The Toronto Blue Jays hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning Sunday and went on to defeat the visiting Baltimore Orioles 8-1.
George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto homered in succession against Trevor Rogers (10-10) in the rubber match of a three-game series between teams chasing a playoff berth in the American League.
Guerrero was 4-for-5 with a double and two singles to go with his home run, which was only his ninth of the season and first at home. Springer also had a double and four RBIs.
Toronto (75-75) leads the season series 6-4. That is the first tiebreaker for a playoff berth.
Baltimore (72-78) went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners.
Toronto starter Dylan Cease (11-5) struck out three batters in a row in the first inning after the Orioles loaded the bases on two walks and a single.
Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the second. Charles McAdoo led off with a single to left and scored on a one-out double by Andres Gimenez on a flare that tipped off the glove of third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
The Orioles tied the game in the fifth. Dylan Beavers led off with a double into the right-field corner and scored on Pete Alonso’s bloop single down the right-field line. It was Alonso’s 100th RBI of the season.
Cease allowed one run, four hits and five walks and struck out nine in five innings.
Toronto regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Springer clubbed a two-out homer to right on a 1-0 changeup. Guerrero followed by belting a 3-2 sweeper to left, which brought a huge reaction from the crowd. Okamoto was next to homer when lofted a 3-2 fastball to left. It was his 32nd homer and a Blue Jays rookie-record 85th RBI.
Toronto’s Braydon Fisher replaced Ricky Tiedemann with runners at the corners and two out in the sixth and retired Alonso on a called third strike.
Rogers completed six innings, allowing four runs, seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
Baltimore’s Yaramil Hiraldo walked Brett Bateman with the bases loaded in the eighth to extend Toronto’s lead. Cam Sanders took over and Beavers misplayed Springer’s drive to left into a three-run double.
