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Davis, O's hammer Blue Jays

Sep 27, 2012 - 6:20 AM Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Chris Davis and Manny Machado each homered twice and the Baltimore Orioles tied a franchise single-game record for home runs to come through with a 12-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday at Camden Yards and keep pace in the AL East race.

The Orioles belted seven homers as a team, including three during a five-run fifth inning, to creep closer to securing their first playoff berth since 1997. Baltimore, which began the night two games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for one of the AL's two wild card spots, reduced its magic number to five for a postseason bid.

"This is one of those years where everyone is just trying to pass the baton and have a good at-bat," O's manager Buck Showalter said.

Baltimore also stayed within 1 1/2 games of the first-place New York Yankees in the division standings with the win, only the club's second in its last five outings.

Davis finished with five RBI, delivering a three-run homer in the fifth and a two-run shot in the seventh, while the rookie Machado put together his first multi-homer game in the majors and knocked in three runs in the rout.

Nate McLouth, Jim Thome and Mark Reynolds also went deep to back seven sharp innings from Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez (8-4). The rookie held the Blue Jays to two runs and five hits while walking just one to help Baltimore earn a split of the four-game series.

Four of Baltimore's homers came off Toronto's Carlos Villanueva (7-7), with the right-hander shelled for six runs despite striking out seven batters in 4 2/3 innings.

"His secondary pitches were the pitches that were up over the middle of the plate that cost him," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said of Villanueva.

Edwin Encarnacion had a solo homer for the Blue Jays and Anthony Gose added an RBI single in defeat, Toronto's eighth in its last 10 contests.

Baltimore trailed 2-1 when the 41-year-old Thome began the fifth-inning outburst with his 612th career home run, and the 20-year-old Machado registered a solo shot three batters later to give the Orioles a 3-2 advantage.

McLouth and J.J. Hardy followed with consecutive singles before Davis launched Villanueva's final offering of the night over the wall in right center for a three-run homer and a 6-2 Baltimore lead.

Reynolds got into the act in the sixth, producing a two-run blast off reliever Joel Carreno that extended the Orioles' margin to 8-2, and Davis reached the seats with an opposite-field two-run shot off Chad Beck in the seventh that continued the barrage.

Machado capped Baltimore's power binge with a two-run connection off David Carpenter in the bottom of the eighth. The seven homers matched a team high established at Boston on May 17, 1967 and reprised in a 17-3 win over the Angels on Aug. 26, 1985.

Davis, meanwhile, kept up his season-long domination of Blue Jays pitching. In 17 games this year, the left-handed slugger has swatted nine homers and knocked in 17 runs while batting .393 (24-of-61).

Encarnacion clubbed his 42nd home run of the season to give Toronto a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Orioles quickly answered when McLouth greeted Villaneuva with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the frame.

The game remained deadlocked at 1-1 until the top of the fifth, when Toronto's J.P. Arencibia doubled and crossed the plate on a one-out single by Gose.

Gonzalez settled down afterward, retiring the final eight Blue Jays he faced after Gose's base hit and exiting with a comfortable 10-2 lead.

Game Notes

Prior to the game, the Orioles placed veteran pitcher Randy Wolf on the 60-day disabled list with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow and purchased the contract of utilityman Bill Hall from Triple-A Norfolk ... Villanueva has now served up 10 homers over 26 2/3 innings in five September starts and has gone 0-3 over that stretch ... Baltimore ended the season series between the teams with an 11-7 advantage and won seven of its nine matchups with the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.