A few notes after a walk-off loss to Blue Jays

Grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory, the Orioles were an out away from a solid win last night. But they couldn't get it.

An out that would have given them a close win during a string of close losses, would have given them their first win over Toronto and would have pulled them within a 1/2 game of the Blue Jays for the No. 8 American League playoff seed.

By the way, I digress, but the New York Yankees have now lost seven in a row. They are just a half-game better than Toronto and three games up on the Orioles at 16-13. They lost a doubleheader to Atlanta on Wednesday and lost two to the Mets yesterday.

But back in Birdland, so close to a big win. And then Babe Grichuk again ruined the fun.

He beat them in the first inning when he ran 111 feet to make a diving catch in the gap and keep a run off the board. He beat them in the 10th inning when his two-out, two-run, walk-off homer provided Toronto a 5-4 win.

The Orioles are 14-17 overall, 0-4 versus Toronto and 3-2 in extra innings.

Should the Orioles have walked Grichuk with a base open in the 10th? Perhaps. But if they didn't walk him there, they could not let him beat them again. Cole Sulser's cutter found enough of the plate for Grichuk to win the game. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who has a 10-game hitting streak and already had doubled and homered, was on deck. Even if they walk Grichuk, Guerrero may have beaten them. But we'll never know.

Now Grichuk has five homers and 13 RBIs in four games against the Orioles this year. He has homered in every game and produced multi-RBI games in all four. Since the start of last year, he has 12 homers in 17 games versus the Orioles. They clearly have no answer for the guy. John Means did get him out in a big spot in the third inning, but they couldn't do it in the 10th.

The Orioles are now losing a string of close games. They've been beaten 4-2, 4-3 and 5-4 on this trip. They've lost nine of 11 games. Of the nine losses, four have been by one run and one game was by two runs.

The Orioles more than held their own with the National League East, going 7-6 and sweeping series against the Nats and Phillies. But they are now 7-11 versus the AL East and are just 2-8 in the past 10 within the division.

While the Orioles' bunting game came up big again for the team - Hanser Alberto had a bunt single and Cedric Mullins a sac bunt in the 10th - they had three runners thrown out trying to steal second from the seventh inning on.

It was nice to get José Iglesias and Pedro Severino back in the lineup. They are 8-8 when Severino is the catcher. They are 7-7 when Iglesias is in the lineup and 6-4 when he starts at short.

Alberto's magic wand of a bat is back after a short slump. He went 4-for-5 with four singles and is now batting .331. Over his past four games, he is 8-for-16. His flared single to center would have been a game-winning hit in the 10th, but Grichuk.

Alberto's batting profile may not suggest he is a .300 hitter for the second year in a row. He ranks in the third percentile (97 percent are ahead of him) in exit velocity and fifth percentile in hard-hit percentage. But he is in the 90th percentile, ahead of most of the game, in strikeout percentage. He puts the ball in play and good things tend to happen.

Last year, his average exit velocity was 84.4 mph. This year it is 83.3mph. The great O's broadcaster Chuck Thompson used to say, "It's not always how hard you hit the ball, but where." He would enjoy calling Alberto's games.