Mistakes in 10th doom O's to a gut punch loss

That was a huge gut punch loss for the Orioles tonight, 8-7 in 10 innings against Toronto.

In the top of the 10th, a play that was ruled a throwing error on defensive replacement Chris Davis from first base put Toronto ahead 8-7. He made a diving stop with runners on second and third and one out, and from the ground threw home. The ball bounced to catcher Pedro Severino, who could not handle the throw that would have led to an out.

In the last of the 10th, Cedric Mullins singled on the eighth pitch of the at-bat with one out and automatic runner Dwight Smith Jr. on second. Smith ran through a stop sign at third base and the inning and game would end without Baltimore getting at least the tying run. They should have had first and third and one out but for Smith's baserunning blunder.

Earlier, it was a night where some things did not go well at all and others went just fine for the Orioles against Toronto.

Let's start with the starter. Lefty Wade LeBlanc struggled for the third start in a row and probably needs to step it up pretty soon to keep his rotation spot. He sailed through the first two innings on 28 pitches. But then he and the club ran into big-time trouble in the top of the fifth and LeBlanc wound up allowing five runs and five hits over four-plus innings to leave his ERA at 7.89.

In his first two starts this year, LeBlanc pitched to an ERA of 4.09. But over his last three, that mark is 11.81. In that span, he has allowed 18 hits and 14 runs over 10 2/3 innings. That is three straight short starts for the veteran, although tonight two of his runs scored after he left the game.

In a disastrous top of the fifth for O's pitching, LeBlanc, Travis Lakins Sr. and Shawn Armstrong combined to throw 47 pitches as Toronto scored five times to lead 7-3.

Over the last seven games, O's starting pitchers have an ERA of 7.53, and in that span, they have thrown four innings or less four times.

But some good would begin to happen - or maybe we should say continue to happen - for the Baltimore offense.

Anthony Santander homered his first two times to bat. It's his second two-homer game in three games, the first coming against the Nationals' Max Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, on Sunday. Santander hit two tonight off Toronto's No. 1 prospect, right-hander Nate Pearson, the No. 7 prospect in Baseball America's national top 100.

Santander now has nine homers and 25 RBIs. He hit a 384-foot shot to right off a fastball in the first and a 410-foot blast off a slider that was up and away in the third. He overpowered that ball and hit it out to center field. That blast provided the Orioles a 3-2 lead a few innings before fifth-inning pitching meltdown.

Santander produced his third career multi-homer game. He has hit four homers his past three games. Over his last 10 games, he has seven homers and 16 RBIs. Santander extended his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games tonight. He added a double in the eighth to finish the night batting at .298. This season, 19 of his 28 hits have gone for extra bases.

Down 7-3, the O's would tie it up. They scored three in the fifth, two on Chance Sisco's two-run homer, his third of 2020. In the Baltimore seventh, pinch-hitter Hanser Alberto smoked a ball to deep third with the bases loaded and two outs. Third baseman Travis Shaw made a great backhand stop, but it went for an infield single to tie the game. If the ball gets by Shaw, it might have unloaded the bases. But at least the Orioles had come from four down to tie this game up.

It would not stay tied as they fall to 12-11 and have lost three in a row and four of their last five games. The series finale is Wednesday afternoon.