Orioles start off hot, hold on against Blue Jays

Gunnar Henderson hit a solo homer, right-hander Kyle Gibson pitched six strong innings and the visiting Baltimore Orioles defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 Monday night.

Ryan Mountcastle had two doubles, a sacrifice fly and three RBIs for the Orioles in the opener of a four-game series.

Gibson (10-6) allowed one run on four hits with two walks and went his third straight game with at least five strikeouts.

The Orioles are 6-1 against the Blue Jays this season and have won all four games played in Toronto.

Whit Merrifield hit a solo home run for Toronto to extend his hit streak to 10 games.

Toronto right-hander Chris Bassitt (10-6) allowed four runs, seven hits and two walks in six innings.

Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette left the game in the third inning after suffering what the team called "right knee discomfort."

He pulled up abruptly between first and second and was tagged out after hitting a single. Santiago Espinal took over at shortstop.

Baltimore scored twice in the first, with Anthony Santander walking with two outs and advancing to third on Ryan O'Hearn's single. After O'Hearn took second on a wild pitch, Mountcastle drove a two-run double to right.

Henderson led off the third with his 17th home run of the year. Santander followed with a double, took third on a flyout and scored on Mountcastle's sacrifice fly to right.

The Blue Jays had runners at the corners to open the fifth on singles by Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk. They scored one run on Kevin Kiermaier's fielder's choice grounder.

Merrifield led off the bottom of the eighth with his ninth homer of the season against Yennier Cano. After two one-out walks, Felix Bautista replaced Cano and finished the inning with a strikeout and a flyout.

Bautista walked two in the ninth, and left fielder Austin Hays made a superb diving catch on Merrifield for the second out. Bautista ended the game with a strikeout to earn his 29th save.

Slumping George Springer did not play for Toronto.