Anthony Santander hit two home runs and made an impressive catch, while Jackson Holliday contributed with a two-run homer as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 on Wednesday night.
Santander, who bats from both sides, hit a two-run homer off Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis in the first inning and added a solo shot off Ryan Yarbrough in the eighth. These were his 33rd and 34th homers of the season, setting a career-high.
“Tonight he carried us offensively and made the catch of the game,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
Santander leads the majors with 25 home runs since June. This was his third game of the season with multiple home runs and the 16th of his career.
This was also the seventh time Santander has homered from both sides of the plate in a single game. Eddie Murray holds the Orioles’ record with eight such games.
Holliday homered for the third game in a row for the Orioles, who lead the majors with 178 home runs. At 20 years and 274 days old, Holliday is the youngest player in the American League to hit home runs in three consecutive games.
Eloy Jiménez also hit a two-run double as the Orioles bounced back from their loss in Tuesday’s series opener.
Left-hander Trevor Rogers, making his second start for Baltimore, gave up three runs, two of them earned, and seven hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked two. “I thought it was better this time out,” Hyde said of Rogers.
Burch Smith, Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez, and Seranthony Domínguez each pitched a scoreless inning to secure the win for the Orioles.
For the Blue Jays, Spencer Horwitz hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning, and Toronto scored two more runs in the second. Brian Serven tied the game with an RBI single and later scored on a throwing error by third baseman Coby Mayo.
Holliday gave Baltimore the lead again with a 424-foot home run off right-hander Ryan Burr (0-1) in the top of the seventh inning. “What a huge hit for us,” Hyde said. Holliday has had at least one RBI in five consecutive games.
“Obviously it was a pretty important moment in the game to flip the score,” Holliday said. “I think we kind of needed a little bit of momentum.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Santander made a great catch against the right field wall to get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. out and keep the tying run stranded at second base. “He has just been playing unbelievable baseball on both sides,” Hyde said.
Home plate umpire Larry Vanover threw Hyde out of the game for arguing balls and strikes in the fifth inning. Hyde was ejected after Mayo was called out on strikes, and Colton Cowser struck out looking to end the inning.
“I’ve known Larry for a long time,” Hyde said. “I didn’t want to be disrespectful to him but I had to kind of voice that I didn’t feel like the strike zone was very fair.”
Francis tied his career high by striking out seven in five innings. He gave up two runs and three hits.
“It’s a tough lineup to navigate but I thought he did a good job,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.
Toronto president Mark Shapiro spoke to reporters before the game for the first time since spring training. The Blue Jays, who made the playoffs the last two seasons, are currently at the bottom of the AL East with a 52-62 record.
“This has been, by far, the biggest disconnect from our expectations and the biggest disappointment,” Shapiro said about his nine seasons with the Blue Jays. “We need to get better from it.”
