Trey Mancini has second two-homer game, O's crush Jays 11-4

TORONTO - Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini did more damage to a baseball today. Once again it didn't take long for it to leave a ballpark once he put a good swing on it. Then he did it a second time. Then his teammates joined in.

It was a bash-fest at Rogers Centre. Mancini hit two home runs in a game for the second time in his last three games, and the O's hit four in the game to crush Toronto 11-4.

Trey-Mancini-run-orange-sidebar.jpgAccording to baseball-reference.com, Mancini is the third player in big league history to homer seven times in his first 12 Major League games. Trevor Story did that last year. Dino Restelli accomplished the feat in 1949. Mancini hit three in five games last season, and has four in seven games this year.

The Orioles apparently survived a real scare in the last of the eighth. Center fielder Adam Jones crashed hard into the wall chasing a triple. He was down for a while, got up slowly, but stayed in the game. But then he was replaced by Hyun Soo Kim in the top of the ninth, with Craig Gentry moving from left to center.

The Orioles take three of four in this series and improve their American League East-leading record to 8-3.

Dylan Bundy took care of the pitching part, by the way. He blanked Toronto over six innings, allowing five hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Toronto had another shot at Bundy today after he held them to one run over seven innings April 5. Today he held them scoreless. Bundy improves to 2-1 with an ERA of 1.86 through three starts.

In this series, O's starters recorded four quality starts in four games and pitched to an ERA of 1.85. Right-hander Stefan Crichton pitched in the seventh and eighth, making his major league debut. He allowed five hits and two runs over 1 2/3.

Mancini was 1-for-2 in the game when he stepped in against Ryan Tepera in the sixth. Mark Trumbo was on after a single, and Chris Davis drew a walk. Mancini turned on a 95 mph pitch and drilled a line smash three-run blast into the second deck at Rogers Centre. The ball traveled 404 feet and had an exit velocity of 108 mph. Mancini turned a 1-0 game into a 4-0 lead. The Orioles added two more runs in that inning on J.J. Hardy's double and a sac fly by Gentry. It was a five-run inning to provide a comfortable lead in a series featuring three previous close games.

Mancini then led off the eighth with his second homer of the game, a line shot to center field. That was his fourth in three games. It was also his seventh in 35 major league at-bats.

Gentry and Manny Machado each added a two-run homer that inning, and the Orioles opened up an 11-1 lead. Over the last five games the Orioles have hit five, zero, four, zero and four homers, for a total of 13.

Toronto starter J.A. Happ left the game in the fifth inning with an apparent injury, later announced as a sore left elbow. Happ threw a 92 mph fastball to Jones and did a quick short hop right after the pitch, and Toronto manager John Gibbons rushed out to the mound with the trainer. Happ walked off.

The O's went on to take a 1-0 lead against reliever Joe Biagini and the run was charged to Happ, who had allowed a leadoff double to Hardy. Jones singled to right off Biagini and Hardy stopped at third. Jones rounded the bag heading for second. The Blue Jays got him in a rundown and Hardy charged home while Toronto retired Jones 9-3-6-4. No RBI, but a run and the lead for the Orioles.

In the other three games of the series, they scored a total of nine runs. Today's win gave the O's a 3-1 series win. They are 4-2 on a road trip that now heads to Cincinnati, where the Birds will play a three-game series that starts Tuesday.

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