Blue Jays pull away late for 7-3 victory over Orioles in Game 1 (updated)

Mike Baumann was the first Orioles starter today but the fourth player out of the dugout to begin Game 1, turning sideways and skipping over the line before jogging to the mound.

The first time he’s entered from the bench rather than the bullpen in 12 major league appearances. The first time he’s been tasked with quieting the Blue Jays and their raucous lineup while the Orioles were 2 ½ games behind them in the wild card chase.

Baumann gave the Orioles five innings of three-run ball, some soft hits and defensive lapses hurting him. Length that manager Brandon Hyde appreciated in a doubleheader.

But how long until the Orioles rallied for a hugely important win?

Hyde waited and waited. They twice got within a run. The crowd got louder. Anthony Santander hit two home runs. But there wouldn’t be a comeback, with the Orioles now hoping for a split after losing 7-3.

Santander homered from both sides of the plate, but back-to-back defeats leave the Orioles at 71-63 and 3 1/2 games behind Toronto, with rain in the forecast threatening Game 2.

DL Hall’s second major league appearance as a reliever resulted in three runs scoring with no outs in the ninth inning. A single, wild pitch, 11-pitch walk to Santiago Espinal, and RBI singles by George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette.

Hall had retired pinch-hitter Whit Merrifield to end the eighth. The Orioles turned a 6-2-3 double play in the ninth after Beau Sulser's walk loaded the bases.  

"Obviously, there were some struggles there," Hyde said, "but we believe in the kid and he's got great stuff, so he'll be OK."

The Orioles optioned Sulser after the game and recalled left-hander Bruce Zimmermann for more length out of the bullpen.

Santander has seven career multi-homer games, and two this season, the last on May 16 against the Yankees – also the last time before today that an Oriole player went deep from both sides. He reduced the Blue Jays’ lead to 4-3 in the eighth with a 414-foot shot off southpaw Tim Mayza, exit velocity 109.9 mph, that stayed inside the left field foul pole as he stood at the plate and watched it.

Adam Cimber replaced Mayza, Ryan Mountcastle just missed a game-tying home run and was called out on strikes on a pitch that was below the zone, causing him to jump in the air in protest of umpire Manny González's version of it.

The Orioles put a runner in scoring position with no outs in the fourth and fifth innings and were denied. Joey Krehbiel entered in the sixth with the Jays ahead 3-1. Bryan Baker stranded two in the seventh and surrendered a home run to Teoscar Hernández in the eighth for a 4-2 lead.

Mountcastle continued his assault on Toronto pitching with a run-scoring double in the sixth, missing a homer by a few feet after Adley Rutschman’s infield single. Ramón Urías struck out and Gunnar Henderson grounded out to prevent the Orioles from tying the game.

Baker struck out Bichette with a 99.6 mph fastball in the seventh and touched 100 mph against Hernández in the eighth before getting burned on a 90 mph cutter.

"Good crowd, it was good energy in the park, one-run game the majority of the game," Hyde said. "Got away from us there in the ninth inning."

Kevin Gausman made his first start at Camden Yards since his 2018 trade to the Braves and allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings, with no walks and six strikeouts mixed among his 93 pitches. He avoided an ejection in the fourth with teammates and manager John Schneider calming him after a balk call that moved Rutschman to second base with no outs.

Gausman yelled at second base umpire Jeff Nelson, and Bichette moved in front of him. Gausman regained his composure and struck out the next three batters, twice with his splitter.

"Just the fact there was no warning given," Gausman said. "First chance a guy gets on first, you’re going to call something like that. I kind of knew going into the game to be a little bit more aware of it, and I feel like I actually stopped on that pitch. If you actually look at the replay, I did stop. I just felt like Jeff, for whatever reason, wanted to make that call and went into the game knowing that he was going to make that call. It’s unfortunate.

"Obviously, I was pretty heated and Bo kind of saved of me and did a good job of just reminding me that ‘Hey, we have two games today. It’s not just one game.’ I really needed to stay in the game."

Mayza replaced Gausman with two outs in the seventh and Austin Hays on first base, and Cedric Mullins lost the left-on-left matchup by bouncing out.

