O's ninth-inning rally falls short in 7-6 loss to Blue Jays (updated)

TORONTO – Coming into the rubber match of their series at Toronto tonight, the Orioles had lost just one American League East series in 10 tries this year and just one in their past 24 division series dating to early April of 2023.

If there was a player who could change that it would be Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Hitting against a team he loves to torment, Guerrero homered and added a double and triple with four RBIs tonight as Toronto beat the Orioles 7-6 in front of 27,910 at Rogers Center.

Even with Guerrero's monster night at the plate, the O's had a chance to steal the series in the ninth inning. Trailing 7-2 at the turn of the ninth, the Orioles loaded the bases behind three consecutive singles from Ryan O'Hearn, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle. 

Then the runs followed. Jackson Holliday drove in a run with a groundout, Cedric Mullins doubled in another and then Colton Cowser singled for two more. It was quickly 7-6. And with the O's homer leader, Anthony Santander coming up. 

But righty reliever Chad Green got the final out as he induced Santander to fly to center on a 2-2 fastball and Toronto hung on. The O's rally fell a run short.  

The Orioles fall to 68-48 and lose two of three this series. They are now 7-2-2 in division series for the season and 17-2-6 their past 25 division series.

Guerrero, who missed hitting for the cycle by not hitting a single, had an RBI double in the first, a two-run homer in the fifth and added an RBI triple an inning later.

He went 3-for-4 tonight and is 21-for-55 (.381) against the Orioles in 13 games this season with five doubles, a triple, five homers and 14 RBIs.

The game tilted in the Blue Jays' favor at the outset tonight. After right-hander Kevin Gausman retired the Orioles on 10 pitches in the top of the first, Toronto took a 3-0 lead in the home first off right-hander Dean Kremer.

That was unusual for Kremer, who had allowed one run in the first inning of his 15 starts this year for an 0.60 ERA in that inning.

George Springer started the frame with an infield single up the middle and Varsho walked. That brought up Guerrero who was hitting .439 with an OPS of 1.378 this year against O’s pitching.

He then added to those numbers, lining a 1-0 fastball to right-center to score a run and leave runners on second and third. One out later, with Alejandro Kirk batting, Kremer was charged with a balk and another run scored. Then Kirk singled to left for a quick 3-0 Toronto lead.

Kremer allowed three runs and three hits, including a walk and balk in the first on 28 pitches.

With his double in the first, Guerrero extended his hitting streak to 20 games, the current longest in the majors. He hit .493 the last 19 games. And Guerrero becomes the second Blue Jay in club history to have two hit streaks in his career of 20 or more games, joining Damaso Garcia, who did that with streaks in 1982 and 1983.

The Orioles got two runs back and pulled within 3-2 in the third inning on

Cowser’s 17^th home run. His two-run shot pulled Baltimore within one and gave Cowser the homer lead among all MLB rookies. He hit a Gausman fastball out to left field.

That was the Orioles' 179^th homer of this year and their 28^th in 13 games against Toronto, easily their most versus any opponent. They have hit 15 in seven games versus Texas and 14 in seven contests against Tampa Bay.

But later it was that man again, Guerrero, who helped Toronto expand its lead. He hit a two-run shot to right off Kremer for a 5-2 lead in the last of the fifth.

Varsho drew a leadoff walk in the inning and putting on a man ahead of Guerrero was a bad idea. He drove a Kremer 2-1 fastball that was pretty much middle-middle out to right-center for his 23^rd homer and a three-RBI night.

Guerrero’s homer was his 27^th in 89 career games against the Orioles – his most versus any opponent.  

The losing pitcher was Kremer, who went just 4 1/3 innings allowing four hits and five runs with five walks to tie his career-high and six strikeouts. Kremer, who threw 96 pitches, is now 4-9 with an ERA of 4.70. The Orioles have lost his past four starts. They are 6-10 in his games this year after going 24-8 in his starts last season.

The Jays' 5-2 lead grew to 7-2 in the home sixth when Varsho singled in a run off Keegan Akin and Bryan Baker came on as Vladdy tripled to deep right for another run and five-run lead. Right fielder Ryan O’Hearn could not make a leaping catch in deep right and Guerrero had his first triple since 2021.

Before the struggles from Zach Pop and Green in the ninth, Gausman was masterful. The former Oriole pitched eight innings, allowing only two runs on three hits and walks. 

The Orioles are now 3-4 on this 10-game road trip which continues Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla. versus Tama Bay with right-hander Zach Eflin (7-7, 4.05 ERA) on the mound.

The Angels beat the Yankees 9-4 so the O's and New York end the night once again tied for first in the AL East.

Manager Brandon Hyde, was Vlad too good tonight or O's pitchers not good enough against him?: “I think it was a combination of a lot of things. One we walked Varsho twice in front of him. That is not a recipe for success. And then missing fastballs in the middle part of the plate to a guy that’s red hot.

“I know Dean was trying to go up, in off and left it middle in. Baker was trying to go off and it leaked back to the middle. Just some poor pitch execution to him, a guy that is really dangerous and it hurt us.”

Hyde on the rally in the ninth: “Yead, we got the tying run on base there in the ninth inning after not doing much offensively for a while. Give our guys some credit for that, but disappointing loss. Great job of rallying in the ninth, just too little, too late. We have to give up less runs than we’re giving up.”

Kremer was rough first inning good Jays hitting or did he make mistakes?: “I think it was a combination of both. I threw a lot of non-competitive pitches in general today, too many. But I think a little bit of both. Thought I made a good pitch to Kirk, he hit it. The sinker in to Vladdy I don’t think was a bad pitch either. He’s just swinging it right now.”

Kremer, will staff have to not try to do too much without Grayson Rodriguez?: “Interesting question. I’m going to say no. Like we have done the last three years, somebody goes down, somebody’s got to pick him up and usually the guy that comes in and picks him up does a good job.

“I don’t think the other starters feel any added pressure than a normal day. So short answer no.”

Cowser, can the rally late help you this weekend?: “Yeah, absolutely. Just from my perspective felt like we were hitting a lot of balls hard today, just missing them. Bats came alive in the ninth and hopefully we carry that momentum into this weekend."

Cowser on club's position with 46 games left: "You know I think that overall, we haven't been playing our best baseball, but we're still in the fight for the division. You know I think that is all you can ask for. As a team, we're looking to finish this next month and a half strong and whatever position we're in, we're in. As a whole just trying to keep our head down and keep grinding."