Wild day: O's blow seven-run lead then beat Toronto by four runs

The Orioles lost a big lead but got the game to produce a big win.

Leading 7-0 after the top of the second, the O's saw Toronto score the game's next nine runs to lead 9-7. But the Orioles stormed back to score the game's final six runs and post an important and impressive 13-9 win.

With the game tied 9-9 in the ninth, the O's faced lefty Brett Cecil. Chris Davis and pinch-hitter Nolan Reimold drew one-out walks, and then J.J. Hardy's single to center field provided a 10-9 lead. Ryan Flaherty followed with a two-run triple to right-center for a 12-9 edge and scored on Manny Machado's third hit, a single to center, to go up by four runs.

The Orioles won the series two games to one to improve to 2-4 at Rogers Centre, 5-7 versus Toronto and 36-33 for the year as they go three games over .500 for the second time.

Seven different Orioles drove in runs. Jimmy Paredes and Flaherty had three RBIs each as the Orioles won for the 11th time in 14 games and 13th in 17 games.

Let's start first with the O's big lead. They batted 12 hitters, producing seven singles and a Paredes three-run homer in the second inning, to lead 7-0. They got RBI singles in the frame from Travis Snider, Flaherty, David Lough and Machado ahead of Paredes' eighth homer. This was the O's biggest inning of the year. They had scored six in an inning four times.

But Chris Tillman got knocked from the game during Toronto's six-run second that got them right back into the game. In that inning, Ezequiel Carrera hit a three-run homer and immediately Kevin Pillar followed with a solo shot while Jose Bautista plated two more with a single.

Tillman allowed six hits and six runs over 1 1/3 innings, giving up two homers as his ERA increased to 6.22. It matched Mike Wright's 1 1/3 inning outing from Friday as the shortest outings of the year by an O's starter.

In four starts this season versus Toronto, Tillman has allowed seven, seven, five and six runs for an ERA of 15.00, giving up six homers in 15 innings. Tillman has allowed four runs or more seven times in 14 starts. Last year, he did that seven times in 34 starts.

Toronto tied it 7-7 in the third and went ahead 9-7 on Bautista's two-run homer in the fourth off Brad Brach.

But a Davis solo homer (No. 15) in the fifth made it 9-8, and the O's got even at 9-9 in the seventh. Snider tripled when the ball got by center fielder Kevin Pillar, and Hardy's clutch two-out single tied it up.

Darren O'Day pitched for the second day in a row and got the win again. Once again, he pitched out of some trouble, stranding the potential go-ahead run on the bases by getting Edwin Encarnacion on a foul pop with two men on. The bullpen's day featured important scoreless outings of 1 1/3 each from Chaz Roe and Brian Matusz.

The Orioles hit two more homers today, bringing their totals to 13 over the past six games and 22 in the last 11. They had two triples today among their 16 hits and went a remarkable 9-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Machado went 3-for-5, his fifth multi-hit game in his last six contests. He is hitting .500 (13-for-26) during that stretch.

After this wild, long game, the team now heads to Boston for a series that begins Tuesday night at Fenway Park.