Game recap: Scherzer exits, Gimenez homers against Orioles

Max Scherzer finally made his Blue Jays debut, while Dean Kremer got the ball for the O's.

Although Scherzer gave up two solo home runs in the first inning, including to lead-off hitter Colton Cowser he settled in after that, retiring the next seven batters in a row. Unfortunately he left the game after third inning with an apparent lat injury. The Blue Jays were up 4-2 at the time.

Richard Lovelady came on in relief and the wheels came off. After loading the bases on a double and back-to-back hit by pitches, the lefty gave up a sacrifice fly. After a walk re-loaded the bases again, Anthony Santander misread a ball off the bat of Ramon Urias, which led to a three-run double and put the Orioles up 6-4.

Jacob Barnes gave up two more runs in the fifth before an RBI groundout from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the bottom half made the score 8-5. Chad Green gave up a solo home run in the seventh to put Orioles back up by four.

It wasn't all bad for the Blue Jays. Andres Gimenez hit his second home run as a Blue Jay and Bo Bichette went 4-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. Bichette has now reached base in seven straight appearances.

The Jays also showed smarts on the basepaths. In the bottom of the first with one run already in, Gimenez launched a long fly ball to left field. Cowser threw the ball behind Guerrero which allowed Vlad and Santander to advance 90 feet. Kirk later tied it with a sacrifice fly.

The Blue Jays and Orioles wrap up their series tomorrow in matchup that sees Tomoyuki Sugano make his major league debut. Chris Bassitt will get the ball for Toronto. First pitch is schedule for 1:07PM ET.