Yet another dramatic comeback. yawn.
Max Scherzer recovered from a tough first few batters to pitch a pretty solid start, the bullpen did enough, and the offence showed up just in time. It’s really been a patter for them lately. This Blue Jays team is really never out of it.
Things got off to a rough start for Max Scherzer. The first three Orioles reached, including an RBI double by Gunnar Henderson to put Baltimore up 1-0 before an out had even been recorded. A ground out plated another before he could escape the inning.
He settled down in the second, pitching a scoreless inning with just a bloop single allowed, and cruised from there. He issued a walk and allowing another soft fly single in the third and sat the Orioles down in order in the fourth and fifth. Overall it was a solid start, 5.0 innings pitched, two runs on four hits and two walks, striking out five.
Tommy Nance worked a 1-2-3 sixth, and Eric Lauer did the same in the seventh. Lauer returned to get the first two outs of the eighth, giving up a walk. Seranthony Dominguez took over and gave up a swinging bunt single and a double, allowing Baltimore to plate their third. Finally, Braydon Fisher gave up a solo homer to Coby Mayo in the ninth for the O’s fourth and final score.
The offence could not figure Tomoyuki Sugano out. The first tome through the order, all they managed was a Tyler Heineman single that was immediately wiped out by a double play. Addison Barger lead off the bottom of the fifth with a home run to right centre to cut the lead to 2-1, and they’d manage two more hits over the next two innings, but that was it.
Luckily for the Blue Jays, Sugano was pulled after six innings and just 63 pitches. He’d had two short outings in a row, so although he’s healthy maybe the Orioles are managing his workload. Regardless of the reason, it was a gift to Toronto.
Rico Garcia gave up a line single and a walk in the seventh. They didn’t cash in that time, but facing Kade Strowd and Keegan Akin in the eighth they strung together three hits to manufacture a second run.
They entered the ninth down 4-2. With one out, Daulton Varsho bunted for a single and went to second on Akin’s throwing error. Yennier Cano was brought in with the tying run at the plate. Ernie Clement, Joey Loperfido, and Andres Gimenez singled in order to tie it at four. George Springer reached on catcher’s interference to load the bases and set up Alejandro Kirk’s walk off sac fly.
Jays of the Day: Springer (0.159), Kirk (0.306), Vlad (0.111), Barger (0.218), Loperfido (0.246), Gimenez (0.106)
Not so much: Dominguez (-0.117), IKF (-0.197), Schneider (-0.195), Lukes (-0.127)
The series wraps up tomorrow. Shane Bieber (2-1, 4.30) will look to improve on a rocky first two starts of September, but who he’ll face off against has not been officially announced. First pitch is slated for 1:37pm ET.