Blue Jays’ Morales has homer streak end at 7

Kendrys Morales took his cuts, and the ball didn’t go out of the park.

It happens all the time to the best players in the land. On this occasion, however, Morales’ homerless performance ended his attempt to make baseball history.

Morales had his home run streak snapped at seven games by the Baltimore Orioles, who ended an eight-game skid by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0 on Monday night in Baltimore.

Striving to tie the major league record of homering in eight straight games, Morales went 0 for 3 with a walk and did not hit the ball out of the infield. In his final chance, he swung through a slider from Paul Fry to strike out in the eighth inning.

“It had to end sooner or later,” Morales said through a translator. “I couldn’t expect it to go on forever.”

Then, with a smile, the former Angel added, “Maybe I hit another 10, 15, but it had to end.”

Though he failed to match the mark shared by Dale Long, Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr., Morales owns the big league record for successive games with a home run by a switchhitter. He also owns the franchise record for consecutive games with a long ball.

“It’s an incredible feat,” Manager John Gibbons said. “He took his rips. He’ll move on. Who knows? He might hit a couple tomorrow.”

CUBS 7, METS 4 >> Jon Lester pitched six innings, drove in two runs with a timely single off Noah Syndergaard and made two nice plays in the field to help host Chicago earn its sixth consecutive victory. NATIONALS 5, PHILLIES 3 >> Stephen Strasburg (7-7) threw six effective innings, Matt Wieters hit a solo homer, and visiting Washington defeated Philadelphia, which fell 3 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta.