Blue Jays fall short of comeback as Orioles ride Mountcastle-led offence to victory

Control issues and the long ball proved to be the undoing for Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi on Tuesday night. The Baltimore Orioles took advantage of his uneven performance for a 6-5 victory at Rogers Centre.

Kikuchi (2-3) issued four walks and gave up two homers over four-plus innings.

"He just needs to throw strikes," said Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo. "It's kind of tough to play behind somebody when he's (throwing) too many non-competitive pitches.

The Blue Jays have won only one of Kikuchi's last five starts. The left-hander didn't get out of the first inning in a loss to Kansas City last week.

"When he does throw strikes, he gets people out," Montoyo said. "But when you pitch behind and you walk people, people are going to score."

Ryan Mountcastle hit a two-run homer in the third inning and Austin Hays added a solo shot in the fifth that ended the night for Kikuchi.

"Both of them were off of pitches that I didn't execute, they just got too much plate," Kikuchi said via a translator. "Being a little bit more fine and executing my pitches would be key [to improving]."

Toronto third baseman Matt Chapman homered and scored twice while rookie catcher Gabriel Moreno had three hits and drove in two runs.

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