TORONTO (Interstat) — Dylan Beavers hit the second pitch of the game for a home run, Chris Bassitt delivered five-plus steady innings and the Baltimore Orioles opened a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays with a 7-4 victory on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, at Rogers Centre. Baltimore improved to 72-76. Toronto fell to 73-75. The game drew 42,111 fans and took 2 hours, 59 minutes. Bassitt, a former Blue Jays pitcher, earned the win to move to 7-5. Max Scherzer took the loss and dropped to 2-8. Rico Garcia recorded the save, his eighth, by getting the final out in the ninth.

The Orioles wasted little time against Scherzer. Beavers drove a fly ball to right field for his seventh homer, giving Baltimore a 1-0 lead before the Blue Jays had batted. Scherzer retired Pete Alonso, Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo to end the first, but the top of the second became the decisive stretch. Gunnar Henderson singled, Samuel Basallo singled and Christian Encarnacion-Strand singled to load the bases. Heston Kjerstad followed with a line-drive single to right that scored Henderson. Colton Cowser then doubled to left, bringing home Basallo and Encarnacion-Strand. Beavers capped the inning with a sharp single to right that scored Kjerstad and Cowser, pushing the Baltimore lead to 6-0. Alonso, Holliday and Mayo were retired in order to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Bassitt handled the early lead with poise. In the bottom of the first, Brett Bateman struck out, George Springer singled and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk walked to load the bases. Bassitt then got Nathan Lukes on a called third strike after the call was overturned, ending the threat. Bassitt worked through the middle innings, striking out five. Toronto broke through in the fourth when Kazuma Okamoto homered to right-center, cutting the deficit to 6-1. The Blue Jays added another run in the sixth. Lukes singled and Okamoto doubled, putting runners in scoring position. After a strikeout, Andrés Giménez grounded out to second, scoring Lukes and moving Okamoto to third. Ernie Clement lined out to center to end the inning.

Baltimore restored a five-run cushion in the seventh. Mayo homered to left field for his 23rd of the season, making it 7-2. Henderson added a line-drive single to right, but Basallo lined out sharply to second to end the inning. The Orioles bullpen protected the lead. Josh Walker, Yennier Cano and Andrew Kittredge combined for scoreless relief, keeping Toronto off the board in the seventh and eighth. Kittredge struck out Okamoto in the eighth, and Cano and Walker also recorded strikeouts. Baltimore’s relievers did not allow a hit during that stretch.

Toronto had chances earlier. In the third, Bateman singled and Springer reached on a fielding error by shortstop Gunnar Henderson, putting runners on the corners. Bassitt answered by striking out Guerrero. Kirk walked to load the bases again, but Lukes flied out to center. In the fifth, Bateman singled again, but Springer lined out, Guerrero grounded out and Kirk was called out on strikes. Baltimore went quietly in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, managing only a walk to Cowser in the fourth and a walk to Basallo plus a single by Encarnacion-Strand in the sixth. The Orioles also left runners on in the sixth when Rece Hinds, Cowser and Beavers struck out in succession. In the eighth, Encarnacion-Strand singled, but Leody Taveras flied out, Cowser struck out and Beavers grounded out. In the ninth, Alonso, Holliday and Mayo struck out in order.

Toronto made the final inning interesting. Sean Keys struck out and Giménez lined out to shortstop. Clement then doubled to right, and Bateman followed with a two-run homer to center, trimming the Baltimore lead to 7-4. Springer kept the rally alive with a single, and Guerrero singled to put two runners on. Garcia entered and induced Alejandro Kirk to ground into a force out at second, ending the game and securing the save. Bateman finished 3 for 5 with a home run and two RBIs. Okamoto went 2 for 4 with a homer and an RBI. Clement’s double was one of Toronto’s 10 hits. Baltimore finished with 11 hits.

Beavers led the Orioles with two hits and three RBIs, including his leadoff homer and the two-run single in the second. Cowser doubled and drove in two runs. Kjerstad added an RBI single. Henderson, Basallo and Encarnacion-Strand each contributed hits during the five-run second. Mayo’s seventh-inning homer provided insurance. Bassitt allowed two earned runs on six hits over five-plus innings while striking out five. Scherzer was charged with the loss. Brendon Little and Ricky Tiedemann each threw a scoreless inning of relief for Toronto, with Little striking out three and Tiedemann striking out three while allowing one hit. Josh Walker allowed no hits over 1 1/3 innings and struck out one. Yennier Cano worked 2/3 of an inning with one strikeout and no hits. Andrew Kittredge threw a scoreless inning with one strikeout and no hits. Garcia recorded the final out without allowing a hit.

The Orioles had won two of three against Cleveland before Friday. Toronto had lost two of three at Athletics. Toronto had won four of the first seven meetings between the teams this season. The teams are scheduled to continue the series Saturday at Rogers Centre, followed by the finale Sunday. Baltimore then travels to New York Mets for three games, while Toronto hosts Detroit for three games next week.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Toronto 6, Baltimore 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave Toronto a 57.6 percent probability to win. Baltimore had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 11 went under the over/under line of 8.5.