Orioles demolish Blue Jays to open series
· Yahoo Sports
Haters and doubters take note: The Orioles are still doing this thing. It is easier to feel like they might be able to keep doing it after games like this one. The Birds rallied from a 3-1 deficit heading into the sixth inning to take the lead and blow past the Blue Jays, piling on all the way to a 13-3 blowout to start the series in Toronto. The Orioles have now won 10 of their past 14 games.
Adding to the excitement from this comeback-turned-blowout win is that the Orioles turned this thing around against a pretty good Jays starter in Trey Yesavage. Last year’s postseason revelation had an “effectively wild” kind of game against the O’s last Saturday, walking seven guys in five innings while giving up just one run. The O’s had to win that one in walkoff fashion against kiss-blower Jeff Hoffman. This time, they were able to pile it on against Yesavage. It just took them a while to do it.
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The teams traded first inning runs before settling in for what looked like it might be a low-scoring affair. Adley Rutschman got the Orioles on the board with a two-out solo home run. Is he back? More on that later. The Jays knotted the score back up in the bottom of the inning, with George Springer starting things off with a double and turning that into a run after a groundout and a sacrifice fly. The quest for the shutdown inning, putting up a zero after one’s own team scores a run or runs, can sometimes be elusive.
The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning. Neither team threatened the other all that much in the meantime. The closest thing to excitement in the meantime came with a pair of two-out singles by the Jays in the second inning, which came to an end when Andrés Giménez was cut down trying to steal second base. Thanks for that, guys. Yesavage and Orioles starter Brandon Young were doing a decent job of cruising through the opposing lineups.
Young hit a rockier patch facing the bottom of the Jays lineup in the fifth. After third baseman Kazuma Okamoto led off the inning with a single, #9 batter Brandon Valenzuela was all over a middle-middle slider, driving the ball over the high right-center field wall to give the Jays a 3-1 lead. There’s something about getting burned by the bottom of the lineup that stings extra hard.
Perhaps a month ago, that would have been the end of it. The current version of the Orioles offense, however, still had four more innings to have their say, and they used them well, starting right away in the top of the sixth. Yesavage probably thought he had them figured out, especially after he was able to keep them off the scoreboard even while struggling with his command last weekend.
Then, almost in the blink of an eye, Jackson Holliday doubled, Gunnar Henderson walked, and Rutschman hit a game-tying double. Pinch hitter Jeremiah Jackson came off the bench and drove in Rutschman for a fourth Orioles run, and then, for good measure, Coby Mayo punctuated the whole inning with a sky-high two-run home run. Suddenly, the Orioles led, 6-3. Yesavage could not finish the sixth inning. He was tagged for six runs in 5.2 innings.
Staked to that lead, Young did not waste it, retiring the next four Jays batters he faced. That got him through to a 6.1 inning start with three runs allowed on seven hits. He did not walk a batter. Young continues to make the most of the opportunity he’s been given this season. His ERA sits at 3.47 after his nine starts.
Over the last two innings, the Orioles managed to turn it into a laugher. Four singles and an RBI groundout turned into three runs scored in the eighth off reliever Connor Seabold. Uncurable Orioles sickos will remember that Seabold was a 19th round pick by the Orioles in 2014. He did not sign. They racked up four more runs in the ninth, with Rutschman cashing in a pair of RBI after Taylor Ward and Henderson singled in front of him. The Jays needed to use a position player to pitch and get the last out of the game.
This was an impressive day for Rutschman. The Orioles catcher had four hits, coming the classic triple shy of the cycle. He was on base all five times he came to the dish, adding a walk as well. He scored four runs while driving in five. He threw out a runner. Is he back? The question comes up often. For tonight, the status is: Back. Now let’s hope he stays for a while.
Rutschman didn’t hog ALL the offense for himself. The team had 13 hits and seven of the nine guys in the starting lineup had a hit. Colton Cowser had a two-hit game, as did Jackson, coming off the bench. A better version of the 2026 Orioles than we saw in May is going to need all of these guys to do good things. This game is a good indication of what that might look like, if they are able to keep doing it.
One unfortunate subplot coming out of the game: Rookie Samuel Basallo exited the game early after taking a pair of at-bats. The team announced during the game that Basallo was dealing with right abdominal discomfort. After the game, manager Craig Albernaz called this “precautionary” and said there will be further evaluation on Saturday. I hope we don’t hear about ongoing oblique soreness. I also hope there’s not oblique soreness that we don’t hear about.
Can the Orioles make it two good games in a row against the Jays tomorrow? That would be fun. Kyle Bradish will look to keep mostly rolling in the 3:07 afternoon game. The Jays do not have a starter listed currently. The MASN broadcast indicated some kind of opener strategy may be employed.
At 31-33, the Orioles currently sit a half-game out of a playoff spot in the American League.