Tough night of pitching, August offense and the Curaçao connection

Before he was a one-man wrecking crew against the Orioles last night, Toronto designated hitter Kendrys Morales had not been doing too much recently at the plate.

Heading into Thursday's series opener, Morales was batting .221 in August and he had just one homer and four RBIs his last 21 games.

Then he bashed three homers and drove in a career-high seven runs last night as Toronto beat the Orioles 11-8. Morales hit a two-run homer in the third off Jeremy Hellickson, a three-run shot in the sixth off Mychal Givens and a solo shot in the eighth off Givens. It was his second career three-homer game. Morales had one Sept. 20, 2015 at Detroit.

Hellickson has allowed six, seven, three and seven runs his past four starts for an ERA of 9.28. Since Dylan Bundy's one-hit gem Tuesday, Ubaldo Jiménez and Hellickson pitched a combined 7 1/3 innings, allowing 13 hits and 13 runs.

Toronto (62-72) won the series opener despite beginning it with four straight losses versus American League East teams. The Blue Jays were also 2-10 in their last 12 games and 1-6 in their past seven road games. They were also 3-9 against the Orioles. But none of that kept them from winning Thursday night.

The Orioles lost despite scoring eight runs on 16 hits. The Orioles have scored seven or more runs six times in the last eight games. In those eight games, their team batting average is .340 and they've scored 70 runs (8.8 per game) with 11 doubles, a triple and 19 home runs.

The Orioles had a prolific month of offense in August, hitting 57 homers, a major league record. It topped the O's record mark of 55 from last August. The last time the Orioles had a month of offense like this was last June.

June 2016: .300/.357/.531, 56 homers, .888 OPS and scored 6.6 runs per game
August 2017: .306/.347/.534 with 57 homers, .882 OPS and scored 6.0 runs per game

The Orioles went 19-9 (.679) in June 2016 and completed this August at 17-12 (.586).

The Curaçao connection: When he heard the news yesterday that Single-A Frederick outfielder Ademar Rifaela was named the Carolina League MVP, Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop was proud.

Like Schoop, Rifaela is from Willemstad, Curaçao.

"I've known him since he was a kid," Schoop said. "I didn't play against him, I played against his cousin. Curaçao is small, so you know just about every player there. I worked out with him and he's a good kid that works hard. He deserves it.

"Every time he's had an off day he came up to see me play. Last time he stayed at my house. This kid loves baseball and anything I can do to help him I will."

Rifaela, 22, is batting .283/.353/.502 with 22 doubles, a triple, 24 homers, 78 RBIs and an OPS of .855 for the Keys. The lefty-hitting corner outfielder leads the league in homers and total bases, and is second in RBIs and slugging. He becomes just the second player in Frederick's 29-year history to win this award. Brandon Waring was the first in 2009.

Schoop has provided him some advice.

"I've told him, 'Leave everything out there.' It is not always about the numbers (stats). I know you want numbers, but every ball, run it out, play hard. Don't get home and say, 'Hey, I've got to do better.' You want to do good, but play hard and make a difference.

"Every kid from Curaçao, you know, we're a small island, so to see a kid from there doing well, I take pride in that. I hope he keeps it up and I play with him in the big leagues."

But even though he provided Rifaela advice and support, Schoop was quick to add he doesn't get any credit for Rifaela's breakout season.

"It's all him," he said.

Meanwhile, Rifaela's Frederick squad completed a big three-game sweep of the Salem Red Sox with a 6-4 win on Thursday night at Nymeo Field. With the sweep, the Keys' lead increases to two games in the North Division wild card race and gives Frederick the head-to-head tie-breaker with Salem. The Keys' magic number to clinch a playoff berth is now two with four games to play. Frederick is 65-70 overall and 34-32 in the second half and looking to join Bowie as O's affiliates making the postseason.

The Orioles are expected to add catcher Chance Sisco, lefty hitting Pedro Álvarez, outfielder Joey Rickard and pitcher Jimmy Yacabonis to the 25-man roster today. Today rosters can be expanded to as many as 40 players, and this is the first wave of the call-ups. Click here for more on that.