TORONTO -- The Baltimore Orioles belted four home runs in a 6-4 victory over the sagging Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Rogers Centre.
Chris Davis, Jonathan Schoop and J.J. Hardy went deep off Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez as the Blue Jays dropped their seventh game in a row. Seth Smith tacked on an insurance run with a solo shot in the ninth inning to help the American League East division leaders improve to 7-2.
Orioles closer Zach Britton worked the ninth for his fifth save.
Toronto fell to 1-9 on the season. It's the worst start in franchise history.
Davis scored the game's first run in the second inning. He doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
The Blue Jays responded with a pair in the bottom half of the frame. Kendrys Morales reached on a broken-bat single and moved to third when Troy Tulowitzki doubled down the left-field line.
Justin Smoak drove in Morales with a single and Darwin Barney -- filling in for injured third baseman Josh Donaldson -- brought home Tulowitzki with a grounder booted by third baseman Manny Machado.
A solo shot by Smoak in the fourth inning gave Toronto a 3-1 lead. His first homer of the year came on the first pitch from southpaw Wade Miley (1-0).
Baltimore reclaimed the lead by belting a pair of homers in the next frame.
Schoop led off with his second homer of the season. Hyun Soo Kim followed with a double and scored on Hardy's blast, his first dinger of the year.
Davis tacked on a run in the sixth inning with a solo shot to deep centre field. It was his third homer of the season.
A one-out single by Schoop spelled the end for Sanchez (0-1). Right-hander Dominic Leone came on and recorded two quick outs.
Toronto threatened in the seventh as Ryan Goins and Kevin Pillar singled off reliever Darren O'Day. Steve Pearce worked a full count on the side-armer before popping up to end the frame.
Smith's blast was his second homer of the season. In the bottom half of the ninth, Britton gave up a leadoff single to Russell Martin, who scored on a two-out single by Devon Travis.
Pillar singled to bring Pearce to the plate with the potential winning run. He worked a full count before striking out to end the game.
The losing streak is Toronto's longest since a seven-game skid in August 2013. It's the first time the Blue Jays have dropped seven straight in the month of April.
Sanchez's effort was pedestrian by his lofty standards. The 2016 American League earned-run average leader allowed five earned runs, seven hits and a walk while striking out three.
Miley, meanwhile, worked six innings. He had eight strikeouts and gave up five hits and three earned runs.
Announced attendance was 39,547 and the game took three hours 18 minutes to play.
Notes: Before the game, the Blue Jays placed Donaldson on the 10-day disabled list and selected the contract of outfielder Chris Coghlan from triple-A Buffalo. ... The game was delayed for about 10 minutes in the eighth inning after home plate umpire Dale Scott was struck in the facemask by a foul tip. He did not appear to lose consciousness. A spinal board was used for support and he was taken off the field on a golf cart. ... Marco Estrada (0-1, 5.73 ERA) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday afternoon. The Orioles will counter with fellow right-hander Alec Asher (season debut).
