Orioles win finale 7-5 to secure fourth place (updated)

The Orioles will not surrender fourth place. Their heels dug in one last time in 2020.

The final notation on the season came this afternoon in Buffalo, where the Orioles rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the Blue Jays 7-5 at Sahlen Field.

Keegan Akin surrendered a solo home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the third and a two-run shot to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., with a Randal Grichuk single in between, to destroy a 1-1 tie. But the Orioles knotted the score again with three runs in the fourth, moved ahead in the fifth and the bullpen covered the last six innings.

César Valdez notched his third save and the Orioles ended the season with a 25-35 record. They were 2-8 versus the Jays.

Hunter Harvey pitched in back-to-back games for the first time and stranded a runner in the seventh after replacing Paul Fry. The Jays scored an unearned run off Shawn Armstrong in the eighth when Ryan Mountcastle dropped Hanser Alberto's throw with two outs. Chance Sisco committed a throwing error on Jonathan Villar's stolen base, but was stranded at third base.

The Orioles tied the game in the fourth on Cedric Mullins' two-run triple and Austin Hays' fly ball. Alberto reached third base on Grichuk's error.

Mountcastle led off the fifth with a single for his second hit of the day and Renato Núñez singled. Rio Ruiz doubled for a 5-4 lead and Núñez came home on Alberto's ground ball.

Pat Valaika's RBI single increased the lead to 7-4, with all the damage coming against reliever Shun Yamaguchi.

Travis Lakins Sr. tossed two scoreless and hitless innings after replacing Akin.

Akin lasted three innings and allowed four runs and five hits in three innings. He struck out four batters and finished with a 4.56 ERA.

The Jays took a 1-0 lead in the second on a leadoff double by Gurriel, a single by Travis Shaw and Jonathan Davis' sacrifice fly.

Credit goes to the rookie for containing the inning. He struck out Villar before Davis' fly ball and Danny Jansen grounded into a force. The Jays had runners on the corners with no outs and settled for one run.

The finale provided one more reminder of the occasional struggles with runners in scoring position. The Orioles loaded the bases in the first inning with one out, but Ruiz popped up and Alberto grounded into a force.

Mountcastle and Núñez worked the counts full and were rewarded with a single and walk, respectively. The rally began with a single by DJ Stewart, who was 3-for-35 in his last 11 games.

Hays led off the third with another September hit and made it around to third base on two ground balls. The trip didn't end. Núñez doubled to tie the game.

Núñez was 13-for-62 (.210) with one double this month, but he had two hits and a walk today.

Mullins ended his season with a two-triple day.

Update: Manager Brandon Hyde said Akin had some arm fatigue, which his why he removed the rookie.

"I just felt like he wasn't finishing his pitches there the last inning," Hyde said. "I thought he threw some really good fastballs, he threw some good changeups, but I could tell that just wasn't quite right and I think that's pretty normal in this kind of a setting interrupted. He had a long inning in Boston his last start and I thought there was some arm fatigue in there and went to the bullpen. But real excited about Keegan's progress, really excited about the starts he made here."

Hyde on win: "For us, it did mean a lot. To be able to end the season strong and be able to end the season with a win, we felt that was important."

Hyde on whether today feels emotional: "Yeah, absolutely. We've all gone through a lot this year and it's been a grind in a lot of ways. I really like our club. I thought we did a lot of really good things and we were thinking about it today, how summer camp feels so long ago and spring training 1.0 felt so long ago, just because everything we have gone through. So, yeah, just been a lot of ups and downs and a lot of things came our way that none of us have ever dealt with. It's over and that's always a strange feeling."

Akin on team winning finale: "Definitely makes the flight home a little more enjoyable. Sending the team off on a good note, so it's really positive."

Akin on oddity of season: "I would say it was tough, especially you get ramped up in spring training, get down to Florida, enjoy the nice weather and then they tell you you have to go home. The team splits for however many days. To show up every day and get up every day and do your work and stay in shape and get your arm in shape is tough for three months. I obviously enjoyed getting the call-up. It was a dream come true for me. But it's definitely different with no fans from what I heard, but I'm glad to be where I'm at and happy to be here."

Mullins on what was accomplished from Bowie site: "We've got a lot of young, talented guys who are ready to show what they can do in The Show and I'm excited for all of us."