BALTIMORE — The Toronto Blue Jays thrashed the Baltimore Orioles 22-7 on Sunday, completing a three-game series that saw them score 44 runs.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez each hit a grand slam while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. slugged his 44th homer, tying him with Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead. He also became the first player in MLB history to have 7 RBIs, 5 runs and 3 walks in a game since RBI became a stat in 1920.
More than half of the damage from the series came in just four innings — 11 runs in the seventh inning of Saturday’s nightcap and 16 over the course of the first three innings of Sunday’s game. The 27 runs in a four-inning span are the most in MLB history, surpassing the previous record of 25.
“The last three days, I’ve been in the game for 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “I didn’t know we were going to score this many runs, but at the end of August, I said we were going to get hot because we have way too many hitters. Now, we’re swinging the bats great. It’s contagious.”
Gurriel set the franchise record with his fourth grand slam of the season and also had a two-run homer in the fifth to drive in seven runs. Danny Jansen had four hits, including three doubles, and four RBIs. Toronto racked up 19 hits total on Sunday.
The Blue Jays’ club record for runs was set in a 24-10 victory over the Orioles on June 26, 1978, a game in which John Mayberry hit the Jays’ only two homers and had seven RBIs after coming off the bench.
Toronto improved to 80-63 after starting the day tied with the Yankees for the second AL wild card behind Boston.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.