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TORONTO -- The series opener between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles was a pitchers duel for the first five innings. It turned into a power game after that and Torontos boppers were up to the task. Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie and Melky Cabrera belted three-run homers as the Blue Jays dumped the Orioles 9-3 on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre. Encarnacion got things started in the sixth inning, Lawrie would later give the Jays the lead and Cabrera added some insurance as Toronto improved to 11-9 on the season. "Home runs come in handy," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "Home runs do win. We had the three big ones." Nelson Cruz hit a three-run shot for Baltimore (9-10) in the top half of the sixth inning before Encarnacion ended his 25-game home run drought to pull Toronto even. Lawrie, from Langley, B.C., cracked the tie in the eighth inning with a blast off Evan Meek (0-1) to help make a winner of reliever Steve Delabar (2-0). Cabrera, who has hit safely in 19 of 20 games this season, went deep off Josh Stinson later in the frame. Juan Francisco and Josh Thole chipped in with two hits apiece for the Blue Jays, who outhit the Orioles 9-8. Toronto starter R.A. Dickey and Baltimores Miguel Gonzalez were both in form early on. Dickey was the first to hiccup in the sixth inning after Baltimore got a rally started by taking advantage of some sloppy defence. Steve Lombardozzi hit a flare to shallow left field that dropped in between Cabrera and Jose Reyes. Both Blue Jays seemed to think the other had a read on the ball but neither did. Lombardozzi reached second on the play and Nick Markakis followed with a walk. Cruz then stepped into a 1-1 fastball for his fourth homer of the season. Dickey recorded the next two outs but then loaded the bases by walking Steve Clevenger, hitting Delmon Young with a pitch and walking Ryan Flaherty. A Jonathan Schoop strikeout kept the damage to just three runs. A Baltimore error helped the Blue Jays rally in the bottom half. Cabrera reached when Lombardozzi flubbed a grounder and Jose Bautista singled to set the stage for Encarnacion, who launched a blast into the first row of standing-room only seats above the first deck in centre field. "Hes a home run hitter," Gibbons said. "To get that first one, Im sure hes breathing a little bit easier." It was the fourth-longest home run drought of Encarnacions career. Gonzalez, who struck out a season-high seven batters, lasted 5 2/3 innings as Baltimore fell to 5-6 on the road this season. "With Encarnacion you cant double up, youve got to keep the ball down and make better pitches," Gonzalez said. The Baltimore starter allowed four hits and two earned runs while walking a pair. "Miguel was very close there," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "If we do a couple of things differently he probably pitches six or seven innings. He had good stuff obviously. He gave us a good chance to win. I cant fault his effort." Dickey struggled again when he came back out for the seventh inning but got a big assist from the Toronto bullpen. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Neil Wagner came on in relief and got Cruz to ground out. Southpaw Brett Cecil relieved Wagner and walked Chris Davis to load the bases. Cecil got cleanup hitter Adam Jones to wave at three straight pitches before striking out Clevenger to snuff the threat. "Thats the ballgame right there," Gibbons said. "But our bullpen is good. Weve had a couple hiccups in the past week but our bullpen is as good as anybodys." Delabar came on for the eighth inning and put a runner on with a one-out walk. Jonathan Diaz and Reyes then combined for a nice 4-6-3 double play to retire the side. Notes: Dickey, who tied a season high with six strikeouts, was pulled after facing two batters in the seventh inning. He allowed six hits, three earned runs and three walks. It was his second quality start of the season. ... The crowd let out a cheer when the halftime score of the Toronto Raptors NBA playoff game was shown on the big screen. The Raptors led Brooklyn 45-39 after two quarters and went on to beat the Nets 100-95. ... Cabrera has five homers on the season, one more than Lawrie. ... Announced attendance was 14,866 and the game took two hours 54 minutes to play. ... Dustin McGowan (1-1) is scheduled to start the second game of the three-game series on Wednesday. The Orioles will counter with fellow right-hander Chris Tillman (1-0). ... The Blue Jays will close out the homestand with a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox. ... It was the fifth game of a seven-game road trip for the Orioles, who were coming off a four-game series split in Boston. ... Bautista has reached base safely in all 20 games this season. Its the teams longest season-opening streak of its kind since Vernon Wells reached base safely in 29 straight games to open the 2006 campaign. ... 