Baltimore, MD – Chris Davis crushed his major league-leading 37th homer and finished with four RBI to cap his torrid first half of the season and lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber match of a three-game set at Camden Yards.
Davis went deep for the fourth consecutive game to tie the AL record for homers before the All-Star break set by Reggie Jackson in 1969.
The lefty slugger added a two-run double in the first and pushed his impressive RBI total to 93 on the season to join Detroit's Miguel Cabrera as the only players in MLB history to hit at least 30 homers and knock in 90-or- more runs before the All-Star break. Cabrera finished his first half with 30 longballs and 95 RBI.
"I think it's something definitely to be proud of," Davis said. "It means I've been doing my job, but it also speaks volumes about the guys in front of me really swinging the bats well."
Adam Jones homered for the third straight game and finished with two RBI for the O's, who have won four of their last five games to enter the break at 53-43, good for third in the AL East behind Boston and Tampa Bay.
Scott Feldman (1-1) struck out seven over 7 1/3 innings of five-hit, three-run ball to earn his first victory with the Orioles in his third start with the club since being acquired from the Cubs earlier this month.
Maicer Izturis plated three of Toronto's four runs, while starter Josh Johnson (1-5) was touched for all seven runs on seven hits over six frames to take the loss.
The Blue Jays have lost three of their last four games and head into the All- Star break in the cellar of the AL East at 45-49.
"It's definitely frustrating," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "These four days will be good for us. Little breather, regroup and find out what we're made of and how good we are in the second half."
The O's jumped on Johnson in the first. Nate McLouth and Manny Machado smacked consecutive singles to start the frame. After Nick Markakis flied out, Jones stroked a run-scoring single to second to plate McLouth.
Davis then launched his 27th double of the season into right field to score Machado and Jones before crossing the plate two batters later on J.J. Hardy's single to left to make it 4-0.
Davis added to his first-half power surge in the third when he followed Jones' one-out walk with an opposite-field blast to push the lead to 6-0.
Izturis' two-out, two-run single in the fourth brought the Blue Jays within four, but Jones launched a two-out solo shot to right center in the fifth to make it 7-2 in favor of Baltimore.
Toronto chased Feldman in the eighth when Jose Reyes ripped a one-out single to center. Tommy Hunter entered and grounded out Jose Bautista, but Edwin Encarnacion came through with a base hit to center to score Reyes.
After grounding out Adam Lind to end the eighth, Hunter issued a leadoff double to Colby Rasmus in the ninth before Izturis followed with an RBI single to left to bring the Jays within 7-4.
Baltimore closer Jim Johnson took over on the mound and struck out J.P. Arencibia before giving up a single to Brett Lawrie. Johnson bounced back by inducing a fielder's choice from Emilio Bonifacio before fanning Reyes to end the game and nail down his league-leading 33rd save of the season.
Game Notes
Feldman was 0-4 in 12 career appearances against the Blue Jays coming into the contest ... Toronto had won five of its past six versus Baltimore ... The Blue Jays went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.
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