A homestand, featuring a good team, a bad team, and the Blue Jays. The Orioles, currently locked in a battle for the division lead with the Yankees, are up first.
The Story So Far:
The teams first met in the middle of May. The Orioles had come out of the gate on fire, although their 26-13 record just barely had them ahead of the Yankees. The Jays meanwhile had begun to dig themselves a hole - they went into Baltimore having lost 12 of 17 and tumbling into last place.
Monday 13 May: Toronto 3 Baltimore 2 - A fine pitcher's duel. Jose Berrios limited the Orioles to just three hits over seven innings. Two of those hits were homers off the bat of Adley Rutschman, and Corbin Burnes turned a 2-1 lead over to his bullpen. They couldn't hold it - Varsho homered off Cano to tie the game in the eighth, and his groundout scored the Zombie Runner with the winning run in the tenth. Jordan Romano worked the final two innings without allowing a hit.
Tuesday 14 May: It rained. They played the make-=up game last week.
Wednesday 15 May: Toronto 2 Baltimore 3 - Another well-pitched game. Jordan Westburg led off the Baltimore first with a homer off Yusei Kikuchi, but a Bichette double off Bradish scored Springer and Guerrero to give the Jays a 2-1 lead in the third. And it stayed that way, as each team got scoreless work from four relievers. That took us to the bottom of the ninth, and Toronto's fifth reliever was Jordan Romano, who allowed a leadoff single to Westburg and a walk-off homer to Rutschman. The winning team went 0-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 men on base.
They met again three weeks later in Toronto. Despite their shiny 37-20 record, the Orioles had slipped three games behind the Yankees. The Blue Jays had just won five of six and were crawling back towards .500.
Monday 3 June: Baltimore 7 Toronto 2 - The Orioles jumped on Kevin Gausman, with a pair of two-run homers from Santander and Hays giving them a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning. Grayson Rodriguez scattered seven hits, one of them a Guerrero homer.
Tuesday 4 June: Baltimore 10 Toronto 1 - Alek Manoah had just gone on the IL, so Trevor Richards started against Orioles ace Corbin Burnes. Richards delivered two scoreless innings, and then everything went to hell. Cabrera gave the Orioles a walk and a hit batter. Rutschman singled in one run and the call went out for Bowden Francis. Ryan Mountcastle greeted him with a three run homer and it was suddenly 4-0. Two innings later, they did it again. Another RBI single from Rutschman, another homer from Mountcastle. The Jays could only muster a late homer from Springer.
Wednesday 5 June: Baltimore 2 Toronto 3 - The Orioles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second on a Santander homer, and a Urias double to score Mullins. The Jays promptly tied it up in their half - Springer walked, Turner doubled and both eventually scored on a Kirk sac fly and Kiner-Falefa single. Then no one could score for the longest while. The Jays best chance came in the sixth, when Bichette led off with a double - he somehow failed to score on Kirk's two out single. But they won in the ninth. Turner led off with a single, and Biggio ran for him. Kimbrel picked him off, but the ball got away, and Biggio took second, from where he scored the winning run on Kiner-Falefa's single.
Thursday 6 June: Baltimore 5 Toronto 6 - The Jays salvaged the series split behind a strong outing from Kikuchi. Guerrero's three run homer in the third staked him to an early lead, and Kikuchi exited after six with a 6-1 lead. The bullpen made it a little too interesting - Rutschman hit a two-run homer off Pop in the eighth, and O'Hearn hit a two-run homer off Garcia in the ninth.
Which brings us to last week. By which time the Orioles had reclaimed their spot atop the AL East, and the Jays were being sold for parts.
Monday July 29 (Game One): Toronto 5 Baltimore 11 - Yariel Rodriguez needed a GPS to find home plate. He didn't have one. He walked the first three hitters he saw, then gave up an RBI single to Mountcastle. But a K and a groundout had him one out away from escape when - catcher's interference on Kirk and yet another walk, this time with the bases loaded. He then capped his afternoon by hitting James McCann in the face with a fastball. It was 7-0 before the Jays showed signs of life, in the form of Addison Barger's three run homer in the seventh. The Orioles instantly tacked on another three runs against the other Y. Rodriguez to put an end to that nonsense.
Monday July 29 (Game Two): Toronto 8 Baltinore 4 - A see-saw affair for a while - the Jays scored against Povich in the first on Clement's double scoring Guerrero, so the Orioles scored against Francis in their half on a Cowser homer. The Jays scored twice against Povich in the second. Berroa singled to score Kiermaier, who had two hits in his last game as a Blue Jay. Berroa then stole second, took third on an error and scored on a groundout. So the Orioles responded with two in their half, an O'Hearn double and a Westburg homer. But Francis settled in after that and the Jays kept scoring. Three Baltimore errors didn't hurt. Guerrero had four hits, all for extra bases - a homer and three doubles.
Tuesday July 30: Toronto 2 Baltimore 6 - Chris Bassitt was a little too hittable on a day when he was matched with Burnes. Santander's first inning double scored Henderson, and things got really bad in the third. Urias led off with a homer, and singles from Cowser, Rutschman, and Henderson loaded the bases. The old 1-2-3 DP gave Bassitt a chance to escape, but O'Hearn followed with a two-run single and it was 4-0, and Burnes allowed just four hits while pitching into the seventh.
Wednesday July 31: Toronto 4 Baltimore 10 - Could the Jays escape Charm City with a split? They could not. The Orioles scored against Pablo Espino in each of the first three innings. The Jays kept responding, one run at a time, and were only trailing 4-3 when Yerry Rodriguez relieved Espino in the fifth. He loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter, and then served up Jackson Holliday's first major league homer. With the bases loaded. Luis De Los Santos made his MLB debut as a defensive replacement.
Matchups
Tue 6 Aug - G. Rodriguez (13-4, 3.86) vs Bassitt (8-10, 4.02)
Wed 7 Aug - Rogers (2-10, 4.76) vs Francis (4-3, 5.64)
Thu 8 Aug - Kremer (4-8, 4.39) vs Gausman (9-8, 4.56)
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