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"Thats our goal.MONTREAL -- Adonis Stevensons has an approach to fighting much taller opponents -- the bigger they come, the harder they fall. The 36-year-old Montreal fighter will put that to the test in the second defence of his World Boxing Council light heavyweight title when he faces six-foot-three Englishman Tony Bellow on Nov. 30 at the Pepsi Colisee in Quebec City. "I fought Chad Dawson, who is six foot three. He go down," the five-foot-10 Stevenson said Thursday. "I fought Aaron Pryor (Jr.), who was six-foot-five. He go down. "It doesnt matter." The two fighters and their promoters held news conferences in Quebec City and Montreal to announce the bout. The co-feature will be another light heavyweight title clash between hard-hitting Russian Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1), the World Boxing Organization champion, and Ismayl Sillakh (21-1) of Ukraine. The bouts are to be aired on the U.S. specialty channel HBO. The southpaw Stevenson (22-1, 19 knockouts), the only Canadian with a world title from one of the major sanctioning bodies, has become one of the rising stars of boxing with his devastating punching power. He won the WBC belt and The Ring magazine title as linear champion with a thundering left hook only 76 seconds into his bout with Dawson in June. He followed that on Sept. 28. by pounding former IBF champ Tavoris Cloud so badly that the challenger quit after seven rounds. Bellew was in the Bell Centre audience for that one. Bellew (20-1-1) became mandatory challenger with a 12-round decision over Isaac Chilemba in May. The Liverpool native, who will be fighting on his 31st birthday, felt Dawson took Stevenson lightly and that Cloud went in unprepared. He said he wont make those mistakes. "I dont believe he has fought someone as hungry, someone who will show him that much respect and someone who will come with a game plan," said Bellew. "I dont think he wants to fight a six-foot-three guy who can box. "Its a bit of a danger for him." Bellew is a former Commonwealth champion who lost a previous world title attempt by majority decision to WBO champ Nathan Cleverly in Liverpool in 2011. He has won five fights in a row since then. He will perform outside England for the first time, but says hes looking forward to it. "Ive wanted to do this my whole career," he ssaid.dddddddddddd"I sell 10,000 seats easily in Liverpool. "That brings huge pressure. Ive always wanted to get away and do something not many from my home town have done." Bellew respects Stevensons power, but disputes the comparisons with former heavyweight great and knockout artist Mike Tyson the Canadian has drawn. "Hes kidding a lot of people," he said. "After the Dawson fight, people have him down as some sort of Mike Tyson. "Hes the total opposite. Hes an out and out counter puncher. He fights off fear. He doesnt want to get hit. Hes felt what it likes to be knocked out. Thats something Ive never felt." Stevensons only loss was by second-round knockout in 2010 to journeyman Darnell Boone, who was 16-15-2 at the time. Not long after, Stevenson, a one-dimension boxer, was taken under the wing of legendary trainer Emanuel Steward to add some technique to his power. Steward died last year of an intestinal disorder, but his nephew Javan (Sugar) Hill has kept the same program. Stevensons skills are noticeably better, but it is still the stunning force of his blows that win his fights. Many opponents have gone in confident they can outbox him until they take the first hammer-like shot. "Im under no illusions," said Bellew. "This is the top level. "Hes the man of the moment with HBO. Theyve labelled him the new Tyson. Hes this, hes that. But just for a second, look past all the hype and look deeper into the record. If you look, I aint facing Superman. Hes been knocked out by a journeyman. If Darnell Boone can do it, so can I." Its been just two months between fights for Stevenson, so he will have little break from heavy training. Fatigue may be a factor. Stevenson said he just wants to get the mandatory defence out of the way so he can concentrate on bigger bouts in 2014. "My last fight, I didnt get hit," he said. "Thats why I took this fight. I just want to finish with that, but after that Im going to have a good break." Promoter Yvon Michel said that if Stevenson wins, his next fight is not likely to be a unification bout with Kovalev, who may end up facing Jean Pascal. Pascal is to fight Lucian Bute in a long-anticipated showdown between former world champions from Montreal on January 18 at the Bell Centre. 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