TORONTO (AP) — Cedric Mullins had three hits, Tyler Wells pitched six innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time, and the Orioles pounded former Baltimore pitcher Kevin Gausman in a 10-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday.
Wells (4-4) allowed one run and five hits, completing six innings in consecutive starts for the first time in his career to help the Orioles split the four-game series.
“We took really good at-bats off Gausman,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “I was really happy with the pressure we put on them, and making him come in the strike zone. We just jumped on him early. It was great.”
Austin Hays hit his ninth home run, a solo shot off Matt Gage in the eighth, and Rougned Odor had two hits and two RBIs as Baltimore won for the fourth time in six games.
“I wasn’t hitting my spots,” Gausman said. “My pitches just didn’t really have anything today. Not acceptable, obviously.”
Facing the team that drafted him for the first time, Gausman (5-6) allowed a season-worst seven runs, five earned, and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings, his shortest outing of 2022.
“I was really excited to face them, honestly,” Gausman said. “Baltimore has always been a special place in my heart. I was there for a long time. I really wanted to go out there and shove it to them, to be honest. Not what I envisioned in my first start against my former team.”
Gausman, who lost his third straight start, hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his 12 previous starts.
“He wasn’t commanding all his pitches,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “They did a good job laying off his splitter and slider. It seemed like they were hunting for the fastball and they got him.”
Baltimore selected Gausman with the fourth…