The scorching hot Blue Jays first baseman staked Toronto to a huge lead that even a four-run O’s ninth couldn’t overcome.
In the top of the ninth inning of tonight’s game in Toronto, we saw the Orioles at their best: getting on base, passing the baton, putting together good at-bats and erupting for a multi-run rally.
Unfortunately, for the eight innings before that, we saw the Orioles at their worst: pitching poorly, playing shoddy defense, and taking overaggressive, futile at-bats at the plate. And in the end, they dug themselves into a hole even a ninth-inning explosion couldn’t help them climb out of, falling by a 7-6 score.
That ninth inning was pretty cool, though. The Orioles entered the inning in what appeared to be an insurmountable 7-2 deficit, seemingly limping to the finish line, only to jump all over former O’s prospect Zach Pop for three consecutive singles to start the inning. At that point, it became a save situation, even in a five-run game, so Blue Jays manager John Schneider turned to closer Chad Green.
Green got a quick first out, retiring Jackson Holliday on a grounder to third that plated a run, but Cedric Mullins delivered a big hit, roping an RBI double to left to make it a 7-4 game and bring the tying run to the plate. Again, Green picked up a big out, whiffing pinch-hitter Eloy Jiménez, but on a 2-2 count he couldn’t put away Colton Cowser, who smacked a clutch single into right field. Both runners scored, and suddenly it was a 7-6 game with Anthony Santander — who twice homered the previous night — representing the potential go-ahead run.
The Rogers Centre crowd of 27,910, which had been on its feet in anticipation of the final out, was suddenly in a state of panic. Were their Blue Jays really going to blow this? A five-run lead in the ninth? Green, fortunately for them and unfortunately for the Orioles, finally restored order, retiring Santander on a lazy flyout to seal the Blue Jays win.
This was a game that, until that ninth inning, was on its way to being a forgettable, lopsided defeat for the Orioles, thanks to a shaky Dean Kremer and an unstoppable Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Things did not begin well for Kremer (or end well, but we’ll get to that later). After George Springer led off the game with a single, Kremer committed the grievous error of walking Daulton Varsho, bringing up Guerrero with two on and none out.
You might recall Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as the hitter who Orioles pitchers have never gotten out, ever. Look it up. (Don’t look it up.) In all seriousness, though, Guerrero entered the game batting an unfathomable .439/.549/.829 in 12 games against the Orioles this season, with eight of his 18 hits going for extra bases. He’s also, more or less, the only good hitter in the Blue Jays lineup.
But by putting the two batters ahead of him on base, Kremer didn’t want to pitch around Guerrero. So…get ready for pain. Sure enough, Guerrero laced a double to the wall in right-center, bringing home a run and putting two more in scoring position.
After Kremer struck out Spencer Horwitz, he made the mistake of starting and then stopping his windup to Alejandro Kirk, resulting in a run-scoring balk. Fun fact: that was the first balk of Kremer’s major league career, in 450 innings pitched. And his first time doing it had to be when there was a runner at third base? Not cool, Dean.
Kirk promptly singled home the remaining runner and made it a 3-0 Blue Jays lead. A completely out-of-sorts Kremer then uncorked a wild pitch before finally getting the last two outs, having to throw 28 pitches to get through the opening frame.
For what it’s worth, Kremer followed with three scoreless innings, and looked as if he could settle into a quality start after all. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays didn’t do the O’s the favor of releasing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the middle of the game, so he torched them again in the fifth. For the second time, Kremer inexplicably walked Varsho immediately ahead of him. Dean…what are you doing, man? Like, you know what order the batters are coming up, right? Maybe don’t walk the .203 hitter to face Guerrero?
Alas, first base was again clogged when Vlad came up. Kremer probably still should’ve just walked Guerrero, to be honest, but instead he tried to pitch to him, with predictably disastrous results. He hung a four-seam fastball in the middle of the zone, and 376 feet later, Guerrero had his fifth homer of the year against the Birds. Just stop pitching to him!
Kremer didn’t make it out of that inning, giving up five runs in 4.1 innings. With Grayson Rodriguez on the shelf for at least two turns through the rotation and probably more, another starter is going to have to step up, and Kremer very much did not.
Not that Kremer was the only O’s pitcher burned by Guerrero on this night. The slugger stepped to the plate again in the sixth with a runner at first and two outs after a Kirk RBI single off Ryan Mountcastle’s glove. Brandon Hyde turned to Bryan Baker, making his first appearance since returning from Triple-A. Yes, Bryan Baker. To face Vladimir Guerrero Jr. One more time, folks:
I mean, what did Hyde think was going to happen? Guerrero of course crushed a ball, and miscast right fielder Ryan O’Hearn played it poorly near the wall, allowing Guerrero to scramble around the bases for an RBI triple, his 21st hit of the year against the Orioles. Just unbelievable what this guy is doing to the O’s, and even more unbelievable that they continue to throw him anything near the strike zone. At that point Guerrero was just a single shy of the cycle, but he didn’t get another at-bat in the game.
Meanwhile, the O’s lineup had its hands full against former Oriole Kevin Gausman, who has had a pretty disappointing season, not that you’d know it based on tonight’s performance. Gausman retired the first eight batters — seven on flyouts — on just 25 pitches before a two-out rally in the third. Ramón Urías patiently worked a walk, and Colton Cowser jumped on a first-pitch sinker and powered it the opposite way for a two-run homer. Nice one, Colton! At the time, that made it just a one-run game, and the O’s looked like they were in business, putting the next two runners on base before Ryan O’Hearn grounded out.
But, as quickly as the O’s had shown signs of life, they suddenly went dead again. They never again mounted any kind of attack against Gausman, who retired them with such efficiency and ease that he ended up pitching eight innings with exactly 100 pitches. Cowser’s dinger was one of only three hits he allowed. Gausman only had two strikeouts, but the Birds didn’t make a ton of hard contact against him.
It wasn’t until that eventful ninth inning that the Birds’ offense came alive, but a day late and a dollar short as they took a disappointing series loss in Toronto. At least the Yankees also lost a series to a bad team (the Angels), so the O’s remain tied for first in the AL East. Now let’s try to carry over some of that ninth-inning momentum to the Orioles’ next stop in Tampa Bay.