. Edwin Encarnacion's sac fly made it 2-0 and a two-run double by Dioner Navarro extended the lead to 4-0. Bautista went 3-for-3, scored four runs and drove in two.

Norris didn't survive the fourth inning. In fact, he was lifted with the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth. All three inherited runners would score against Brad Brach.

Norris' went three-plus innings, allowing seven hits and eight runs with one walk and one strikeout. He threw 66 pitches and Toronto went 7-for-14 with four doubles against him.

The eight runs allowed are one off Norris' career-high, which happened twice during the 2012 season, most recently on July 20, 2012, when he was still a Houston Astro at Arizona.

In spite of the margin of the loss, the Orioles had some big chances early in this game against Mark Buehrle. He retired Everth Cabrera with the bases loaded in the second and got Delmon Young to bounce into a double play with two on and two out in the third, when the Jays led by just 5-1.

Buehrle recorded the decision for the 200th win of his career. He is the fourth active pitcher with 200 wins. Tim Hudson has 214, CC Sabathia has 208 and Bartolo Colon has 205.

Over six innings, Buehrle allowed eight hits and two runs, throwing 84 pitches, 50 for strikes. He improved to 9-10 in 23 career starts versus the Orioles.

ALCS-Adam-Jones-homer.jpgAdam Jones went 4-for-4 and drove in two runs with a solo homer and an RBI single after going 1-for-11 in the series against Tampa Bay. But he also got thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double with the Orioles down by nine runs in the last of the fifth. The four hits matched his career-high and it's the 14th time he has done that.

Jonathan Schoop hit his first homer of the year, a solo shot off Marco Estrada in the ninth after the O's had scored twice in the eighth.

In the second game of the series on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m., Ubaldo Jimenez (6-9, 4.81 ERA in 2014) faces right-hander Aaron Sanchez (2-2, 1.09 ERA).




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