Mancini homers twice, but Harvey can't finish fifth in 7-4 loss

Matt Harvey stood on the mound after the final out was recorded in the third inning, a frozen posture he's struck in previous starts while watching a fly ball land in the seats. Except this time he was pausing to congratulate Pat Valaika on a nice defensive play, with the infielder ranging beyond second base to make the backhand stop and long throw.

The day was progressing more favorably for Harvey, but the wall that keeps leaving marks appeared in the fifth. He'd be stopped again. He'd make the same slow walk to the dugout with glove in hand, the frustration evident with every step.

The Blue Jays scored four runs off Harvey while breaking a tie and again had him searching for solutions after the Orioles lost 7-4 before an announced Father's Day crowd of 14,917 at Camden Yards, the largest of the season.

Trey Mancini homered twice, the second off reliever Trent Thornton in the eighth inning giving him 100 for his career. He takes back the team lead with 14.

"It means a lot, especially because there were a lot of times last year where I thought I would always be stuck on 86 and not get the opportunity to hit anymore," said Mancini, who's the fastest Orioles player to 100 home runs in 531 games after starting his career in Baltimore. "It's definitely something I cherish and don't take for granted."

Mancini homered off Hyun Jin Ryu in the first inning and the lead held up until the fifth, when Reese McGuire doubled for the second time and scored on Bo Bichette's soft liner into right field with one out.

Harvey thought he struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr., didn't get the call and walked him on the next pitch. The next two produced a run-scoring double by Teoscar Hernández and RBI single by Randal Grichuk.

Cavan Biggio's bloop single into left, the ball eluding Ryan Mountcastle and Freddy Galvis, gave Toronto a 4-1 lead and Adam Plutko entered the game.

The Orioles dropped another series and are 23-48 as they wait for the Astros to arrive. They've lost 10 of their last 11 games.

"For me, (Harvey) had that long first inning, but that was the best four innings that he's thrown since he's been here," manager Brandon Hyde said in his Zoom. "Just from a stuff and command standpoint I was really impressed. They obviously got to him in the fifth, and with the way our bullpen is, it was unfortunate. But he had four really good innings, really encouraged earlier on in the game, the crispness to his stuff. I thought his slider was really good, it got a lot of swings and misses. Threw some good changeups. Had a great curveball for a punchout and he was throwing 94-97. Hopefully he can build off that and get through the fifth, sixth his next start."

Ryu retired 17 of 18 after Galvis singled in the second inning. The only baserunner came on Pedro Severino's two-out walk in the fifth.

Severino homered off Thornton in the eighth, a line drive into the left field seats to chip a little off the lead. Valaika was hit by a pitch, Cedric Mullins struck out and Mancini homered again.

Mancini has three home runs this month, the last before today coming on June 11. He moved one ahead of Mullins and two ahead of Mountcastle, who singled in the first to give him hits in six consecutive at-bats.

Mountcastle lined to short in his next trip to end the streak.

Harvey allowed four runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings, with two walks, four strikeouts and a wild pitch. He threw 84 pitches, 55 for strikes, and is winless since May 1 - the last time he cleared the fifth.

Harvey retired the first two batters in the first inning and loaded the bases on a single, infield hit and walk. Biggio ran the count full, with Harvey missing inside by a hair, and struck out on a slider.

The inning drained Harvey of 29 pitches, and he retired the first two batters in the second before McGuire doubled. The slider worked again, with Harvey striking out Marcus Semien on his 40th pitch of the game.

The third inning was a breeze. Three up and three down on only nine pitches. Because baseball is weird and unpredictable.

Again, Harvey notched a strikeout with his slider. And again, he was confronted with the fourth inning, a barrier he hadn't cleared in his last four starts and five of six.

Harvey retired the first two batters and again gave up a hit, with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. lining a double into right-center field. But a pattern was established. Santiago Espinal also struck out, though on a curveball rather than a slider.

The other pattern is much more disturbing. Harvey hasn't made it through the fifth in his last nine starts. His ERA rose today to 7.80, with Plutko preventing it from getting worse by loading the bases with a walk and striking out McGuire.

"Much better," Harvey said on his Zoom call. "I think just the long first inning kind of got to me toward the end there. Stuff was good early and then obviously just kind of wasn't there in the fifth.

"I'm kicking myself. I feel like with the stuff I had early I should have been in the sixth, seventh inning and there should be a lot less runs scored. Just have to keep pushing forward and try to avoid those really long innings that wear you down.

"When you throw 30 pitches in one inning and it's pretty warm out there, you tend to kind of wear down a little quicker," Harvey said. "That's part of baseball. Unfortunately, it happened today. It's not a stamina issue on what I'm doing in between starts or whatnot. It's one of those days where you feel good early and have a long inning to start the game off. You're battling to keep runs off the board and got the bases loaded, it's part of baseball and sometimes you get a little tired earlier than usual, and that seemed to happen a little bit today in the fifth inning."

Plutko was making only his fourth appearance this month and first since Tuesday. He tossed 2 2/3 hitless innings with three strikeouts.

Cesar Valdez hadn't pitched in a week before entering in the eighth and allowing two runs for a 6-1 lead. McGuire's four-hit day included an RBI single off Dillon Tate in the ninth.

Austin Hays and Anthony Santander appeared to be laboring a bit getting up the first base line. Hays has been on the injured list twice with hamstring strains and Santander's sprained ankle hasn't healed.

"I think they're doing the best they can," Hyde said. "Santander yesterday felt good, today he was a little sore. And Haysie is a little sore, also. So they're trying to play through this and we're trying to manage it and they're doing the best they can."

Notes: Relish won its first hot dog race this afternoon, breaking an 0-for-34 slump. Ketchup and mustard are tied for first with 17 victories.

Double-A Bowie's Grayson Rodriguez went five innings today and allowed two runs and two hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. According to a Baysox tweet, he also broke catcher Adley Rutschman's mitt with a 99 mph fastball.

Akron hit two home runs. Jonathan Engelmann had an inside-the-park homer.

Triple-A Norfolk's Alexander Wells didn't walk a batter again today, but he allowed four runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out five.