It took 13 scoreless innings on the mound, including seven from four bullpen pitchers. It took one great catch in the top of the 13th and one clutch hit in the last of the inning.
Orioles left fielder Trey Mancini made a spectacular leaping catch to rob Steve Pearce and keep the game 0-0 in the 13th last night. His lunging grab was one of the plays of the year. Then Jonathan Schoop's RBI double produced his second career walk-off hit as the Orioles beat Toronto 1-0 at Oriole Park.
With the Twins, Angels and Yankees all losing, it was a pretty good night to pull out a win. The Orioles are now 1 1/2 games back of Minnesota for the second American League wild card and 2 1/2 games back of the Yankees for the first.
Pearce's two-out liner to deep left in the 13th had the look of an RBI double. Until Mancini, not even an outfielder until March, made a spectacular grab.
"That was probably one of the plays that are the toughest ones for me," Mancini said. "It looked like it was coming right at me at first. But I knew I was going to have to go back on it. It was just a matter of which way to break. So I think I might have stuttered left just for a split second and then turned right and went back. Luckily, jumped at the last second and barely got enough glove on it to catch it. So, yeah, definitely felt good to make that play there.
"I thought it was about a 50-50 shot (to make the play). Somebody just told me it was a 60 percent catch probability or something. Those advanced stats always find a way to bring me down to earth a little bit."
Mancini added that he knew a day would be coming where he'd have to make a tough play with the game on the line.
"I've always known there was going to come a time in a close game where you had to make a play similar to that," he said. "That is why you put in the work every day. I can't thank (Wayne) Kirby and Brady (Anderson) and everyone else enough for helping me out out there."
Long before Mancini's catch and Schoop's walk-off double, right-hander Kevin Gausman pitched well again. He went six innings plus one batter, allowing five hits and no runs on 115 pitches with eight strikeouts.
"Feels like I pitched a long time ago," Gausman said during his postgame interview. "It is 12:02 (a.m.), so I did pitch yesterday. That was a great team win. You had the sense that whoever scored first was going to win that game. Obviously, our bullpen has been great all year and tonight's another example. Happy for Jimmy (Yacabonis) - he got his first win. That is always exciting."
Over his last nine starts, Gausman has pitched to an ERA of 2.03, allowing two runs or fewer seven times.
"You know, I kind of tweaked my mechanics a little bit to allow myself to be a little bit more repeatable (with the delivery). We know the biggest thing with me is fastball command always," he said. "My walks are down and that's a big thing for me. Also, getting in better pitchers' counts. Some pitches that I didn't execute my first 20 starts with two strikes, I'm doing now. That is a big difference."
The Orioles recorded their 10th shutout. It was their third in the last seven games. They now have 10 walk-off wins and are 11-2 in extra-inning games. Their .846 win percentage in extra innings leads all of Major League Baseball.
The Orioles have won eight of nine and nine of the last 11 games to get to 69-66. Since they got swept three in a row by the Cubs to start the second half, they are 27-17.
The teams combined to go 0-for-24 with runners in scoring position. The Orioles were 0-for-11, including going 0-for-7 when they left six runners on base in the first three innings last night.
A special day for a Fallston youngster: I hope you had a chance to read this story published here yesterday. On Friday the Orioles made a dream come true for 17-year-old Jimmy Martino from Fallston. The Orioles signed him to a ceremonial one-day contract as part of the Make-A-Wish program.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Major League Baseball and the Orioles dedicated yesterday to pediatric cancer awareness. Martino is a Make-A-Wish Foundation member. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January. Friday, he officially joined his favorite team and even took part in his own press conference with Orioles vice president Dan Duquette formally signing him. He put on a jersey as photographers snapped pictures. It was a pretty special moment.
Duquette fought back tears when he said, "Playing for the Orioles is Jimmy's dream."
Martino was asked who he looked forward to meeting most on the team.
"That is a hard question," he said. "As good, ol' Buck Showalter says, 'I like our guys.' "
After he held the press conference with Jimmy and presented him with a hat and his own O's jersey, Duquette talked about the emotion of the day.
"As a parent, you are just grateful your kids are healthy," he said. "It's kids like these that have to go out and fight the fight every day that remind you to appreciate health within your family. There are over 250,000 cases of pediatric cancer diagnosed every year. So this isn't an isolated case. But the Orioles and Major League Baseball - they have a platform to bring awareness to it and help these kids live out their dreams. Even if it's only for a day,."
WATCH: Jimmy Martino signs with the @Orioles before throwing out tonight's first pitch, through @WishMidAtlantic! #IBackTheBirds pic.twitter.com/DoQN9uDIWq
-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) September 1, 2017
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