BALTIMORE — A day’s worth of Orioles baseball, fat with gusto and as full of life as they’ve been all season, can unravel quickly.
Thus was the case in the waning innings of Baltimore’s nail-biting 7-6 10-inning loss to the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.
Gregory Soto relieved Seranthony Domínguez in the eighth inning, inheriting a three-run lead. It was trimmed to 6-5 by the time Yennier Cano replaced him. Cano could all but drop his head as he stepped off the mound after a Bo Bichette RBI single evened the score.
The Blue Jays’ eventual game-winning run was an anticlimactic soft ground ball toward third base courtesy of Myles Straw that scored Andrés Giménez in the 10th inning. Jeff Hoffman, whom the Orioles agreed to sign this offseason before a failed physical caused the deal to fall through, earned the win by recording the final six outs. After the last, he blew a kiss toward Baltimore’s dugout.
With the loss, the Orioles (6-9) have still yet to win any of their five series this season.
Manager Brandon Hyde, who was ejected for the first time this season and 18th time of his career after arguing balls and strikes in the third inning, thought six runs might be a safe enough lead the way his group was battling.
“I thought we fought hard,” he said, adding later, “just didn’t happen. We just didn’t add on a ton and they got some breaks late.”
So much of the energy Baltimore generated in Saturday night’s win rolled right in Sunday’s matinee. This loss to their American League East rivals was littered with moments of a team reinvigorated. A group that days ago was hearing its manager talk openly about needing to remind his players they’re capable of winning these back-against-the-wall games.
They looked like it for seven full innings. They just couldn’t finish the job.
When Gunnar Henderson slid head-first through home plate, avoiding the tag for an early go-ahead run, he leapt to his feet and whacked Ryan O’Hearn’s hand hard enough that O’Hearn had to shake it off before his own at-bat.
Jordan Westburg came up next and was rung up for his second strikeout. Hyde jumped out of the dugout, presumably shouting a few obscenities. He was tossed for sticking up for his third baseman. “I needed it,” Westburg said, thanking his skipper for the backup. Hyde “didn’t really appreciate the strike zone early” and blew a gasket.
“I think those are the kind of plays and momentum that can kind of get us going,” Westburg said. “It’s just disappointing that we couldn’t kind of carry it over.”
Baltimore’s fight didn’t end there.
When Toronto’s Ernie Clement poked the ball to third base in the fourth, Giménez wound up in a pickle between third and home plate. Westburg made a diving effort tag to prevent the tying run, and Baltimore ended the inning a batter later.
When the Blue Jays positioned themselves to flip the game on its head, getting two runners in scoring position with two outs in the fifth, the Orioles called on right-handed reliever Bryan Baker. They needed a way of that jam.
With three thundering fastballs all painting the high and inside corner of the strike zone, he sent George Springer packing, keeping a firm grip on a 4-2 Orioles lead. Baker stepped off the mound and screamed, punching the palm of his bright turquoise glove over and over.
Those moments kept stacking. The balloon swelled for seven innings. It popped completely on that dribbler in the 10th. And the Orioles couldn’t resuscitate themselves.
A nearly empty postgame Baltimore clubhouse lingered with the stench of such a stinging loss, even though it’s only April. While this won’t mean much in the long haul, it was a squandered opportunity to stack some momentum and win their first series of the season before a day off Monday.
“I think when the ...
