Orioles Beat Jays

Orioles 6 Blue Jays 2

Some games are more frustrating than others.

When Kyle Gibson starts against us, we should expect some runs to score.

I should have known this wasn’t our night when George Springer led off with a hard-hit ball to the outfield and got thrown out trying to get to second. It was a close play, but there is no reason to take a chance in the first inning when you are the first hitter.

It went downhill from there.

Gibson went 7 innings, and allowed just 5 hits, 1 earned, with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. The run came in the second inning. With two outs, Brandon Belt doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and, after Whit Merrifield walked, Belt scored on a Danny Jansen single.

We wouldn’t score again until the eighth. Kevin Kiermiaer singled. Springer hit a ground rule double. And Kevin scored on a Bichette ground out. The Apple commentator praised Bo for the ground out, but we were down by three. I think the Orioles were happy to give up the run to get the out. Then Vlad struck out. And Daulton Varsho ground out.

In the top of the next inning, Erik Swanson gave up a two-run homer in the top of the ninth, putting us down by four. Swanson has been, plus or minus, our best reliever this year, but that’s two poor outings in a row.

Yusei Kikuchi didn’t have a great start. 4.2 innings, 3 hits, 3 earned, 4 walks and 3 strikeouts. He gave up a home run to Ryan Mountcastle, which brought the 3 runs against.

Trevor Richard gave up a home run in the sixth. All the Orioles' runs scored on home runs.

We used five relievers. Tim Mayza, Anthony Bass, and Thomas Hatch didn’t get the memo that they should give up home runs.

We managed 8 hits, only 2 of which were for extra bases, both doubles. Springer and Jansen had two hits each (Jansen also hit into a double play when we had two on in the fourth when we could have used a hit to get back into the game).

We had 0 fors from Bichette, Varsho, and Chapman.

We were 1 for 7 with RISP.

There were a couple of nice plays in the field. The best was....Kikuchi tried to pick Ryan McKenna off second and threw wild (I don’t understand pickoff attempts at second. I know pitchers are using pickoffs to reset the pitch clock, but they don’t have to throw to reset it). Kiermaier backed up the play and made a great throw to third. The next time Kikuchi tried a pickoff at second and threw wild, the Oriole player didn’t try to go to second.

No Jays of the Day today.

The Other Awards go to: Kikuchi (-.148 WPA), Varsho (-.119), Vlad (-.106) and Bo (-.102).

Tomorrow Alek Manoah (1-4, 5.40) goes against Grayson Rodriguez (2-1, 6.57). It is a 3:00 Eastern start. Hopefully we’ll score some runs.