Toronto at Baltimore, August 22-24

The Blue Jays versus the Orioles in 2023 has been a Grim and Terrible Saga. Good times have been few and far between.

The Story So Far

It began with the Orioles paying a visit back in May.

Fri 19 May: Baltimore 6 Toronto 2 - Mountcastle's three run homer off Kikuchi staked the Orioles to a 3-1 lead in the third inning. A solo shot from Santander in the sixth (off Richards) and a two run homer by Frazier (off Swanson) in the ninth did the rest of the damage. Kyle Gibson pitched seven strong innings, scattering five hits and holding the Jays to just a single run.

Sat 20 May: Baltimore 6 Toronto 5 - An interesting, and ultimately frustrating game. This was the game when John Schneider finally broke up the Manoah-Kirk combination that had been in place for almost all of Manoah's major league career. And it seemed to work - Manoah, with Danny Jansen behind the plate, actually looked like a competent major league pitcher once again. Manoah pitched into the sixth, and came out of the game largely because his manager made a visit to the mound. Evidently, he'd forgotten that his pitching coach had already made a mound visit that inning. Naturally Jansen hurt himself and went on the IL before Manoah's turn came around again, and after going 0-3, 14.73 in his next three starts, Manoah was sent back to the shop for Major Fixes. As for the rest of the game - the Jays took a 5-2 lead into the eighth inning, with homers from Springer and Jansen leading the attack. But in the eighth, the Orioles put a couple of men on against Erik Swanson. Schneider summoned Jordan Romano for a five out save. Romano got one out, but Ryan O'Hearn tied the game with a three run homer. The Orioles cashed the Zombie Runner in their half of the tenth and Felix Bautista struck out the side to nail it down.

Sun 21 May: Baltimore 8 Toronto 3 - This was a close, absorbing game for most of the afternoon. A Chapman homer staked the Jays to an early lead, but the Orioles cashed a pair in the third. Ortiz led off with a double, Mullins followed with a single, and they both came around to score on a groundout and a failed fielder's choice. The Jays eventually tied it up against reliever Mychal Givens and we went to extras. The Orioles immediately cashed the Zombie Runner against Nate Pearson in their half of the tenth, but the Jays quickly did likewise in their half. So Yimi Garcia came out for the eleventh. He struck out Mountcastle, which seemed a promising start - it was Mountcastle, after all. Garcia then gave up base hits to each of the next four batters, allowing three runs to score, and after getting a second out, concluded his disastrous day by giving up a two run double to Mullins. And the Orioles had completed the sweep.

And yet, there was a positive - Toronto pitchers held notorious Blue Jay killer Ryan Mountcastle to one measly hit in twelve at bats. Granted, it was a three-run homer that more or less settled matters in the first game. But after that - nothing! Something to build on. Something to give hope for the future.

A few weeks later, the Blue Jays visited Camden Yards, and things went only slightly better despite the fact that Mountcastle didn't even play in any of these games - he was beginning what would turn out to be a month-long stint on the IL with vertigo related issues. Did the Jays take advantage of the opportunity afforded by his absence? Not really.

Tue 13 June: Toronto 6 Baltimore 11 - It started well enough. Springer led off with a double, Guerrero singled him home, and Bassitt worked a scoreless first inning. But in the second, Hays doubled and scored on Frazier's homer to put the Orioles ahead. And in, - the third, everything went to hell. Santander led off with a single, and O'Hearn followed with a homer to put the Orioles up 4-1. The Orioles then loaded the bases for Gunnar Henderson, who cleared them with his first career grand slam. The Orioles would tack on three more against Francis and White and take an 11-2 lead. Over the last two innings, the Jays would score four times against the back end of the bullpen.

Wed 14 June: Toronto 3 Baltimore 1 - The Jays finally defeat the Orioles, thanks mainly to Jose Berrios, who provided 7.2 innings of three hit shutout. Kyle Bradish was pretty sharp for the Orioles, allowing only a Springer solo homer over his seven innings. The Jays tacked on two more in the eighth on a Kiermaier single and doubles from Merrifield and Bichette. They were needed, as Romano made things a little too interesting with two out in the ninth, allowing three straight hits and putting the tying run on base before fanning Frazier to end it.

Thu 15 June: Toronto 2 Baltimore 4 - A pair of solo homers from Jansen had the Jays up 2-1 in the fifth, but the Orioles tied it up and chased Kikuchi that same inning. Yimi Garcia got the first two outs in the sixth, but three straight singles, from Hays, Rutschman, and Santander, plated the go-ahead run, and that would be enough on this day.

And about three weeks ago, the Orioles made their second visit to Toronto, and once more, largely had things go their way. Mountcastle was back in the lineup, presumably all kinds of happy to see his old chums from Toronto. You know, the ones that have been keeping him in the league..

Mon 31 July: Baltimore 4 Toronto 2 - Nassitt struck out Rutschman and Henderson to start the game, but a walk, a single, and a wild pitch put two in scoring position for Mountcastle and you can guess the rest. The Orioles added two more in the third on a Henderson homer, A Santander double, and a Mountcastle sac fly. All this was more than enough for Kyle Gibson, who scattered four singkes over six innings.

Tue 1 August: Baltimore 13 Toronto 3 - Hyun-Jin Ryu made his long awaited return, and begun his evening like a man with a whole lot of rust to shake off - his night began double, double, single and he was down 2-0 before he'd even broken a sweat. A double and single next inning made it 3-0, at which point Ryu began to find his old form and the Jays fought back to tie the game on homers from Jansen and Belt. Ryu went back out for the sixth inning - possibly pushing things a bit in the man's first game in fourteen months - and gave up a tie-breaking homer to Henderson. The Orioles then piled on against the bullpen, scoring three runs against Cabrera (all unearned thanks to a Chapman error) and four runs against Pearson (who walked the bases full and served up a grand slam to Santander.)

Wed 2 August: Baltimore 1 Toronto 4 - Kikuchi and Rodriguez matched up in a game that was a tight pitcher's duel through six when the Orioles gave the game away. Rodriguez walked a couple and was relieved by Fujinami, who walked a third batter to load the bases and hit the next batters to score two runs and put the Jays up 3-1. A fourth run scored on a Mateo error and Garcia, Hicks, and Swanson closed it out. The Jays scored four runs on just three hits.

Thu 3 August:  Baltimore 6 Toronto 1 - Jack Flaherty made his Orioles debut and held the Jays to one run through six innings, while the batters scored three off Gausman, chasing him in the fifth. That Mountcastle fellow had four hits and a sac fly.

In these four games, Mountcastle went 11-13 with four doubles, three walks, 6 RBI, 4 runs scored. He's hitting .344/.404/.651 with 15 of his 77 career homers against Toronto. Mountcastle against Kikuchi has been an especially gruesome matchup - the Oriole has gone 7-12 with 4 HRs and 4 walks - that's a slash line of .583/.600/1.667and an OPS of 2.354 and it's hard to believe this is actually happening in the major leagues.

Can we please get a new scouting report on this guy?

Matchups
Tue 22 August - Kikuchi (9-4, 3.44) vs Rodriguez (3-3, 5.44)
Wed 23 August - Gausman (9-7, 3.24) vs Flaherty (8-8, 4.73)
Thu 24 August - Berrios (9-8, 3.39) vs Kremer (11-5, 4.50)