TORONTO -- It was a frustrating afternoon right from the start for the Orioles on Sunday at Rogers Centre.
After loading the bases against Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease with no outs in the top of the first inning, they couldn’t capitalize as the Cy Young candidate struck out Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to escape the jam.
In the end, Baltimore batters would strike out 15 times in an eventual 8-1 loss, dropping the series that began so promisingly with a win in the opener on Friday night.
The Blue Jays would break through first with a run in the bottom of the second when Charles McAdoo singled, stole second and came around to score on an Andrés Giménez RBI double. The home side would tack on three more in the fifth thanks to back-to-back-to-back home runs off the bats of George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto.
Starter Trevor Rogers was giving his team a chance until things unravelled in the fifth. He exited after six innings, having given up the four runs on seven hits. He issued a walk and fanned five.
The Orioles would pressure again in the top of the third when Gunnar Henderson and Coby Mayo worked back-to-back two-out walks, but Basallo popped out to end the threat.
The offense finally plated a run in the top of the fifth when Dylan Beavers doubled and Pete Alonso drove him in with an RBI single to tie the game 1-1. But, they could muster no more in the inning, stranding runners on first and third.
In all, Baltimore went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base in the game.