BALTIMORE _ The Orioles opened another promising season with a group of mostly familiar faces jogging down the orange carpet as part the pageantry of Opening Day introductions Monday afternoon at Camden Yards.
Packed with the optimism season openers hold in major league ballparks across the country, fans at Oriole Park _ which was kicking off its silver anniversary season _ welcomed Orioles players back to Baltimore with loud ovations from the sellout crowd of 45,667.
The Orioles spent the offseason _ and into spring training _ trying to improve their run-scoring capabilities by getting better table-setters for their middle-of-the order power bats.
But the team's top offseason priority was always retaining slugger Mark Trumbo, and the reigning home run king delivered a victory with his walk-off homer in the 11th inning, giving the Orioles a 3-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Because the Orioles' 2016 season ended abruptly in the American League wild-card game last October in Toronto, this was the day all had been eagerly awaiting through a long offseason and seven meticulous weeks of spring training in Sarasota, Fla.
It was fitting that the Orioles' first game of the season came against the same Blue Jays that ended their season nearly six months ago.
The Orioles' season opener contained an odd parallel to last year's wild-card game at Rogers Centre, which was decided on a walk-off homer in the 11th inning. This was of course the Orioles' first game, not their last, but the team's vaunted offense disappeared through the late innings much like it did on that night in Toronto. In that game, the team's only runs came on Trumbo's two-run homer.
Still, the Orioles (1-0) won their seventh straight Opening Day, and have won 14 of their past 17 season openers.
The Orioles had just three hits in their last 26 at-bats _ all singles _ before Trumbo stepped to the plate in the 11th and deposited a 1-2 slider from Toronto right-hander Jason Grilli into the left-field stands.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter didn't avoid bringing closer Zach Britton into a tie game this time, turning to Britton in the ninth inning of a 2-2 game. Britton found trouble by allowing back-to-back seeing-eye singles with one out, but he then induced a 5-4-3 double-play ball from Orioles nemesis Jose Bautista to escape the inning.
The Orioles had their opportunities against Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada early, but opened the game 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
They scored two runs in the third inning on run-scoring hits from their top two power bats _ Chris Davis, who hit an RBI single, and Mark Trumbo, who followed with an RBI double _ but mustered little after that.
Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman, making his first career Opening Day start, struggled with his control, walking four batters and lasting just 5 1/3 innings.
Reliever Mychal Givens couldn't protect a one-run lead in the sixth, allowing an RBI double to left-handed-hitting left fielder Ezequiel Carrera for the tying run after former Oriole Steve Pearce's one-out single chased Gausman from the game after 103 pitches.
In the third, Davis took a one-handed swing at an Estrada changeup, taking it off the high right-field fence to score newcomer Seth Smith, who hit a leadoff double, from second. Trumbo then followed by taking a fastball the other way into the right-field corner for an RBI double that scored Adam Jones.
After Trumbo's hit in the third, the Orioles didn't have another base runner until Manny Machado's two-out single in the eighth, a stretch of 15 straight plate appearances without a base runner.
