SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles turned three double plays this afternoon to provide assistance to Mike Wright Jr. in his latest bid to make the rotation, but he couldn't turn back the Blue Jays in a three-run fifth inning that marred his outing.
Wright was charged with four runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked a batter, struck out two and committed a balk, and he left the game with a 4.91 ERA in five appearances.
Joely Rodriguez stranded two runners by retiring Justin Smoak on a fly ball to center field.
Wright threw 71 pitches, 46 for strikes.
Roemon Fields lined a two-run, tiebreaking triple into right-center field with one out in the fifth after singles by Kevin Pillar and Luke Maile. Fields increased the lead to 4-1 when he beat Luis Sardiñas' throw home on Aledmys DÃaz's ground ball.
Wright has allowed eight runs and 16 hits over 14 2/3 innings. He hadn't gone more than three innings before today.
Adam Jones started two double plays in three innings and led off the fourth with a home run that tied the game 1-1.
Jones ran down Yangervis Solarte's liner in left-center field in the first inning and flipped the ball to second base to double up Danny Espinosa, who reached on an infield hit and took second on Wright's fielding error. And Jones made a shoestring catch of Maile's fly ball in the third inning and threw to second, where Sardiñas applied the tag on Pillar.
Fields followed with a single, DÃaz walked and Espinosa delivered an RBI single. Catcher Chance Sisco took the wide throw and fired to first, where Espinosa was caught in a rundown for the final out.
Espinosa's first game with the Blue Jays after signing a minor league deal has been anything but boring.
Sisco was able to stay in the game after blocking a pitch in the dirt in the first inning and remaining on the ground as head athletic trainer Brian Ebel attended to him. The ball appeared to bounce up and catch him underneath the mask.
Jones' home run, his second of the spring, came off Blue Jays starter Joe Biagini. The ball cleared the fence in left-center field for his 10th hit in 31 at-bats and his eighth RBI.
Trey Mancini poked a single into right field with one out in the first inning, but right fielder Teoscar Hernández's throw to the plate beat Craig Gentry, who led off with a walk and moved up on Colby Rasmus' tapper in front of the mound.
Sisco singled with two outs in the second and was stranded. Rasmus singled with two outs in the third and also was stranded, as Biagini struck out the side.
Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman are serving as honorary bat boys today, sitting outside the dugout wearing jerseys with BB on the backs.
They're performing all of the duties - retrieving bats and bringing out new baseballs and water to the plate umpire. Tillman gathered the weight donut that Danny Valencia flung toward him from the on-deck circle.
Dylan Bundy and Andrew Cashner have taken turns sitting next to them.
Tillman and Gausman are forced to change jobs today due to their poor finishes in fantasy football.
The Orioles didn't announce any roster cuts before the game, but they could do so at the conclusion.
Update: The Orioles lose 5-2.
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