TORONTO _ The Orioles' schedule the past three nights was more that of a team on a barnstorming tour than a major league club as they played in a different city for a third straight day Friday night at Rogers Centre.
The daily traveling ended in Toronto, but not before the Orioles dropped their fourth straight game, 6-5, in their series opener against the Blue Jays.
With the loss, the Orioles (58-44) now lead Toronto (58-45) by a mere half-game in the American League East standings.
The Orioles arrived in Toronto early Friday morning after playing a makeup game in Minnesota on Thursday night, on a day that was originally a scheduled day off.
The Orioles jumped on Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada early, running out to a 2-0 lead on Mark Trumbo's two-out, two-run double in the top of the first.
The Blue Jays hit three solo homers off Kevin Gausman (2-8) in the first inning. Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki all went deep with 400-foot blasts in the opening frame, as Gausman allowed six runs over three innings to tie his shortest start of the season.
Manny Machado brought the Orioles within one run in the eighth inning on his 22nd homer of the season, a solo blast he took the opposite way on the first pitch he saw from Blue Jays reliever Jason Grilli. J.J. Hardy doubled with two outs in the ninth, but the tying run was stranded in scoring position when Adam Jones grounded out on his first pitch from Roberto Osuna.
The Orioles were frustrated by home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez's low strike zone, even the usually stoic Matt Wieters, who engaged the umpire in an animated argument following a called strike call during his last at-bat in the eighth inning.
