Toronto Blue Jays shut door on Baltimore Orioles' win streak

BALTIMORE -- Kendrys Morales hit three home runs and set a career high with seven RBIs as the Toronto Blue Jays snapped the Baltimore Orioles' seven-game winning streak with a 11-8 victory Thursday night.

Toronto ended a four-game skid and pushed the Orioles back to 2 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the second American League wild card.

Adam Jones and Chris Davis went deep for Baltimore, which broke the MLB record for home runs in August with 57.

Morales' third homer in the eighth tied his career high and gave Toronto a commanding 11-6 lead. The Orioles pulled within three runs on Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista's error on a single by Tim Beckham and another RBI single by Jonathan Schoop off Ryan Tepera.

But that's as close as Baltimore came as Roberto Osuna picked up his 35th save with a scoreless ninth.

Marco Estrada (7-8) entered the game 1-0 with a 1.31 ERA in three starts against Baltimore this season. This time, Estrada struggled against the Orioles, allowing six runs and 10 hits with four strikeouts and a walk in five innings.

Jones gave the Orioles the lead in the first inning with a two-run shot off Estrada that just cleared the left field wall. Baltimore led 3-0 in the next inning after Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson could not barehand a slow grounder by Beckham that allowed Davis to score from third.

Morales cut the margin to 3-2 in the third with a two-run homer off Jeremy Hellickson.

Baltimore, however, answered in the bottom half when singles by Schoop and Jones put runners on the corners. Two batters later, Davis hit a grounder to second that allowed Schoop to score. Mark Trumbo followed with a single and the lead was 5-2.

Toronto chased Hellickson (2-3) in the fifth with five runs. Morales had an RBI single and Miguel Montero and Kevin Pillar each had two-run doubles.

Hellickson tied a season high by allowing seven runs and seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Davis hit a solo shot in the fifth that cut the deficit to 7-6.

NOTES: Blue Jays 1B Justin Smoak (sore calf) did not play for the second consecutive game. It was only the third time this season he was not in the lineup. ... Baltimore SS J.J. Hardy (wrist) is expected to come off the 60-day disabled list Friday, according to manager Buck Showalter. ... Toronto RHP Aaron Sanchez (blister) will begin throwing off a mound in Baltimore this weekend, manager John Gibbons said.