Zach Eflin made a strong first impression with his new team by taking a shutout into the fifth inning as the Baltimore Orioles beat the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 11-5 on Monday in the opener of a doubleheader.
Anthony Santander hit a two-run home run, Ryan Mountcastle had a solo shot to go with a run-scoring single, Jordan Westburg collected three doubles and drove in two runs and Ramon Urias was also credited with a pair of RBIs for Baltimore.
Eflin (6-7) was acquired last week in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. He received plenty of offensive support and didn’t allow a run until surrendering rookie Addison Barger’s first career home run — a three-run blast in the fifth inning. Barger was in the game because now-former Toronto infielder Justin Turner was traded to the Seattle Mariners during the contest.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. later hit his 20th homer of the season for Toronto.
Eflin gave up a single by George Springer to open the game and also yielded a two-out single by Turner. But he escaped the first unscathed, aided by a pair of strikeouts in the inning.
Eflin ended up going six innings, surrendering the three runs on 10 hits to go along with seven strikeouts and no walks. Alejandro Kirk had three of the nine singles off Eflin.
The Blue Jays, who were coming off a three-game home series sweep of the Texas Rangers, stranded six runners across the first four innings. Both teams finished with 13 hits.
Blue Jays starter Yariel Rodriguez (1-4) didn’t make it out of the first inning, issuing four walks and giving up one hit while recording only two outs. Three of the four runs he allowed were earned.
The Orioles scored four runs in the first inning, starting with Mountcastle’s RBI single. Westburg had a run-scoring groundout, Urias walked with the bases loaded and James McCann was hit by a pitch to force in another run to make it 4-0.
Westburg doubled and scored on Urias’ third-inning groundout to push the lead to 5-0. Ryan O’Hearn’s sacrifice fly and Westburg’s RBI double extended the lead to 7-0 in the fourth.
Barger’s homer came in his 67th big-league at-bat.
Santander cranked his 30th homer of the year in the fifth.
–Field Level Media
