Westburg’s two homers help Orioles top Blue Jays

TORONTO – Jordan Westburg had two home runs for the first multihomer game of his career as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-5 on Saturday.

Colton Cowser and Westburg had home runs in the first inning for an early Baltimore (2-1) lead and then Westburg had another solo shot in the seventh for the game’s final score.

Gary Sanchez had a sacrifice fly in the fourth as part of a four-run inning capped by Ramon Urias’s three-run double. Cedric Mullins singled in another runner in the fifth before Heston Kjerstad’s sac fly made it 8-4 for the Orioles.

Dean Kremer (1-0) struck out six but gave up five runs on five hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings. Relievers Keegan Akin, Yennier Cano, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Dominguez and Felix Bautista preserved the win.

Andres Gimenez’s two-run homer in the third inning gave Toronto (1-2) a brief 4-2 lead. Anthony Santander had an RBI single and Alejandro Kirk’s sac fly tied it 2-2 in the bottom of the first

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s ground out gave Nathan Lukes enough time to run home in the fifth to cut Baltimore’s lead to 8-5

Max Scherzer left the game after three innings with right lat soreness. He had an 80-pitch limit heading into his first-ever start for the Blue Jays but threw only 45, giving up two runs on three hits, striking out one.

Richard Lovelady (0-1), Jacob Barnes, Chad Green, Yimi Garcia and Jeff Hoffman came out of Toronto’s bullpen. Lovelady, Barnes and Green gave up a combined seven runs.

Takeaways

Orioles: Scherzer had appeared to settle in after giving up the two early home runs to Cowser and Westburg. But when he left the game after three innings Baltimore’s hitters took full advantage, sending a total of 14 batters to the plate in the fourth and fifth innings, wearing out Toronto’s beleaguered bullpen.

Blue Jays: Shortstop Bo Bichette went 4 for 4 at the plate, earning two runs, even though his teammates left him in scoring position three times. That performance brought his batting average up to .500 after just three games, a promising start to the season after he missed most of last year with calf issues and a broken finger.

Key moment

Lovelady had an 0-2 count on Urias with the bases loaded but two outs in the fifth. His 91.5 m.p.h. four-seam fastball was a couple of inches lower than his previous pitch and Urias wasn’t fooled, sending a line drive screaming to right field to clear the bases and break the game open for Baltimore.

Key stat

Gimenez, who is known for his defence more than his hitting, has the Blue Jays’ only two home runs this year. It took him 38 games to get two for the Cleveland Guardians last season, finishing with nine over 152 games.

Up next

Chris Bassitt will make his first start of the season as Toronto closes out its four-game series with Baltimore. The Orioles will counter with Tomoyuki Sugano.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2025.

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