Right-hander Corbin Burnes will be going for a career-best eighth consecutive quality start when the visiting Baltimore Orioles continue a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night. The Orioles won the series opener 7-2 on Monday thanks in large part to four home runs — two by Austin Hays and one apiece from Anthony Santander and Ramon Urias.
Hays had a two-run blast and a solo shot for his first two homers of the season. He landed on the 10-day injured list back on April 21 due to a calf strain, and he didn’t play again until May 15. In his 14 games since being back, Hays has gone 12-for-38 (.316). “I’ve been confident since I came off the (injured list),” Hays said.
“Been swinging it really good. I swung it good through my rehab, so it’s just starting to show up now.” The Orioles have won nine of their past 11 games overall. They are 12-4 against American League East opponents on the season, including a 2-1 mark against Toronto.
The Blue Jays are 2-2 to open their seven-game homestand. Burnes (5-2, 2.35 ERA) began his run of quality starts while facing the Oakland Athletics on April 26. He also rattled off seven straight such starts in 2023 when he was with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Burnes currently holds the longest streak of quality starts by a Baltimore pitcher since Dylan Bundy had eight in a row in 2017. In two career starts against Toronto, Burnes is 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA. He faced the Blue Jays on May 13, settling for a no-decision after logging six innings of one-run ball.
Toronto has not named a starter for Tuesday. Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was solid for the Orioles in the series opener, allowing two runs (one earned) in a season-best 6 2/3 innings.
Although they finished with eight hits — seven of which came off Rodriguez — the Blue Jays went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Toronto manager John Schneider is hoping for better results against Burnes.
“I think we missed fastballs, really,” Schneider said of Monday’s showing. “There were fastballs in the zone. He’s got a good heater. We knew that going in and we either missed them or didn’t do much with them. And that was kind of it.” One of the few bright spots of the loss was Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s home run to lead off the home half of the fourth. It was Guerrero’s first long ball at home since April 10. Guerrero has 100 career hits against the Orioles, and he is hitting .316 with 23 homers and 57 RBIs against them.
But Guerrero’s blast on Monday came after another slow start for the Blue Jays, who have failed to score a run in the first inning in a franchise-record 25 straight games. That skid tops the old mark of 20 consecutive games without a run in the first, set in 1977, the franchise’s inaugural season.
While Toronto attempts to break through, Orioles second baseman Connor Norby will be looking to record his first big-league hit. Norby made his major league debut on Monday and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
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