O's game blog: Final weekend begins, O's at Toronto

The final weekend and series of the 2021 season has arrived. The Orioles play three games starting tonight at Rogers Centre and the offseason and winter will follow Sunday's Game No. 162.

The O's take momentum north of the border after winning two of three from the Boston Red Sox, beating Boston 4-2 Tuesday night and 6-2 last night to wrap up their home season. They held the Red Sox to 10 runs in the series. Boston began the series leading the majors in doubles and extra-base hits, second in slugging, third in OPS and fourth in runs per game.

Two teams will make next Tuesday's American League wild card game, and here is the outlook for that as the weekend begins: New York (91-68) currently holds the No. 1 spot by two games over both Boston and Seattle (89-70) as they are tied for the No. 2 spot. Toronto (88-71) is a game behind the Red Sox and Mariners for the No. 2 position.

So a lot to be sorted out this weekend when the Yankees host Tampa Bay, Boston plays at Washington, Seattle hosts the Los Angeles Angels and the O's play at Toronto's Rogers Centre.

The Orioles posted a final home record of 27-54 with Thursday's win. This marks their most home wins since 28 in 2018. The Orioles also won their last game of the season at Oriole Park for the seventh straight year, dating to 2015.

The series win was just the third for the O's in 2021 against an AL East foe and first at home. It was their first AL East series win at home since Sept. 4-6, 2020 against the Yankees and their first home series win against the Red Sox since July 19-21, 2019.

The O's pitching has gotten on a late-season roll:

* The team ERA is 3.11 the last 10 games, with the club allowing two earned runs or fewer six times.

* The rotation ERA is 1.96 in that span and O's pitchers walked 10 and fanned 40 in 46 innings.

* Bruce Zimmermann, Zac Lowther and Alexander Wells allowed three earned runs in 15 innings versus Boston.

* The O's pitchers allowed 10 runs in three games against the Red Sox. Before that they gave up 17 in four games versus Texas, and before that they allowed seven runs in three games at Philadelphia.

The Orioles are now 20-53 against AL East teams and finished 6-13 versus Boston, including a mark of 3-7 at home. They are 5-11 against Toronto, going 2-5 on the road.

Toronto lost two of three in its series against the Yankees and is 3-5 the last eight games. But over longer stretches, the Blue Jays have a stellar record of 19-9 this month and are 25-14 over their past 39 games.

For the first time in Blue Jays history, they have four players with 100 or more RBIs. Right now there are 11 such players in the entire AL. Teoscar Hernández leads their club with 112 while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has 107 and Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien have 101 each. The Blue Jays are the first team since RBIs became an official stat in 1920 to have four teammates each reach 100 RBIs for the first time in their careers in the same season. The last team with four 100-plus-RBI players in the same season was the 2003 Atlanta Braves.

Semien recently hit his 44th homer, and that breaks a tie with a former Oriole for the most-ever by a second-baseman. Semien's 85 extra-base hits also lead the major leagues.

Most single-season homers by a second baseman:

44 - Marcus Semien, Toronto in 2021
43 - Davey Johnson, Atlanta in 1973
42 - Brian Dozier, Minnesota in 2016 and Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis in 1922
40 - Ryan Sandberg, Chicago Cubs in 1990

Right-hander Thomas Eshelman (0-2, 7.20 ERA) gets tonight's start. Since he went just one inning in his most recent appearance, he is not expected to be allowed to pitch deep into this game. Eshelman's last big league start for the Orioles was against the Chicago White Sox on July 10, when he yielded four runs over two innings.

Lefty Steven Matz (13-7, 3.88 ERA) will make his 29th start for the Blue Jays. They are 14-14 in his outings. But in 10 starts since Aug. 1, Matz is 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA, allowing a .248 average and .640 OPS in that span. In three starts this season against the Orioles he is 1-1 with an ERA of 6.00.