Homerun Derby

The O's came into tonight's series finale in a must win situation. This was not a literal must win, meaning if they lost, it would only make it less likely that they will have a shot to win the division. A loss would not have eliminated them from playoff contention. Tonight only felt like a must win, the city wanted needed this win. The O's were looking to split the 4 game series and head into the weekend winners, rather losers of 3 straight. The Orioles organization is looking forward to a sell-out playoff atmosphere this weekend, and that would be less likely had the Orioles entered the weekend on a 3 game slide, looking lost against a losing team. The O's will say that they were looking at this as 1 of 162 games, just another game on another day, but there seemed to be some sort of a sense of urgency as the game started.

Gonzalez pitchers in the O's 12-2 win
over the Blue Jays.

In the top of the 1st, Gonzalez (right) gave up a two out solo shot to center field, not the start they wanted, but certainly not a death sentence. The Orioles came back in the bottom of the 1st with McLouth's lead off long ball.

After two separate home runs in the 1st, the game was fairly quiet until the 5th. In the top of the 5th, Toronto's Anthony Gose singled to right, scoring J.P. Arencibia, making it 2-1 Jay's. Fortunately for the O's, that was practically the end of the night for Toronto's bats, and the O's were just getting started. In the bottom of the 5th, the O's homered 3 times (Thome, Machado, and Davis) scoring 5 runs. Again in the 6th, Reynolds went yard, scoring Wieters, making it now 8-2. In the 7th, Davis hit his second home run of the game, scoring Hardy. Not to be outdone, Machado came up in the 8th and homered to left, scoring Reynolds, making the final scoring line 12-2 Orioles.



The Orioles tied a franchise record hitting 7 home runs in one game. Davis and Machado each hit two home runs tonight, but the Home Run Derby title goes to Davis (below) by virtue of RBIs.

Jone's congratulating Davis on his 2 HR night.

The O's will remain 1.5 games back of the Yankees, but remain a .5 game ahead of the A's in the wild card race. This weekend's series against the Red Sox will be nothing short of spectacular.