Orioles tee off on Kikuchi in Jays loss

Three things you need to know about the Blue Jays’ 7-4 loss to the Orioles in Baltimore on Monday night:

Familiar song

Every time Yusei Kikuchi gives the Jays a reason to believe he is turning his season around, he seems to take a big step backward. It happened again when the lefty gave up as many runs in the first inning as he had over his last two starts combined.

After a leadoff fly out, Kikuchi walked back-to-back hitters. An out later, he threw an 0-and-1 fastball on the outside black that Ramon Urias put into the seats in rightcentre for a three-run homer.

Kikuchi recovered to save the Jays’ tired bullpen by pitching into the sixth, but gave up a couple more long balls before he was done.

Quick strike

Cavan Biggio got the Jays on the board with a solo home run leading off the third inning. The disciplined, patient hitter jumped all over a first-pitch fastball for his third home run of the season.

It was only the 19th time this season that Biggio has put the first pitch in play, but the numbers say he should probably do that a lot more often. The home run was Biggio’s seventh extra-base hit of the season on the first pitch (five doubles and a triple) and he’s now hitting .611 when he puts the first pitch in play.

Always an answer

A comeback from the early deficit couldn’t happen because there were no shutdown innings by Jays pitchers. Each time Toronto scored in the top of an inning, the Orioles scored in the bottom of that same frame.

After the Biggio homer, Baltimore got back-to-back home runs from Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle in the bottom of the third. The teams traded runs in the sixth, and Baltimore got one back in the eighth after the Jays’ two in the top.