Heston Kjerstad and Adley Rutschman homered to help the Baltimore Orioles rally for a 5-4 win against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon in the opener of a rain-shortened two-game series.
Cedric Mullins delivered the go-ahead two-run triple for the Orioles, who trailed 3-0 heading to the fifth inning.
Baltimore starter Tomoyuki Sugano allowed three runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings in his home debut. The 35-year-old rookie right-hander walked two and did not record a strikeout.
Keegan Akin, Bryan Baker (1-0), Yennier Cano and Gregory Soto combined to limit the Blue Jays to one run and two hits over 3 1/3 innings to set up Felix Bautista for the ninth. In the Orioles’ first save opportunity this season, Bautista struck out Bo Bichette with runners on second and third to collect his first save since Aug. 24, 2023.
The Orioles helped themselves by turning five double plays.
Toronto starter Bowden Francis (1-2) retired the first 13 batters before giving up a two-run homer to Kjerstad in the fifth and then failing to get out of the three-run sixth. He allowed five runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking two.
Bichette went 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI in the leadoff spot, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and an RBI and Anthony Santander homered against his former team.
Toronto took a 1-0 lead on back-to-back doubles by Bichette and Guerrero just three pitches into the game. Bichette’s RBI single in the second made it 2-0.
Santander, who signed a five-year, $92.5 million contract with the Blue Jays in January after eight seasons in Baltimore, homered to lead off the third. His first homer with Toronto extended the lead to 3-0.
Mullins walked with one out in the fifth for Baltimore’s first base runner. Kjerstad came up two batters later and delivered the Orioles’ first hit with a two-out, two-run homer to center to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Rutschman went deep over the fence in right-center field with two outs in the sixth to tie it 3-3.
The Orioles kept the inning going with a walk and an infield single to bring up Mullins, who tripled into the left-center field gap to score both runners for a 5-3 lead.
The Blue Jays scored a run on a double-play ground out by Bichette in the seventh to cut it to 5-4.
