Grichuk wields broom, Blue Jays sweep O's

Randal Grichuk swept the Orioles this week at Camden Yards, and he brought the Blue Jays along with him.

Grichuk’s two home runs powered the Blue Jays’ 5-2 win in Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon, and he’s suddenly one of baseball’s hottest hitters. Over the three games at Camden Yards, Grichuk went 6-for-14 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. That ties him with Blue Jays greats Edwin Encarnación and Joe Carter for the second-most RBIs in a three-game series in club history, trailing only Josh Phelps’ 13 back in 2004.

• Box score

“His approach is great,” said manager Charlie Montoyo after the win. “It was great in Spring Training, in Summer Camp, and he’s kept it going.”

After starting the season by going 11 games without an extra-base hit, Grichuk has six home runs in his last six games. He just missed a third, too, with a fly ball to the base of the wall in left field in the eighth. The timing couldn’t be better, either, for a lineup in need after star shortstop Bo Bichette was placed on the injured list with a right knee injury earlier this week.

Montoyo moved Grichuk down to the cleanup spot from the No. 2 hole for Wednesday’s finale, a switch that was part of a larger shuffle with Cavan Biggio out of the starting lineup. Once his lineup is healthy and clicking, Montoyo has another movable chip, as Grichuk sure didn’t miss a step.

“I was hoping there were a couple of guys ahead of him getting on base, because I know he’s so hot,” Montoyo said. “Instead of a two-run homer, he could hit a three-run homer, but he’s been great. You might see him hitting second tomorrow.”

Grichuk was the entire offense for the Blue Jays early, which had to be frustrating for Orioles left-hander Tommy Milone.

Milone pitched well against the rest of Toronto’s lineup, striking out seven and not issuing a walk, but he’ll be happy to see Grichuk leave town.

“He was on some kind of fire against us,” Milone said. “He had been hitting well anyway, but the power numbers just showed up in time for us, I guess. He's just hot, and today he hit a couple of mistakes I left out over the plate. When someone is hot like that, that is what's going to happen."

Milone's Toronto counterpart, Tanner Roark, held up his end of the bargain with a fitting performance for the self-proclaimed “grinder.” He didn’t have his best control out of the gate and ran his pitch count up early, but he managed to hold the Orioles to two runs (one earned) on nine hits and one walk over five innings.

“I was attacking a lot more with my fastball,” Roark said, “and I used that throughout every at-bat. Having my offspeed work off of that, that’s who I am. When I work off my fastball, it makes everything else better.”

Toronto needed those five innings, at the bare minimum, on a thin bullpen day with a doubleheader scheduled for Thursday against the Phillies. After Ryan Borucki and Thomas Hatch combined to get the Blue Jays to the ninth, Rafael Dolis recorded his first MLB save since 2012 with Jordan Romano and Anthony Bass unavailable.