Jays Sweep Series in Battle of the Birds
Yunel Escobar, who was acquired on Wednesday by the Blue Jays, did not waste any time impressing the coach and winning over his teammates after ripping a grand slam to help crush the Baltimore Orioles 10-1 on Sunday at Camden Yards.
The second-inning grand slam from the Blue Jays shortstop ended Escobar’s home run drought and left many wondering how can someone with such a powerful swing can go 104 games without clearing the fence.
The home run highlighted a six-run outburst in the second inning that helped the Blue Jays seal a three-game series sweep of the Orioles.
“A lot of guys are happy to have him," Shaun Marcum said. "Obviously, people were sad to see Alex go. Alex was a great player, a great teammate and a true professional. We wish him the best of luck. But, now that we've got Yunel, it's been fun to watch him the last couple days."
While Escobar got the monkey off his back and earned his first homer with the club, the Jays improved to 9-0 against Baltimore this season, marking the first time in franchise history that the club began a year undefeated against any opponent through the first nine meetings.
Over the course of those nine wins, the Blue Jays have outscored the Orioles 48-16.
Escobar’s first-half slump for Atlanta was a major reason why he became expendable and traded to Toronto. In this business a player is expected to produce and his shown the door if he doesn’t.
“Obviously, the talent is there," Blue Jays center fielder Vernon Wells said of his new teammate. "I think he's happy to have a change of scenery and obviously through the first three games with us he's been impressive."
During Sunday’s game, Escobar finished 3-for-4 and matched a career high with five RBIs -- four on the grand slam and one more via a run-scoring single in the fifth inning.
His goal heading to Toronto was simple: continually improve with each game. And following his brief stay with his new club, nothing occurred to diminish that mindset.
In the three wins over Baltimore, Escobar played solid defence and showed his offensive versatility with bunts to move runners and reach base, drew one walk and went 6-for-13 at the plate.
Toronto’s defence came up big this game allowing only one run and nine hits. Pitching was not an issue for the Jays, but it was for the Orioles.
Baltimore’s left-hander Brian Matusz had a rough night after allowing six runs on five hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings.
The Oriole’s interim manager Juan Samuel said control was the 23-year-old biggest issue in the loss. He also added that there was no possibility of the rookie being sent to the Minors at this point in the season.
"Brian looked sharp in the first inning, and after that he seemed to lose the feeling for it," Samuel said. "[His] command was not good and he seemed to give up a lot of base hits with two outs today. We didn't make that pitch when we needed to."
After pitching a scoreless first inning, Matsuz (3-10) never seemed comfortable and was chased shortly after.
The Jays weren’t concern with who would be pitching afterwards, as Toronto followed their six-run second inning with one run in each of the next three frames. Catcher John Buck finished 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles for the Jays and Edwin Encarnacion's RBI single in the ninth inning gave Toronto a 10-1 lead.
The Orioles squandered scoring opportunities leaving 11 men on base and were 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
"Well I just think we are beating a dead horse here," Samuel said of his team's lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. "We've been talking about this all year, we just need to move on from that. At this point we need to regroup and go get them."
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