Jackson Holliday has hit four home runs in his Major League career and three of them have come against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Baltimore Orioles picked up a 7-3 win in Toronto on Wednesday to even this American League East series at one game each. The two teams will play the rubber match on Thursday.
Bowden Francis got the start for the Blue Jays despite taking the loss in the 10th inning of Sunday’s game against the New York Yankees. Francis allowed two runs in the first inning but settled down after that and tossed four scoreless frames. He went five innings with two earned runs on three hits and one walk while striking out seven batters. The two runs came on a first-inning homer from Anthony Santander.
The Blue Jays got one run back in the bottom of the first inning and went ahead 3-2 thanks to a second-inning rally. Leo Jimenéz hit a double, Brian Serven cashed him in with a single, and the catcher came around to score on a throwing error that Ryan Mountcastle wasn’t able to scoop at first base.
Francis was in line for the win until Baltimore pulled back ahead in the seventh inning. After Genesis Cabrera tossed a scoreless sixth, Ryan Burr came into the game and allowed a two-run bomb to Holliday that gave the Orioles a 4-3 lead. He wasn’t too happy about it afterwards.
Ryan Burr was NOT pleased after giving up a home run to Jackson Holliday 😳 pic.twitter.com/H9wTEOy7b8
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 8, 2024
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The Orioles continued to pile on more runs in the eighth inning. Ryan Yarborough allowed a solo home run to Santander and Erik Swanson allowed a double to Eloy Jiménez that put two more runs across the plate. Yerry Rodriguez pitched a clean inning for Toronto in the ninth and the Orioles cruised to a 7-3 win.
Up next… The two teams will play the rubber match of this series on Thursday. Former Oriole Kevin Gausman will take the mound against his lookalike, Dean Kremer.