Playing extra innings for the third time in five games, the Orioles couldn’t match the Toronto Blue Jays’ 10th-inning rally Monday night as they spoiled six innings of one-run ball by Corbin Burnes and Adley Rutschman’s first career multi-home run game in a 3-2 loss at Camden Yards.
Burnes tossed his third consecutive quality start but was stuck with a no-decision after his offense once again failed to provide him with much run support. The right-hander entered the contest on a personal two-game losing streak after Baltimore had failed to score in either of those games. Though Rutschman’s homers did put him in line for the win heading into the late innings, Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho tied the game with a solo shot in the eighth and drove in the winning run with a groundout in the 10th.
“That’s what he does,” manager Brandon Hyde said of Burnes. “He’s kept us in every game that he’s pitched. At some point here, it’s going to turn. We’re going to score some runs for him.”
Rutschman, who also homered against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, was the Orioles’ only source of offense. The 26-year-old overtook Anthony Santander for the second-most long balls on the team with eight. Through 40 team games — about a quarter of the season — he is batting .309 and is on pace for a career-high 32 home runs and 101 RBIs. Over the past 50 years, only three catchers have hit .300 with more than 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in a season: Iván Rodríguez, Mike Piazza and Javy López.
“I think I’d just rather win,” Rutschman said of his two-homer performance. “So, I think everyone’s just focused on the team stuff. Obviously, the individual stuff is always great but I think everyone here is just focused on the next day.”
As for the rest of the Orioles offense, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn was the only other hitter to record a hit with a ground-ball single in the first inning. O’Hearn came inches away from following Rutschman with back-to-back home runs in the fourth but was robbed by Varsho, who made a leaping grab to pull the ball from back over the center field wall.
Burnes gave the Orioles a chance to win. He limited Toronto to six hits and one run while striking out two and walking two before exiting the game at 85 pitches — his fewest in any start since his season debut. Hyde said after the game that Burnes “emptied the tank” in the sixth after he worked out of several jams.
“Felt like 85 pretty stressful pitches tonight,” Burnes said. “I felt like every inning we’re kind of grinding through it. They were tough outs from the very first out of the game so you would have liked to go farther, yeah, but I was at the point where I was fatigued. … The fatigue just set in a lot faster than it has been. That’s just due to a little more traffic, a lot higher-stress innings but we’re still pleased to get through six.”
Following Rutschman’s second homer, Hyde handed the ball to Craig Kimbrel to protect a 2-1 lead. But while Kimbrel, pitching in the seventh again after being removed as closer, cruised through his third straight scoreless outing to keep the lead intact, typically reliable Yennier Cano coughed up the lead.
Cano, who had allowed only one run in the eighth inning all season, got ahead of Varsho 2-1 before leaving a changeup over the heart of the plate. The 27-year-old didn’t miss it, crushing a 408-foot home run to right field. Hyde then pulled Cano after he walked two straight batters for Danny Coulombe, who improved to 11-for-11 in stranding inheriting runners and sent the game to the ninth tied at 2.
Baltimore’s offense couldn’t string together a rally, however, as Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano shut them down in both the ninth and the 10th innings. Jacob Webb then found himself on the losing end when Hyde sent him out for the 10th. With Cavan Biggio on second base as the designated runner, the Blue Jays successfully moved him to third before Varsho, facing Keegan Akin, drove in the go-ahead run on a ground ball to the right side.
“The bottom line is we didn’t score enough runs,” Hyde said. “Berríos pitched really good. Adley with a couple solo homers. A great play by Varsho to bring back a homer. Just not enough offense tonight.”
The Orioles had gone a month without losing consecutive games, last dropping two in a row to the Milwaukee Brewers on April 12-13. They will send Kyle Bradish to the mound against the Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt for the second of three games Tuesday as they look to even the series. A win would extend their streak of consecutive regular season series of at least two decisions without being swept to 105 and tie the 1903-1915 New York Giants for the third-longest streak in MLB history behind the 1942-1944 St. Louis Cardinals (124) and 1906-1909 Chicago Cubs (115).
Blue Jays at Orioles
Tuesday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM