Walks trip up Orioles in 12-6 loss

The Orioles used four pitchers tonight at Rogers Centre, and they each issued two walks. My math is poor, but that adds up to eight free passes. Not good. The Orioles also committed two errors, by first baseman Chris Davis and shortstop J.J. Hardy, and catcher Matt Wieters had a passed ball in the Orioles' 12-6 loss to the Blue Jays. Factor in the 11 hits that Toronto accumulated tonight, and it's no wonder that the Orioles dropped the first game of the series. Edwin Encarnacion's grand slam off Pedro Strop was set up by three walks - the first two from left-hander Troy Patton. The bullpen allowed eight runs (six earned) and four hits in three innings after starter Kevin Gausman left the game. They walked six and struck out one. Gausman's night of firsts included his first major league loss. The Orioles began the night with the best fielding percentage in the American League at .992, and they were tied with the Diamondbacks for the major league lead. Since Adam Jones dropped a fly ball on April 12 at Yankee Stadium, the Orioles had committed only one fielding error in 36 games, by Hardy on April 25 in Oakland. They had eight throwing errors in that span. Both miscues tonight were fielding errors. It was that kind of night. Hopefully, the Orioles came up with something else besides this game to give manager Buck Showalter on his 57th birthday. A card, an ice cream cake, whatever.