Orioles' Davis goes deep twice, becomes 1st to reach 40 homers

There's a new leader in the quest to become this year's home run king.

Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis crushed a pair of homers Friday night versus the Toronto Blue Jays to become the first player to hit 40 this season.

Davis, who will become a free agent this fall, belted a solo shot to right field off Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison in the top of the second inning.

Davis took Hutchison for another ride in the sixth, lifting a two-run bomb to left field to reach the 40-homer plateau for the second time in his career. He is the first player in Orioles history to record multiple 40-homer seasons.

(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)

"There's a lot of great players who have come through Baltimore," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said postgame. "That's quite a feat. That's impressive."

Baltimore's cleanup man now has five homers in three games this month, and is the first Orioles hitter to enjoy back-to-back multi-homer games since Luke Scott in May of 2009.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Nelson Cruz entered play Friday leading all players with 39 homers, but will miss a few games with a quad injury.

Davis' career high is 53 long balls, set back in 2013.

Baltimore prevailed 10-2 in the contest to improve to 65-69 and keep its slim playoff hopes alive.

"This was a big win for us," Davis said. "(Toronto) is playing well, they're obviously at the top of the division, making a run for it. It was big for us to come in here and have the kind of game that we had."

Toronto's lead atop the American League East shrank to a half-game with the loss, as the New York Yankees dropped the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2.