Toronto Blue Jays centre fielder Randal Grichuk (15) hits a two-run home run against the Baltimore Orioles during seventh inning American League baseball action in Toronto on Monday, April 1, 2019.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Sean Reid-Foley needed a strikeout in the biggest way – and it was only the first inning, so you can deduce how the night was unfolding for the young Toronto Blue Jays pitcher.
With three runs already having been cashed by the Baltimore Orioles, the bases were loaded for Jesus Sucre, who swung at a pitch that was low and out of the strike zone.
Reid-Foley had his punch-out but it came at the expense of a wild pitch that handcuffed Danny Jansen, the Toronto catcher. The ball squirted past him to the backstop where it took Jansen a few unsettled moments until he was finally able to track it down.
By that time, Rio Ruis was able to saunter home from third base with the fourth Baltimore run.
That wild pitch, along with a home run, two walks and a fielding error, all played a role in Reid-Foley’s half-inning of horrors and helped Baltimore hold on for a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays on Monday night.
“There were some good points, some bad things, that I can work on,” Reid-Foley said afterward, doing a stalwart job of trying to put his best foot forward. “But ultimately at the end of the day you just got to figure out what you can run with, just come in tomorrow and get better.”
A rather routine affair turned into a white knuckler in the bottom of the ninth when the Orioles took a 6-3 lead only to see it pared to one off a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Kevin Pillar and then a triple by Teoscar Hernandez.
But with the tying run at third, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. struck out.
For a team that is full-bore into a rebuild, the Blue Jays can take some solace that they displayed good resolve in coming back late after struggling most of the way, which has been an annoying habit the team has displayed so far this year.
The Blue Jays are the ultimate slow starters offensively, with Monday’s 0-for-9 performance through the first three innings putting them at an incredible 1-for-46 over that same span through their first five games.
“I’m not going to defend our offence right now,” Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said. “But I know we’re going to hit, that’s what they do. They have a past, they have a record and we’re going to hit, we’re just not hitting right now.”
Toronto batters are now hitting a collective .180 on the season.
A puny turnout of just 10,460 was at cavernous Rogers Centre to bear witness to the affair, in which the Blue Jays produced just six hits.
Those who showed up got to see an odd occurrence with Baltimore starter David Hess, who was pitching a no-hit (one-walk) masterpiece, getting pulled from the game by Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde with one out in the seventh inning.
Hess had thrown 82 pitches, a goodly amount for so early in the season, and had a career-high eight strikeouts. He had just been tagged hard by Brandon Drury but the line drive sailed into the glove of Baltimore shortstop Richie Martin for the initial out.
Hess was replaced by Pedro Araujo who proceeded to walk Justin Smoak before surrendering Toronto’s first hit, a two-run home run by Randal Grichuk, which cut Baltimore’s lead to 6-2.
Shortstop Freddy Galvis also homered for the Blue Jays, in the bottom of the eighth, which cut the Baltimore lead to three.
The game was the first of a three-game set against the Orioles, the worst team in baseball by a country mile last year who are not being counted on to be much better this year.
The Blue Jays faced Baltimore having had four great outings at home by their starting staff. They finished with a 2-2 split against the Detroit Tigers, who are also not considered Grade-A material.
The Toronto starters had rolled to a franchise record 24 shutout innings to begin a season through the first four games and Reid-Foley was hoping to add to that total.
A two-run home run shot by Baltimore’s Jonathan Villar in the first inning, which provided the Orioles with a 2-0 lead, quickly vanquished that thought.
An error by Galvis left Baltimore with runners at second and third and when Reid-Foley walked Renato Nunez, with the bases were loaded.
Reid-Foley then walked Chris Davis, which forced in the third Baltimore run.
The right-hander lasted only two innings before getting a merciful hook by Montoyo. His pitching line – of five runs (three earned), off four hits, two walks, three strikeouts, two wild pitches and one hit batter – is a bit of a train wreck.
Baltimore added another run in the second and went up 6-0 in the top of the seventh on a solo home run by Trey Mancini.
Reid-Foley, 23, is considered one of Toronto’s better younger pitching prospects who stuck his toe in the big-league waters late last season, making seven starts, going 2-4 with a 5.13 earned-run average.
Reid-Foley did not make the team out of spring training and was assigned to Buffalo. But his services were required in Toronto after lefty Clayton Richard, who was scheduled to make the start on Monday, came down with knee soreness and landed on the injured list.
Solid pitching has been about the only attribute the Blue Jays have displayed this season. The team has struggled offensively and hauled a collective batting average of .177 into the start of the Baltimore series.