The Orioles and Blue Jays sent their top starters to the mound today as each tried to help his team claim the series win. Dylan Cease was not on his game, but kept the Orioles off the board through the first four innings. Trevor Rogers, on the other hand, looked very good through four innings before falling apart in the fifth. Between the Orioles’ offense failing to capitalize, Rogers’s fifth-inning funk, and a disastrous relief appearance, it spelled another loss for the Orioles.
Things started off so well. Cease struggled with control from the get-go and walked leadoff batter Dylan Beavers. Pete Alonso singled, then Gunnar Henderson worked the first of his three walks in the game. With the bases loaded and no outs, they were poised for a breakout inning against one of the best pitchers in baseball. They failed.
Coby Mayo started his at-bat 3-0, then saw four more pitches: a called strike and three fouls. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Coby took what was called ball four. The call was challenged by the Blue Jays; the ball barely nicked the strike zone.
After that productive but ultimately unsuccessful at-bat, Samuel Basallo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand were the opposite. They struck out too, but looked overmatched (especially Basallo).
Cease threw 33 pitches, which was the only solace in the inning. Rogers, in contrast, needed just 12 pitches in his four-batter first. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled to kick off his big day at the plate.
The Blue Jays took the lead in the second inning. Charles McAdoo singled, then stole second base. With one out, Andrés Giménez hit a pop-up to left field. None of Beavers, Encarnacion-Strand, or Henderson could get to it. Encarnacion-Strand made a diving attempt but it deflected off his glove. Beavers got to the ball pretty quickly after it landed, but McAdoo ran all the way and scored easily. It was an interesting choice given it was hardly a given the ball would fall in, but it worked.
The Orioles had another chance in the third inning, when Henderson and Mayo worked back-to-back walks with two outs. But Basallo popped out on the first pitch to end the inning.
Rogers worked around a Guerrero double and a walk in the third, then pitched a 1-2-3 fourth inning. Guerrero had yet to homer at home this season, which is wild. His double came mere feet from breaking his 0-fer. His drought would only last a little bit longer.
In the top of the fifth, the Orioles tied the game. Beavers doubled, then Alonso singled him in to make the score 1-1. It was Alonso’s 100th RBI this season, tops in the American League. We like Pete! Henderson followed with another walk, but both he and Alonso were stranded.
Then, the bottom of the fifth. Rogers went from holding his own to falling apart in a matter of moments. He got two easy outs to start off. Next up, George Springer, who homered. Then Guerrero, who hit his first Rogers Centre home run of the year. Then Kazuma Okamoto went deep. Guerrero and Okamoto both homered on a full count. Before you could blink twice, the Orioles were down 4-1.
Cease, who walked five batters but only allowed one run, was out after five innings. Rogers came back for a 1-2-3 sixth. His final pitching line: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
After the bullpens took over, the Blue Jays held the Orioles. The Orioles did not hold the Blue Jays.
Beavers singled in the sixth, his third time on base. Coby Mayo picked up his first hit in the seventh. And Leody Taveras singled off tough submariner Tyler Rogers in the eighth. (My daughter, watching along with me: “Why does that guy throw underhand?!”)
Craig Albernaz turned to Yaramil Hiraldo after Rogers exited. Just added to the roster today, the idea seemed to be to have him close out the game barring an Orioles comeback (lol) . He pitched a scoreless seventh inning, though it was bumpy. He issued a walk and gave up Guerrero’s fourth hit of the game. He returned for the eighth inning and things got very bad.
Nathan Lukes walked, then Hiraldo got the next two batters. He was so close to a non-disaster! But Brandon Valenzuela singled, then Myles Straw walked to load the bases. Relief pitcher Cam Sanders had been warming up and was surely ready to come into the game.
As Straw jogged down to first base, the camera panned to Albernez decidedly doing nothing in the Orioles dugout. Hiraldo, who had thrown 43 pitches and clearly did not have it, was left in to face Boston Bateman. He walked Bateman to make the score 5-1. Finally, Hiraldo was removed.
Sanders came in to face George Springer. Springer hit a line drive to left-center field. It looked like it might hang up for Beavers to catch, but sank as he approached. Beavers kind of waved his glove at the ball as it sailed past him and went to the wall. All three runs scored.
A better outfielder would have caught that ball. But even Beavers should have gotten a glove on it and kept the worst from happening. I like what Beavers has been doing at the plate lately, but his defense remains upsetting. Guerrero was finally retired to end the inning. The damage was one.
The heart of the order attempted a comeback in the top of the ninth. Alonso and Henderson singled back-to-back, but Coby Mayo struck out. The Orioles had pinch-hit for Basallo with Jeremiah Jackson earlier in the game, so Yohel Pozo batted instead. He promptly hit into a game-ending double play.
Orioles lose, 8-1. They now sit at 72-78. Tomorrow, they start a three-game series against the Mets in New York. I expect we’ll see Pete Alonso hit his 300th career home run sometime during the series. Something to look forward to.
