Dylan Beavers homered on the second pitch of the game.
That was the warning. What followed was a 7-4 loss for the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Friday night, a game that started badly, got worse in the second inning, and ended with the tying run at the plate and nothing to show for it.
The Orioles put up six runs in the second inning before Max Scherzer found his footing. Baltimore opened the frame with four straight singles, scoring two. A double made it 4-0. Another single pushed it to 6-0. Scherzer then retired the next 12 batters without allowing a hit, but the damage was done.
Scherzer finished with 5 innings, 7 hits, 6 earned runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. The only positive, as the recap notes, was that he ate innings.
The bottom of the first had already gone sideways before the Orioles piled on. With two on and one out, Vladimir Guerrero was picked off first base. The recap calls it "just bad baseball," noting that with a runner on second, Guerrero wasn't going anywhere. Baltimore put on a play, pitching low and outside to Alejandro Kirk while catcher Samuel Basallo threw straight to first. Guerrero was out by a distance.
Toronto's offense chipped away but never closed the gap. Kazuma Okamoto hit his 31st home run of the season in the fourth inning. In the sixth, Nathan Lukes singled, Okamoto doubled, and Andrés Giménez drove in a run with a groundout.
The ninth inning brought the most life. With two outs, Ernie Clement doubled, and Brett Bateman homered to make it 7-4. George Springer and Guerrero followed with singles, bringing the tying run to the plate. Kirk grounded out to end the game.
The Jays finished with 10 hits. Bateman had three, including the home run. Springer and Okamoto each had two. Kirk, a player identified as Smith, and Giménez went hitless.
Ricky Tiedemann, Braydon Fisher, Paul Sewald and Brendon Little each pitched an inning of relief. Fisher gave up a run.
The loss, combined with a Guardians win, leaves the Jays two games back of the final American League Wild Card spot. The recap says the team isn't at the "have to run the table" point yet, "but it is getting closer."
Okamoto gets the Jay of the Day nod with a 0.08 WPA for his 2-for-4 day including the home run. Scherzer takes the other award at minus-0.34, with Guerrero also singled out at minus-0.04 plus the base-running mistake.
The Jays will send Kyle Bradish (7-13, 3.91 ERA) against Spencer Miles as an opener with Spencer Arrighetti as the bulk pitcher on Saturday.
According to Yahoo Sports.