The Baltimore Orioles opened the second inning of Friday’s game in Toronto with six straight hits to score five runs. Those runs helped propel the Orioles to a 7-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays (73-75). The win put the Orioles in a two-way tie with the Texas Rangers (72-76) for the third AL Wild Card spot, 3.0 games behind the Cleveland Guardians (75-73). Both teams are 1.0 game behind the Blue Jays in the Wild Card race.
Dylan Beavers (2 for 5, R, 3 RBI) sent the second pitch thrown by Max Scherzer (2-8) 375 ft. to right field for his seventh homerun of the season. Beavers also had a hand in the second inning with his two-RBI single, the sixth hit of the string.
The second inning began with back-to-back-to-back singles by Gunnar Henderson (2 for 4, R), Samuel Basallo (1 for 3, R, BB) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (3 for 4, R) to load the bases. A Heston Kjerstad (1 for 2, R) RBI-single and a Colton Cowser (1 for 3, R, BB) two RBI-double followed.
Coby Mayo (1 for 5) capped off Baltimore’s scoring with a two-out solo homerun with two outs in the seventh inning, his 23rd long ball of the season.
Chris Bassitt (7-5) was the beneficiary of this largess by the Orioles’ bats. The 37 year old allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts and a balk over 5.0 innings to earn the win. Bassitt threw 95 pitches (64 K’s) and did allow a fourth inning homerun to Kazuma Okamoto.
Josh Walker, Yennier Cano and Andrew Kittredge combined for 3.0 no-hit innings.
Alex Hoppe made it interesting in the ninth. He allowed a two-run homerun to Brett Bateman and then a George Springer single before being relieved by Rico Garcia. A single by Vladimir Guerrero, Jr put a runner in scoring position before Garcia induced a force out for the final out of the game to earn his eighth save of the season.
The Orioles’ playoff hopes, however slim, are still alive.
2026 Record: 72-76
Next Game: Sat. 9/12 @ 3:07 pm vs. Toronto Blue Jays
