Pearce, Donaldson help Blue Jays soar
TORONTO 7 BALTIMORE 1
BALTIMORE — With one swing of the bat, Josh Donaldson turned a tight duel into a blowout and sent the historically meagre crowd at Camden Yards scurrying toward the exits.
Donaldson hit his fourth career grand slam, Steve Pearce homered in a third successive game and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-1 Monday night before 7,915 chilly fans.
Gametime temperature was 6 C, and a slight mist made the conditions even more miserable. That contributed to the lowest paid attendance in the ballpark’s 27-year existence, breaking the previous record of 9,129 for Baltimore versus Tampa Bay on April 12, 2010.
There were no fans at a game on April 29, 2015, when the Orioles hosted the Chicago White Sox in a closed stadium due to security concerns amid civil unrest in Baltimore.
In this one, the Blue Jays were clinging to a 2-1 lead in the ninth before Curtis Granderson drew a bases-loaded walk and Donaldson followed with a shot to centre off rookie Nestor Cortes Jr.
“He’s done that many times since he’s been here. Two-run ballgame, that makes a huge difference,” manager John Gibbons said. “That gives the team a huge, huge lift.”
On a raw night far better suited for football, Donaldson — a threetime all-star — displayed midsummer form.
“It’s tough to hit anyhow, in general. The conditions definitely make it more difficult,” Donaldson said. “But we have to be professional about it and go out there and do our job.”
That’s certainly how the 34-year-old Pearce operates.
After getting his 500th career hit in the second inning, Pearce put Toronto up 2-0 in the third with a two-run shot off Dylan Bundy (0-1) on a 3-0 pitch. It marked the first time in his career that Pearce, who’s had three separate stints with the Orioles, homered in three consecutive games.
“He’s on a nice little roll,” Gibbons said.
J.A. Happ (2-1) struck out nine in six innings, allowing one run and five hits. He was 0-3 against the Orioles last season.
Bundy gave up two runs and four hits with 10 strikeouts in seven innings. The right-hander has a 1.35 ERA in three starts, yet remains winless.
“It was one mistake there,” Bundy said of this outing, “but I gave up more runs than we had, so that’s baseball, I guess.”
Manny Machado hit a thirdinning homer for the Orioles, who went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12.
“We just couldn’t get that big knock,” manager Buck Showalter lamented.
Slugger Chris Davis cracked the bat over his knee after striking out in the sixth. He later was thrown out trying to bunt against the shift during an 0-for-4 performance that lowered his batting average to .088.
Toronto outfielder Randal Grichuk doubled in the ninth inning, ending a career-long 0-for-26 drought. He’s 3-for-35 (.086) this season.
Royals 10, Mariners 0
KANSAS CITY — Jakob Junis carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, the Royals scored more runs than they had in their last six games combined, and Kansas City routed the Seattle Mariners 10-0 on Monday night.
Junis (2-0) hit three batters and walked two, but the quick-working right-hander did not allow a hit until Daniel Vogelbach’s grounder up the middle with one out in the seventh.
Junis finished up the inning without any more trouble, running his scoreless streak to 14 innings to start the season. He was given a standing ovation when his night was done by the announced crowd of 12,324, most of whom promptly filed out with temperatures just above freezing.
By that point, everybody in the Royals lineup but Drew Butera had scored off Marco Gonzales (1-1) and the Seattle bullpen — and all the catcher had done was drive in a couple of runs.
Mike Moustakas homered in the eighth off infielder Taylor Motter as Seattle saved its ’pen.
Gonzalez allowed four runs, eight hits and a walk for the Mariners while retiring seven batters, and reliever Casey Lawrence promptly allowed five more runs while getting five more outs.