The Orioles put the first two runners on base tonight and didn't score, with Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ striking out the next three batters. They put the first two runners on base in the second and didn't score, with Happ striking out the next three batters.
Redundant and ridiculous.
Two on and no outs in the fifth inning later became bases loaded and one out, but Adam Jones bounced into a double play. A two-out walk to Tim Beckham in the sixth produced nothing. Back-to-back singles with one out in the seventh produced nothing. Pedro Ãlvarez's pinch-hit single with one out in the eight produced nothing. Trey Mancini's third hit of the night, a single in the ninth, produced nothing.
Wasted daze on a wasted night.
Dylan Bundy made one serious mistake and Steve Pearce turned it into a two-run homer that held up until Toronto broke open the game in the ninth in a 7-1 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 7,915, the lowest in Camden Yards history besides the no-fans game.
Mychal Givens loaded the bases in the ninth for the second time in two innings, Rule 5 pick Nestor Cortes Jr. walked Curtis Granderson on five pitches to force in a run and he served up a grand slam to Josh Donaldson.
Two more batters reached on a single and double before Cortes finally recorded the final out as a light rain continued to fall and the Orioles' record fell to 4-7.
Cortes also surrendered a grand slam to the Astros' Josh Reddick on April 3. He was the only lefty available tonight after Richard Bleier worked the last three days and Tanner Scott was optioned this afternoon.
Bundy allowed four hits, walked two and struck out 10 over seven innings. He's surrendered only three earned runs and struck out 25 batters in 20 innings and still doesn't have a win.
This is the fourth time in his career that Bundy has struck out 10 or more batters. His career high is 12.
The Orioles went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners. Manny Machado led off the third inning with his third home run and Jones singled with one out, but Chris Davis grounded into a double play.
Davis went 0-for-4 to lower his average to .088 (3-for-34), striking out twice and smashing his bat over his right knee. His batting helmet took an earlier beating after the double play.
In his final trip to the plate, Davis tried to lay down a bunt on a 1-2 count and pushed it back to reliever Ryan Tepera.
The Jays loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth against Givens, but Mancini caught Justin Smoak's fly ball and threw home, where Caleb Joseph tagged Aledmys DÃaz for the latest double play.
The Orioles were victimized by a disputed one in the fifth after Caleb Joseph singled, Mancini walked and Jonathan Schoop was grazed by a pitch. Jones bounced back to Happ, who bounced a throw home for the second out. Russell Martin, after his nifty pickup, hit Jones running up the line and the tying run appeared to score - except Jones was ruled out for crossing into the path of the ball on the infield grass.
Manager Buck Showalter argued to no avail. Another opportunity lost.
Givens loaded the bases again in the ninth on a walk, single and hit by pitch. DÃaz popped up for the second out and Showalter turned to Cortes. A close game turned into a rout.
With Cortes letting three inherited runners score, Givens' ERA has jumped to 7.04 in 7 2/3 innings.
Here's Showalter following the game:
On wasted opportunities: "Happ was tough. Had late life. Really commanded the fastball both sides. Making use of a lot of pitches borderline and made it tough. We had first-and-second, nobody-out situation and couldn't seem to cash in."
On Bundy: "Good. He was outstanding. He was great. He was outstanding in a time of need. He knew what was at stake. We had five or six guys down in the bullpen we weren't going to pitch tonight. Had a one up and in only on Darren (O'Day). That was a push. Dylan dialed it up for what we needed. That was much appreciated by the bullpen, for sure, but we certainly would have liked to reward his effort.
"We just scored one run tonight. Regardless of what you want to say about the pitching. A lot of fallout from the 26 innings in two of our games. But we need another outing and get back on our feet. We've got some guys down there that need two days off. Took Mychal about as far as I could take him."
On whether umpires made right call on Jones: "You look at it, by the letter of the law, yes. Umpires are calling the way they're instructed to call it. I understand. It's just not fair to the runner because just about every hitter, especially right-handed, is going to start out away from the bag. So in other words, you're being asked to run longer than 90 feet to get to first base, to get back into the line. And it's one of those things that's just not fair, but I understand when you go back through it, if you really get technical about it, yes. I think Adam knows that.
"That's kind of one of the things they started to do with two bags over there. I know in high school they did it for a couple years. It's just a play I really wish you could figure out a way to make it fair for the runner. At some point, you do have to step toward first base. You've got to touch the bag at some point."
On what it would have taken to get Hunter Harvey in the game: "Probably extra innings. We had used everybody. I wasn't going to get Darren up twice and we had a potential save situation, so he was down. If we had tied it up he would have been in there."
On sink or swim with Rule 5 guy like Cortes: "It's not his fault. He's kind of learning on the job. That's part of it. Hopefully, he learns from it. It was a tough night for guys to pitch. Their guys obviously did well and we did real well until it got away from us a little bit at the end. Mike was having trouble gripping the ball a little bit. But, no, it's kind of the situation we're in.
"I really didn't want to use Mike Wright tonight. He'll probably be available tomorrow. It's really a two-day fallout from what happened in the series there. We had a chance win it, though. We had a chance to overcome. We just couldn't get that big knock. Jon, you know, got all over a ball to center field. They were playing him right and playing him deep and were able to catch that ball. That's as hard a hit ball as there was tonight, and there were some hard hit balls."
On Davis' frustration: "He's not different. It just happened to be out there where you could see it. If you could see the other seven or eight guys up the runway. That just happened to be where people could see it. There's frustration involved. Don't ever assume someone doesn't care. Chris, he's frustrated right now. He wants to contribute every at-bat. You can tell, even bunting there. He's just trying to make a contribution. It's frustrating for him."
On whether Givens' command issues are due to cold: "Mychal wouldn't use that as an excuse. I hope so. You look at Mike's body of work, it's pretty good, OK? It's one of those things, you get away from and look at his season, he was really good last year and he will be again. It's a convenient excuse. You see Nestor from Miami and Mike from Florida, it's a little different conditions for them. But it's the big leagues and weather doesn't always cooperate. Who knows, it might be five months before it warms up. Who knows? I bet it does.
"We all know how good Mike's stuff is. I try to keep in mind just how long a period he's been pitching as opposed to playing shortstop."
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