Mullins’s five RBIs leads Orioles past Jays 12-2

Cedric Mullins had two home runs and singled in another run for a total of five RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles routed the Toronto Blue Jays 12-2 on Thursday in Major League Baseball's opening day.

TORONTO – Cedric Mullins had two home runs and singled in another run for a total of five RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles routed the Toronto Blue Jays 12-2 on Thursday in Major League Baseball’s opening day.

Tyler O’Neill of Burnaby, B.C., hit a three-run homer in the third inning as Baltimore (1-0) built a quick six-run lead. Adley Rutschman had a solo homer in the first and a two-run shot in the eighth that was immediately followed by a Jordan Westburg home run.

Zach Eflin (1-0) gave up two runs on two hits and a walk, striking out two over six innings of work. Relievers Seranthony Dominguez and Keegan Akin combined for three scoreless innings.

Andres Gimenez’s two-run homer in the fourth inning was the first hit Eflin gave up to Toronto (0-1). Gimenez drove in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the blast.

Jose Berrios (0-1) laboured through five innings of work, giving up six runs on nine hits and two walks but striking out five.

Richard Lovelady, Jacob Barnes, Chad Green, Yariel Rodriguez and Nick Sandlin came out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen, giving up six runs over four innings.

Takeaways

Blue Jays: The light-hitting Gimenez was a surprising choice to bat clean up in Toronto’s home opener but he rewarded manager John Schneider’s faith in him with just the 50th homer of his six-year MLB career. Schneider made the aggressive decision to have Bo Bichette, Guerrero and Anthony Santander bat at the top of the order but they went a combined 0-for-10.