"WE'RE BACK", Anthony Santander hits first Jays homer in return to Baltimore, but O's ultimately prevail

As expected, Anthony Santander’s return to Baltimore was an occasion to renew friendships with former teammates and bask in the warm glow of fans’ appreciation.

Santander, who hit a comebacker to the mound in his first at-bat, nearly went deep for a second time when he launched a fly ball to the warning track in right-centre in the fifth inning.

For the record, Toronto’s top of the order of Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Santander went a combined 6-for-13, including three for extra bases, in its most productive game of the early season.

Bichette and Guerrero led off the game with back-to-back doubles to open the scoring and, through three innings, the Jays had matched their entire extra-base hit total from their four-game series win at Fenway Park earlier in the week.

On the latest episode of Long Ball, Postmedia’s Rob Wong chats with Toronto Sun Blue Jays writer Rob Longley about the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays season. They discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this year’s team, which players Longley is most excited to see and how the squad stacks up against the rest of the AL East.

TAKE A BOW, BOWDEN

Twice late last season, Bowden Francis watched a no-hit bid get snapped via the long ball.

Saturday at Camden Yards didn’t play out for the right-hander as it did last year — in the ninth inning — but Francis had two out in the fifth inning when Baltimore produced its first hit of the game, a two-run homer by Heston

Kjerstad to deep centre that cut the Jays lead to 3-2.The second hit Francis allowed was also a home run, this time a solo shot by noted Jays-killer Adley Rutschman in the sixth that squared things at 3-3.

The way Francis was dealing, the Jays should have been leading by as many as five runs. But he never made it out of the sixth, surrendering a walk, an infield single when an outstretched Guerrero couldn’t scoop Bichette’s long throw, and a Cedric Mullins two-run double.

LUKES AND LUCAS

A couple of Jays in their first full major-league seasons are playing sizeable roles in the team’s solid start to the season.

Left-hander Easton Lucas, filling the rotation void left by Max Scherzer’s injury, has acquitted himself well in his first two starts as he prepares for Monday’s scheduled start on Vladdy Day at the Rogers Centre.

Meanwhile, Nathan Lukes has handled the majority of the games in centre field as Daulton Varsho inches closer following off-season shoulder surgery. When he does return, it’s expected the Gold Glover Varsho will reclaim his job, as he should.

But Lukes made some noise of his own on Saturday. The 30-year-old got on base three times with a pair of walks and a leadoff double in the seventh — his first extra-base hit of the season — and scored two runs.

The Jays out-hit the Orioles 10-5, but hit into four double plays and ran into another, stranding six base-runners.

Perhaps the most costly came in the fifth inning when Bichette and Guerrero led off with singles and looked to advance on Santander’s warning-track blast.

However, the umpire ruled that Vladdy had left first base prematurely and called him out. Andres Gimenez then sent a deep fly ball to right field that would easily have scored Bichette from third had there not been two out.

UP NEXT

Jays wrap up their stay in Baltimore with a Sunday scheduled 1:35 p.m. first pitch … RHP Jose Berrios will face the O’s for the second time this season after the righty had a tough outing on opening day in Toronto … The O’s will counter with LHP Cade Povich, who has recorded 12 strikeouts in 10.1 innings.