BALTIMORE — Manny Machado continued his early hot streak with two hits, the second being a tie-breaking bloop double in the eighth inning that gave the Baltimore Orioles a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday night.
Machado, who now has a .407 average after going 2-for-5 on Thursday, also had an RBI double in the first inning.
The decisive double in the eighth came with one out against Brett Cecil (0-3), falling just inside the right-field line and scored Joey Rickard. Rickard reached on his third hit of the night and moved to second on catcher Russell Martin’s passed ball.
Darren O’Day (1-0) got the win after throwing a scoreless eighth in which he struck out the side, and Zach Britton closed it for his fourth save.
Baltimore (10-4) had come back from an early two-run deficit, missing several scoring opportunities before finally tying the game at 2-2 on a J.J. Hardy sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Both starting pitchers labored at times early in the game. Toronto starter Marco Estrada needed 104 pitches to make it through five innings but allowed just one run.
Orioles starter Chris Tillman gave up both of his runs in the first inning, facing eight batters, but he bounced back to make it through six. Tillman allowed only two more hits after the first, but the Orioles couldn’t do much on offense early, and Tillman left with Toronto (8-9) holding a 2-1 lead.
The Blue Jays jumped on top quickly, scoring twice in the first. Michael Saunders led off with a single and scored when Josh Donaldson followed with a double to left-center. They added another run on Justin Smoak’s bases-loaded walk as Tillman needed 38 pitches to get through the inning.
Machado’s first double cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom half and the Orioles loaded the bases with no one out, but Estrada escaped without allowing another run.
Both teams missed on scoring chances in the early innings. The Jays left runners in scoring position in the second and fourth while the Orioles stranded two in the third, fourth and fifth.
The fifth inning ended with Matt Wieters being called out on strikes. Home plate umpire Dan Bellino tossed Wieters when the Baltimore catcher complained about the strikeout call.
NOTES: Baltimore LHP Brian Matusz (left intercostal strain) will likely be activated Saturday in Kansas City after a successful rehab. He was dominant in last minor league outing for Class A Frederick on Tuesday, allowing one hit with nine strikeouts in four innings. … Orioles RHP Kevin Gausman (right shoulder tendinitis) could rejoin the rotation on Monday for a three-game series in Tampa Bay. … Toronto manager John Gibbons said RHP Jesse Chavez (back) is day to day and getting better. Chavez is moving around and doing various exercising and should not be out much longer, Gibbons said. … The loss on Wednesday was only the second time in Blue Jays history that they dropped a game because of a passed ball. The other time was April 17, 1991, when Pat Borders was the catcher.