Roberto Osuna allowed a two-run homerun to Hyun Soo Kim in the top of the ninth, and Zach Britton shut the door in the bottom of the inning in another tough loss for the Blue Jays as they try to clinch a playoff spot.
The Blue Jays would come to lament their missed opportunities, going one for five with runners in scoring position and leaving eight runners on base, including the bases loaded in the eighth inning when Melvin Upton Jr. struck out.
On to the good news, Francisco Liriano has picked the perfect time to reach another level. After shutting out the Yankees in his last start, Liriano did not allow a run against the Orioles tonight, and got himself out of a few jams.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the first inning when Ezequiel Carrera reached first on an error, went to third on an errant pickoff throw and finally scored on an Edwin Encarnacion sacrifice fly.
The Jays would double the lead when Troy Tulowitzki doubled, Michael Saunders singled and then Kevin Pillar hit a sacrifice fly.
The Orioles would have their chances early in the game off of Liriano. In the fourth inning, after back to back singles, Liriano struck out Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo, and Trey Mancini to get out of the jam.
The next inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Liriano would strike out Chris Davis to end the threat. In all, Liriano went 6.1 innings, scattering six hits, no runs, one walk and 10 strikeouts. In his last four starts he has lowered his ERA from 5.27 to 4.69.
Brett Cecil came in in the seventh inning with two on and one out and struck out Nolan Reimold and got Adam Jones to ground out, again getting out of the inning unscathed.
Cecil would then strike out Davis to start the eighth before getting replaced with Jason Grilli. Grilli would allow a homerun to Mark Trumbo which cut the lead to 2-1, but would get out of his own jam.
Cecil has been great lately which is great news with the injury to Joaquin Benoit. He has not allowed a run in his last 15 appearances, including tonight, dating back to a loss in Cleveland on August 21.
With the loss, the Red Sox clinch the American League East title, leaving the Blue Jays to fight for the Wild Card. They now have a one game lead in the first Wild Card spot.
Jays of the Day: Liriano (+0.266) was outstanding like we mentioned, as was Cecil (+0.173). No Jays had a great positive WPA but Ezequiel Carrera and Troy Tulowitzki both had two hits and a run scored. They combined for four of the six Jays hits.
Jays Suckage: The offence wasn’t great. Roberto Osuna obviously gets hit hard here (-0.640) after the ninth inning home run.
Up Next: The Blue Jays look to win the series against the Orioles tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. when Marcus Stroman will face off against Ubaldo Jimenez. It will be the last regular season home game of the season for the Jays before they head to Boston.