Orioles blast 19 hits, 4 homers off Blue Jays in early twin-bill blowout

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A three-peat was not what the Blue Jays imagined when they took the opening three games of a four-game series in Detroit.

In the series finale, the Jays got their doors blown off and the bad vibes have carried into Baltimore.

Simply put, the Jays are not playing well in virtually every aspect and this dramatic slip in performance was underscored in a thoroughly embarrassing 16-4 loss in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, when the visitors had to resort to having a positional player — backup catcher Ali Sanchez — pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

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Facing four games in three days in the Maryland humidity, the Jays rolled the dice with Easton Lucas, who was called up to make his first start since throwing 4.2 scoreless inning against the visiting Athletics on May 31.

A sign of things to come, Orioles’ leadoff man, Jordan Westburg, crushed Lucas’ first pitch off the wall in right-centre that nearly resulted in a home run. It did go for a double as the O’s would quickly jump out in front.

A mental error then played out when no one bothered to cover the bag at second base on Ramon Laureano’s grounder and a walk to Gunnar Henderson load the bases with none out.

A couple of sacrifice flies later, the Jays had found themselves in a 2-0 hole and it didn’t get any better.

The same bases-loaded, none-out scenario unfolded in the third and again the O’s plated two runs, both on sac flies.

Lazaro Estrada, added as the 27th man on doubleheader day, took over for Lucas with two out in the third and kept the score at 4-1 with a strikeout.

But the O’s got to him, too, with six runs in the sixth — three of them on a homer by Canadian Tyler O’Neill.

In all, the Orioles pounded 19 hits and four long balls off Jays pitching.

Addison Barger hit his 15th homer for Toronto with Joey Loperfido adding his third.

Perhaps the best news to come out of the Jays’ room on this day was that George Springer was feeling better after being hit on the side of the head by a 96 mph fastball from rookie Kade Strowd in the ninth inning of Monday’s game. Strowd’s pitch came up and in on Springer and struck him in the left ear flap of his batting helmet, which was knocked several feet away as Springer crumpled to the ground.

The incident rattled Strowd and silenced the crowd of 20,176 at Camden Yards.

When Springer eventually was up on his feet, he was given a standing ovation.

He was not in the lineup for either game of Tuesday’s doubleheader.