Right-hander Jack Flaherty pitched six strong innings in his debut for the visiting Baltimore Orioles, who defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Thursday afternoon.
The Orioles won three games in the four-game series and are 8-2 against the Blue Jays this season.
Ryan Mountcastle was 4-for-4 with a sacrifice fly for Baltimore, giving him 11 hits in the series. Austin Hays was 4-for-5 with two RBIs.
Flaherty (8-6) allowed one run, four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Flaherty was acquired in a trade Tuesday with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman (8-6) allowed three runs, eight hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings.
Baltimore scored twice in the second. Mountcastle singled, took third on Adam Frazier’s single and scored on a single by Hays. Ramon Urias walked to load the bases and Adley Rutschman hit an RBI single with two outs. Hays also tried to score on the hit but was thrown out at home.
The Orioles left the bases loaded without scoring in the fourth, then added one run to their lead in the fifth. Gunnar Henderson led off with a single and took third on Frazier’s single. Bowden Francis replaced Gausman and allowed Mountcastle’s sacrifice fly.
Flaherty retired 15 consecutive batters before Kevin Kiermaier led off the Toronto sixth with a single. Kiermaier was safe at second after a video review on Whit Merrifield’s infield hit to third. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a one-out RBI single. The Blue Jays left the bases loaded after George Springer walked.
Danny Coulombe replaced Flaherty and had a perfect seventh.
Hays led off the top of the eighth with an infield single against Thomas Hatch. Urias walked for the third time in the game. A run scored when third baseman Matt Chapman committed a throwing error on Ryan McKenna’s sacrifice bunt.
Yennier Cano set the Blue Jays down in order in the eighth.
Colton Cowser doubled and Mountcastle singled in the ninth against Hatch, Frazier hit a sacrifice fly and Hays had an RBI double.
Mike Baumann pitched around a single in the ninth for Baltimore.
Toronto put right-hander Trevor Richards (neck inflammation) on the injured list Thursday. Right-hander Francis was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo
–Field Level Media