Orioles' late rally falls short in 6-4 loss in Toronto (updated)

The Orioles tried to stay in spoiler mode tonight while going with a bullpen game rather than a starter equipped to provide actual length.

Teams wanting the Blue Jays to implode in the weekend series and influence the wild card race could be heard cringing.

Their eyes were bulging while checking the late score.

Injuries have tampered with the Orioles rotation, which becomes more settled in the last two games with John Means and Bruce Zimmermann. So, manager Brandon Hyde lined up his available relievers and hoped the passed baton wouldn't keep bouncing on the turf at Rogers Centre.

Thomas Eshelman gave the Orioles 2 2/3 innings, a two-run homer by Danny Jansen the only scoring until the sixth. Corey Dickerson reached the second deck against Brooks Kriske, who was charged with four runs in 1 1/3, and the Blue Jays withstood a furious rally to win 6-4.

Kelvin Gutiérrez and Pat Valaika homered in the eighth and Trey Mancini delivered an RBI single, but the loss lowered the Orioles to 52-108 overall and 5-12 against the Jays. They've gone 5-6 in their last 11 games.

Toronto began the night one game back for the second wild card, which was shared by the Red Sox and Mariners.

Left-hander Steven Matz carried a shutout into the eighth and Gutiérrez busted it with a leadoff home run. Tyler Nevin walked, Adam Cimber replaced Matz and Valaika reduced the lead to 6-3.

Gutiérrez extended his hitting streak to nine games, his ball traveling 426 feet with a 108.9 mph exit velocity, per Statcast. He has a hit in 13 of his last 14.

Matz's removal left Toronto's bullpen to record the last six outs.

They didn't come easily.

Austin Hays came to the plate against Jordan Romano as the tying run with one out in the eighth after Cedric Mullins was hit by a pitch and Ryan Mountcastle poked a single into right field. Hays grounded into a force and Mancini lined a single into right field - again going the opposite way, as he's done a lot lately.

Pedro Severino drew a nine-pitch walk after a wild pitch and Gutiérrez batted again, grounding into a force at third base.

"Really happy with our eighth inning there," Hyde said. "We gave them a run. They had to bring in their closer with one out in the eighth. ... I thought we battled back. It was a really good environment tonight, and we were one hit away there from really making it interesting."

Eshelman retired the first six batters, though the Jays hit a couple of deep fly balls to left field in the first. Santiago Espinal began the third inning with a single and Jansen carried an 86 mph sinker 434 feet to left for a 2-0 lead.

Cavan Biggio singled, Eshelman retired the next two batters and Conner Greene replaced him. Hays made a lunging catch in right to rob Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

"My job in that situation, just give the bullpen as much as I can, try to give them at least three and I went 2.2 tonight," Eshelman said. "But as an opener, you just try to get as long as you can and see where it takes you and keep the team in the game. Left one pitch over the middle of the plate and got out of the ballpark, but other than that I felt pretty good about my performance."

Greene turned in 1 1/3 scoreless innings, but the Jays put runners on the corners against Fernando Abad with one out in the fifth and Kriske entered. Hays caught Guerrero's fly ball in medium right field and threw out Biggio at the plate, with the safe call overturned.

"You never know with that, but the boys in the video room were pretty confident," Hyde said. "They yelled at me on the phone to challenge it. I kind of know from the tone of their voice whether they're confident or not. If it's kind of a, 'Yeah, you may as well go ahead and challenge it,' I know we're probably going to lose it. If it's screaming at me immediately when I call, then I think we have a good shot."

"I can't see much out there from right field," Hays said. "I just knew it was a close play. I tried to get rid of the ball as quickly as I could. I actually thought I could have done a better job getting behind the ball, so I just tried to get rid of it as quickly as I could and Sevie laid a perfect tag down. And when I got to see the replay I saw how quick his tag was. He got straight to the runner, so I've got to give the props to him for a great tag."

Kriske struck out Bo Bichette and Teoscar Hernández in the sixth, but Dickerson homered, Espinal and Jansen doubled and Biggio singled for a 5-0 lead.

Isaac Mattson induced a ground ball to the right side of the infield, but George Springer beat the throw and Biggio scored from second base.

The baton dented the fake grass.

Ten of Jansen's 26 RBIs have come against the Orioles.

Hays singled with two outs in the first and was stranded. Richie Martin singled with one out in the third and Mullins lined into a double play. Hays singled with one out in the fourth and Mancini grounded into a double play.

Apparently, Hays also rakes in October.

Severino extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a leadoff single in the fifth and Gutiérrez grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, with the safe call at first base overturned on the review.

The extended review was costly to the Orioles after Nevin followed with a fly ball down the right field line that fell for a double.

Note: Kyle Bradish had an outstanding finish to his minor league season, allowing one run in five innings for Triple-A Norfolk. He held Durham to four hits, walked one batter and struck out six.

David Lebron followed with three scoreless and hitless innings.

Adley Rutschman threw out two more runners attempting to steal, giving him four in the past two games.