Baltimore Orioles Chris Davis hits a two run home run against the Toronto Blue jays in the sixth inning at Rogers Centre. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

The Sports Xchange/New York


Chris Davis had his second straight two-homer game and had three RBIs on Friday to power the Baltimore Orioles to a 10-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Davis reached 40 home runs with 100 RBIs for the season with his performance on Friday. He is the first Orioles player to have two 40-home run seasons.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I don’t really focus a whole lot on personal goals. Obviously a lot of great players have been with this organisation. It’s a good feeling, a humbling feeling but this season is not over.”
Center fielder Adam Jones added a two-run homer for the Orioles (65-69) and catcher Matt Wieters hit a solo shot.
Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (10-9) allowed four hits, six walks and two runs (one earned) in 5-2/3 innings. He struck out four.
“The sinker was very good,” Jimenez said. “I was getting on top of the ball and executing the pitch.”
Blue Jays right-hander Drew Hutchison (13-3) allowed nine hits, including three home runs, and six runs in five-plus innings to end a string of five successive wins.
He struck out two.
“He got hit around,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He was throwing fine and then it happened fast ... five or six pitches, they did all their damage (in the sixth). Then we gave it up late too, they opened it up.
“But he was throwing fine. ... it happened fast.”
The loss cut the Blue Jays’ lead in the American League East to a half-game over the second-place New York Yankees. After Toronto (76-58) tied the game 2-2 in the fifth, Hutchison failed to get an out in the sixth.
Jones led off with a single and Davis followed with his second homer of the game and his 40th of the season. It was the sixth hit for Davis in the past eight at-bats that included five home runs and eight RBIs.
“We’re trying to get a ground ball right there, trying to get it down in the zone a little bit,” Toronto catcher Russell Martin said. “Left it up just high enough for him to get his arms extended and get it in the air.”
On the next pitch, Wieters hit his sixth homer of the season, a ball that hit left fielder Ben Revere’s glove before clearing the fence. The Orioles added four runs in the eighth against right-hander Bo Schultz. Right fielder Gerardo Parra hit a two-run double, and Jones hit his 25th homer of the season.
Pirates snap skid with
win in St Louis
Another excellent start from JA Happ helped the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-3 rout of the St Louis Cardinals on Friday.
In trimming St Louis’ National League Central Division lead to 5-1/2 games, Pittsburgh (80-53) looked nothing like the team who lost three of their last four games.
Happ (8-7) pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits and striking out eight with no walks. In improving to 4-1 since being traded from Seattle on July 31, Happ lowered his ERA with the Pirates to 1.57.
“His mix of pitches and his command were very good,” manager Clint Hurdle said of Happ. “The downhill angle on his fastball was very impressive. He’s definitely grabbed our attention. He executed very well.”
The Pirates scored twice in the first on RBI singles by third baseman Kang Jung Ho and Starling Marte before Marte ripped a two-run double in the fifth for a 4-0 lead, highlighting a 3-for-5, three-RBI game for the left fielder.
That was more than enough for Happ, who retired 15 successive batters after second baseman Kolten Wong lined a single to center in the second inning.
“I was pitching off my fastball and getting ahead of guys,” Happ said. “I thought we mixed up our pitches pretty well. I tried to execute as best as I could.”
Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez (13-7) gave up seven hits and four runs in five innings, walking three and striking out five.
Martinez’s fastball touched 99 mph at times in the first inning, but his location failed him, knocking his pitch count to 100.
“The first inning was a little rough for him,” St Louis manager Mike Matheny said of Martinez.
“Two busted bats ended up scoring runs. He actually did a nice job, but he ended up with 36 pitches after the first inning, so it was an uphill battle after that.”
It was just the third loss in 12 games for the Cardinals (86-48), who did not move a runner to third base until the eighth, when left fielder Stephen Piscotty doubled home pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds to make it 5-1.
Pittsburgh squashed any ideas of a dramatic rally with four runs in the top of the ninth, capped by a two-run double from pinch-hitter Travis Snider.