Yohendrick Pinango started a five-run sixth inning with a solo home run Sunday afternoon and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied to defeat the visiting Baltimore Orioles 6-4.
Brandon Valenzuela added an eighth-inning homer as the hosts captured the rubber game of the weekend series.
Four of the sixth-inning runs were unearned because of shortstop Gunnar Henderson’s error as the Blue Jays rallied from a 4-0 deficit.
Taylor Ward hit a two-run homer and Colton Cowser added a solo shot for Baltimore. Cowser and Blaze Alexander each had two hits in four at-bats for the Orioles.
Cowser homered to right center on a first-pitch slider with one out in a four-run fifth against Kevin Gausman. With two outs, Jackson Holliday tripled to center field. Alexander followed with his second double of the game, a liner to right center. Ward homered on a 1-2 splitter to left to bump the lead to 4-0.
Gausman allowed four runs, five hits and no walks with five strikeouts in five innings and was replaced in the sixth by Adam Macko (2-0), who pitched around a single in his one inning.
Toronto took the lead in the sixth.
Pinango led off with a towering homer to right on an 0-1 changeup from Shane Baz (3-6). Jesus Sanchez doubled to right with one out and took third when Henderson dropped Ernie Clement’s grounder.
Sanchez scored on Valenzuela’s groundout to shortstop. The Orioles argued the inning should have ended there with second-base umpire Nic Lentz ruling a double play as Clement veered well off the base path to avoid a tag.
Kazuma Okamoto then slapped an RBI single to score Clement and Andres Gimenez tied the game with a double to right. Reliever Yennier Cano came in and Gimenez slid home safely on pinch hitter Nathan Lukes’ infield single to second that deflected off the pitcher.
Pinango and Gimenez each went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run for the Blue Jays. Valenzuela drove in a pair of runs.
Baz allowed five runs (one earned), seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
Toronto’s Connor Seabold allowed a single and a walk in the seventh. Tyler Rogers entered and induced Ward’s double-play grounder.
Louis Varland replaced Rogers after Pete Alonso walked with two outs in the eighth and finished the inning with a strikeout.
Valenzuela led off the home eighth with a homer to right against Rico Garcia.
Varland pitched around an infield single in the ninth to earn his 11th save.
–Field Level Media
