It was a brutal one for the Orioles with bad pitching, hitting, and defense. The trifecta!
If you had to miss this game because it was only streaming on Apple TV+, that may have been a blessing in disguise. As dominant as the Orioles were yesterday, that’s how bad they were today. The pitching struggled. The offense sputtered. The defense was no great shakes.
I still think a day with bad baseball is better than a day with no baseball, but the second half of this game tested theory that quite a bit. The offense disappeared and the bullpen looked awful. The Blue Jays easily took game two of the series by a score of 8-2.
It’s fair to say that many people were skeptical when the Orioles signed the 41-year-old Charlie Morton to a contract. I’m not writing Morton off yet, it’s only one start, but his Orioles debut didn’t inspire any reason to think this signing was a great idea.
Morton was in trouble as soon as he entered the game. He allowed two baserunners in the first inning, including Anthony Santander’s first hit as a Blue Jay. He threw about 20 pitches. Will Wagner doubled in the second inning and Morton threw about another 20 pitches.
He faced four batters in the third and went to a three-ball count on three of them, including to Vladimir Guerrero, who doubled for his second hit of the game. Santander helped out his former team by popping up a 3-0 fastball down the middle.
Watching Morton was not fun, but as long as he kept the Blue Jays off the board, I was able to tell myself it might not be that bad. It helped that the Orioles put up two runs early in the game to take the lead.
Jays starter Kevin Gausman was dealing early and retired the first seven batters he faced. He did so with a little help from his defense on back-to-back plays in the second inning. Ryan O’Hearn was robbed of a hit by a diving catch from rookie Alan Rodin. And Tyler O’Neill hit a smash to third base that Will Wagner made a snazzy play on.
With one out in the third, Jackson Holliday hit a beauty to center field. The ball sailed over the fence for a 425-foot home run, his first of the season. Great to see that from Holliday, and he followed it up with a single in his next at-bat.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Orioles scored their second run with some small ball. Adley Rutschman walked and moved to third base on a single by O’Hearn. O’Neill followed with a long fly ball that brought Rutschman in.
And that was pretty much the last good thing that happened for the Orioles in the game.
The bottom of the fourth inning was just a big old mess. Morton’s struggles finally overtook him. He loaded the bases with no outs on three straight singles, then walked in a run for good measure. He finally got an out on the next batter, but it was a long fly ball that tied the game at 2-2.
Brandon Hyde and seen enough, and he turned to long-man Albert Suárez. Suárez was not much better. He immediately threw a wild pitch that scored the Jays’ third run. After a Bo Bichette single, Guerrero knocked in the fourth run on the second sac fly of the inning. The fifth came in thanks to shaky defense.
Santander singled through the right side, and Bichette raced for third. O’Neill made a strong throw from right field to Jorge Mateo. Bichette was almost to third, so Mateo fired the ball to first base to try and catch Santander. The ball flew into the O’s dugout where it hit a water bottle and rebounded to the field. Bichette was awarded home plate. 5-2 Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays didn’t score in the fifth inning but that doesn’t mean things didn’t get dicey. George Springer singled on a fly ball that Cedric Mullins maybe should have caught. Springer then stole second base, and Rutschman made a very wide throw that went into center field. Springer went to third on the error. It was ugly.
But Adley redeemed himself! On a strikeout to Will Wagner, Rutschman caught Springer leaning at third and picked him off. It was a close play, but it held up on review.
Another run came in the sixth as Suárez allowed Nathan Lukes to single and later get to third on another wild pitch. Bichette singled again to make the score 6-2, but they got another strike-’em-out-throw-’em-out double play to avoid more damage.
So if you’re keeping track, Morton allowed four runs in 3.1 innings and Suárez allowed two runs in 2.2 innings. But wait, there’s more!
Cionel Pérez made his 2025 debut and it was a disaster. He walked Santander, then got a ground ball to second base Andrés Giménez. But Pérez tried to make a play on it and it deflected off of his glove. That kept Holliday from being able to get one out, let alone two. Great job, Cio. After a fly out, Pérez balked both runners over. Pinch hitter Ernie Clement doubled them both home for runs seven and eight.
Gregory Soto brought some dignity back to the role of relief pitcher by striking out the side in the eighth. So thanks for that, Gregory.
As for the O’s offense, after the sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, they had just one baserunner until the ninth inning. It was a Jackson Holliday
The offense made some noise with walks from Rutschman, O’Hearn, and Mullins. But Ryan Mountcastle struck out to end the game.
Kind of a crappy second game, but we still have 160 to go. Game three of the series is tomorrow at 3 p.m. with Dean Kremer facing off against Max Scherzer.