"It was weird to hear the ‘O’ chant and realize they’re cheering against me now," Gausman said. "That was kind of weird, but it was really cool just warming up and the Baltimore faithful here kind of letting me hear it, good and bad. It was cool. It’s a special place for me. I’ve always loved pitching here. Pretty quickly, I realized it’s still a small ballpark."

Henderson led off the fifth with an infield single and Jesús Aguilar lined a single into center field for his first Orioles hit in nine at-bats. A popup, fly ball and ground ball enabled Gausman to strand two.

The Orioles had their chances.

Santander hit his first home run, a 414-footer over the flag court in right field, with two outs in the first inning. He fell behind 0-2 in the count, worked it full and destroyed a splitter, with the exit velocity at 105.6 mph.

Both home runs had the same distance and count, a total of 15 pitches.

Santander’s ball was the 117^th to land on Eutaw Street in the ballpark’s history. He’s done it eight times.

The Jays tied the game in the second and took a 2-1 lead in the third, with Baumann scattering six hits – a few of the seeing-eye variety - and bailed out by some outstanding plays behind him.

Jorge Mateo began the first inning by making a diving stop to his left, followed by a three-hop throw to first base while falling backward to rob Springer. He ended it by charging Alejandro Kirk’s grounder and throwing him out.

Bichette singled with two outs and was stranded in an inning that cost Baumann only nine pitches.

The second inning was harder for Baumann. Matt Chapman doubled with one out and scored on Cavan Biggio’s single. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled, but Mateo began a 6-4-3 double play on Espinal’s grounder.

Hays made a sliding catch in left field after Springer’s leadoff single in the third, but Bichette singled and Springer scored on Kirk’s grounder. Mateo got the force at second base, but Henderson lost the ball on the transfer while attempting to turn another double play.

Chapman flied to the edge of the left field warning track in the fourth, with the new dimensions preventing the Blue Jays from expanding their lead. However, the Jays scored in the fifth when Henderson bobbled a likely double play ball from Bichette and settled for the out at first base as Springer came home.

Springer led off with a single and Guerrero singled on a sharp ground ball that deflected off Henderson’s glove as he made a diving attempt.

"Maybe some would say I got lucky in some situations, unlucky in others," Baumann said. "But I trust those guys to make those plays 10 times out of 10. They're tough plays to make and I've just got to do a better job of keeping them off base."

Today marked Henderson’s third major league start at second base. He made six starts with Triple-A Norfolk before the Orioles promoted him.

"He hasn't had a ton of time over there and there's just a couple plays, maybe got a little too quick on," Hyde said. "Those things happen and we're just going to move on from it."

Baumann was the 29th man today and headed back to Norfolk.

"Baumann did a nice job," Hyde said. "Goes five innings against a good club. I thought he threw a lot of strikes, his fastball was on the plate. Had a nice fastball. Just a tough time putting guys away. But he gave us five good innings, kept us in the game."

"I feel like I attacked the zone," Baumann said, "but I struggled to put guys away. Overall, my goal was to fill it up and try to go as deep as possible."

Baumann didn't blame any of his issues today on the switch to Game 1 starter. Jordan Lyles was pushed back to Game 2 due to illness, and now Keegan Akin is warming instead of the veteran.

"It didn't really affect me," he said. "I was already ready to go, so just had to get to the field earlier. I was able to get a normal routine in and be able to stay focused."

Here's the Game 2 lineup:

Cedric Mullins CF
Adley Rutschman DH
Anthony Santander RF
Ryan Mountcastle 1B
Gunnar Henderson SS
Ramón Urías 3B
Rougned Odor 2B
Kyle Stowers LF
Robinson Chirinos C

Note: The Orioles claimed right-hander Jake Reed off waivers from the Dodgers and put infielder Jonathan Araúz on the restricted list, keeping the 40-man roster full. Araúz left Norfolk for undisclosed reasons.

Also, reliever Phoenix Sanders cleared outright waivers and was assigned to Norfolk.

Reed, 29, allowed one run and six hits in 4 2/3 innings with the Dodgers and recorded a save after they selected him off waivers from the Mets in July. He has a 5.57 ERA and 1.381 WHIP in 20 games over two seasons.

The Orioles could add Reed to their bullpen on Tuesday or option him.