Baltimore 1 at Toronto 2 - Recap

TORONTO -- Kendrys Morales led off the ninth inning with a homer run as the Toronto Blue Jays ended a seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays raised their record to 2-9, last in the American League East. The AL East-leading Orioles, who were riding a three-game winning streak, dropped to 7-3 on the season.

Toronto's win, in front of an announced paid crowd of 40,743, gave the team some much-needed relief after its worst start in the franchise's 40-year history.

Morales' blast off Tyler Wilson (1-1) staved off some tense moments for the Blue Jays, who entered the ninth with a 1-0 lead. It changed when catcher Welington Castillo singled off a pitch by reliever Roberto Osuna (1-0). Castillo was replaced by Craig Gentry, who stole second and scored the winning run on back-to-back flyouts.

Toronto received a strong pitching performance from Marco Estrada, who went seven scoreless innings and issued four hits, three walks, eight strikeouts, one wild pitch and one hit batter. He threw 109 pitches, 69 of them strikes. It was a significant improvement from his last start when he served up three home runs in a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Baltimore's Alec Asher, appearing in his first game of the season, had a good outing until he got into a jam in the seventh. After hitting Jose Bautista, he was able to record the first out of the inning when Morales lined out to center field. Troy Tulowitzki followed up with a single up the middle to advance Bautista to second.

The Orioles replaced Asher with left-hand reliever Donnie Hart, who recorded an out after Justin Smoak just missed a homer when Adam Jones prevented it with a catch on the warning track. The Jays inserted inserted Darwin Barney to replace third baseman Chris Coghlan, who was making his first start for Toronto, and he singled, which cashed in Bautista on a close play at the plate.

Asher was charged with the run. In 6 1/3 innings, he issued three hits, one earned run, one walk, five strikeouts, one wild pitch and one hit batter. He threw 93 pitches, 59 of them strikes.

Hart, who replaced Asher, lasted 1 1/3 innings, and was charged with two hits and recorded two strikeouts.

Joe Biagini replaced Estrada and yielded only one in one innings.

NOTES: Toronto C Jarrod Saltalamacchia started for only the second time this season, giving Russell Martin a day off. Martin has been struggling this season with only two hits in 28 at-bats. ... Blue Jays 3B Chris Coghlan, recalled from Buffalo on Friday, was inserted into the lineup because manager John Gibbons thought he deserved a chance to play. ... Toronto CF Kevin Pillar started at leadoff in the batting order because 2B Devon Travis was given the game off. Pillar hit a single in his first at-bat. ... With the recall of Asher from Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles optioned RHP Stefan Crichton to the Tides. ... Orioles SS Ryan Flaherty took the spot of J.J. Hardy in the lineup because manager Buck Showalter didn't want to play Hardy in all four games of the series because of the Rogers Centre's artificial turf.