TORONTO -- The Orioles muscled their way past the Blue Jays on Tuesday night, swatting three homers for a 9-3 victory in the opener of a key three-game series between the American League East rivals at Rogers Centre.Caleb Joseph, Jonathan Schoop and Chris Davis all went deep as the power-hitting Orioles launched their 134th, 135th and 136th homers of the season to take the Major League lead in that category. 
It was the third win in a row for the AL East leaders, who extended their division lead over the Blue Jays to five games.The O's offense drove Toronto starter Mark Buehrle from the game with 10 hits over four innings. Half of those came in the fourth.Already down 1-0, the veteran lefty was burned by back-to-back homers on a pair of 2-2 counts to Joseph and Schoop to lead off the fourth.The visitors continued to apply pressure as Nick Markakis and Manny Machado hit back-to-back singles, putting two on with no outs. It went from bad to worse for Buehrle and the Blue Jays, as the southpaw, after getting the first out, uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the runners to advance into scoring position.A routine grounder from Delmon Young then spun away from third baseman Danny Valencia, and Markakis scored for a 4-0 lead.It was second time in three starts Buehrle has pitched fewer than five innings, and the third time he's allowed two homers in a game. He gave up four runs and three walks.The Blue Jays caught a brief spark on a two-out, two-run shot from Colby Rasmus in the bottom half of the fourth to cut the deficit in half, but Davis homered off reliever Aaron Sanchez to get back the three-run Baltimore lead in the fifth as the Orioles improved to 31-10 in multihomer games this season.Bud Norris earned his ninth win and improved to 6-2 in his last nine starts with a seven-hit performance over 5 1/3 innings.The right-hander struck out six and walked two for his third win in four starts against the Blue Jays this season.The Blue Jays made a late charge in the seventh after leading off the inning with three straight singles to load the bases for Jose Bautista. He scored Ryan Goins from third on a sac fly, but Dioner Navarro hit into a double play to end the threat.Jamie Ross / MLB.com
It was the third win in a row for the AL East leaders, who extended their division lead over the Blue Jays to five games.The O's offense drove Toronto starter Mark Buehrle from the game with 10 hits over four innings. Half of those came in the fourth.Already down 1-0, the veteran lefty was burned by back-to-back homers on a pair of 2-2 counts to Joseph and Schoop to lead off the fourth.The visitors continued to apply pressure as Nick Markakis and Manny Machado hit back-to-back singles, putting two on with no outs. It went from bad to worse for Buehrle and the Blue Jays, as the southpaw, after getting the first out, uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the runners to advance into scoring position.A routine grounder from Delmon Young then spun away from third baseman Danny Valencia, and Markakis scored for a 4-0 lead.It was second time in three starts Buehrle has pitched fewer than five innings, and the third time he's allowed two homers in a game. He gave up four runs and three walks.The Blue Jays caught a brief spark on a two-out, two-run shot from Colby Rasmus in the bottom half of the fourth to cut the deficit in half, but Davis homered off reliever Aaron Sanchez to get back the three-run Baltimore lead in the fifth as the Orioles improved to 31-10 in multihomer games this season.Bud Norris earned his ninth win and improved to 6-2 in his last nine starts with a seven-hit performance over 5 1/3 innings.The right-hander struck out six and walked two for his third win in four starts against the Blue Jays this season.The Blue Jays made a late charge in the seventh after leading off the inning with three straight singles to load the bases for Jose Bautista. He scored Ryan Goins from third on a sac fly, but Dioner Navarro hit into a double play to end the threat.Jamie Ross / MLB.com
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
