Jordan Romano of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches against the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth inning at the Rogers Centre on Sept. 18.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
It’s only September, but there was October intensity inside Rogers Centre on Sunday.
The Toronto Blue Jays fell just shy of sweeping the Baltimore Orioles, falling 5-4 in a game full of theatre, between foes jockeying for playoff position in the final weeks of the regular season.
It was the third game of a weekend set, and the only one the Orioles won. The Jays got a solid six innings from starter Alek Manoah, and took a 3-2 lead into the ninth, before something rare happened: Jordan Romano blew a save.
The Jays went 5-3 in this eight-game homestand, and remain in the top American League wild-card spot, a half game up on the Tampa Bay Rays, with 15 games left to play. The winner of that coveted top wild card – the No. 4 playoff seed – would play host to the three-game wild-card series. The Seattle Mariners sit third, while the Orioles are fourth and still fighting.
Despite Sunday’s loss, the Jays are in the midst of a hot September – 13-5. They have steadily crept up on the New York Yankees, leaders in the AL East.
Manoah allowed four hits and one earned run, with five strikeouts and four walks. He rebounded after a shaky start in the first inning, helped by a big catch at the right-field wall by fielder Teoscar Hernandez. The 24-year-old is now deep into the most innings he’s ever pitched in a season, making his case to be Toronto’s Game 1 starter in the postseason.
Danny Jansen was in for Manoah’s usual catcher, Alejandro Kirk, who is working through hip soreness. Jansen had not caught for Manoah since a couple of starts late in 2021, but the two worked well together Sunday.
In both the third and fourth innings, the Orioles had runners on second and third bases, and Manoah needed to fight his way out of the jam to prevent the O’s from scoring.
“You’re going to get a lot of starts in the year and there’s going to be some where you’re in cruise control,” Manoah said. “And there’s going to be some where you’re not firing on all cylinders, and you’ve got to compete. So today was one of those.”
The Jays picked up their first run in the third when Bo Bichette clipped a single to score George Springer. With Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero both on base, it looked like a prime opportunity to add runs.
But then the Jays hit into a baseball rarity: a triple play. Matt Chapman hit one low and hard, and it looked as though it would zip through the infield, until Baltimore shortstop Jorge Mateo zoomed in to catch it. First out. The O’s zipped the ball to second base and caught Guerrero lurching off the bag. Second out. Then on to first base, where Bichette couldn’t get back on the bag. Third out.
The Orioles tied the game, but Jansen pounded a solo homer over the centre-field wall to reclaim the lead for Toronto in the fifth. The homer was Jansen’s 13th, tying his career best in a season (2019). Guerrero clubbed his 29th homer over the left-field fence in the seventh to make it 3-1.
Toronto reliever Adam Cimber gave up an eighth-inning solo homer. Then Baltimore lit up star Romano – one of the best in baseball with 34 saves this year – in the top of the ninth. Baltimore loaded the bases and scored three to take a 5-3 lead. Romano had not blown a save since early August.
“Yeah, he’s been so good the whole year. I think his slider was a little bit flat. I think they were sitting on it,” explained Jays interim manager John Schneider. “Jordi, arguably one of the best in the league, today just didn’t have it.”
In the bottom of the ninth, with the crowd of 41,301 on its feet, Toronto faced Baltimore’s fireballer, Felix Bautista, who stands six-foot-five and hurls fastballs 102 miles an hour. Cavan Biggio walked, Springer doubled to bring him home. Guerrero walked, bringing up red-hot Bichette. But the September luck that has Jays marketers using catch words like “Septem-BO” and “BO-lieve,” ran out. He lined out to short.
The Jays get a day off Monday before opening a two-game series against the Phillies in Philadelphia, followed by a four-game set in Tampa against the Rays. They return for their final homestand on Sept. 26, to face the Yankees and Red Sox. The Jays and Orioles meet again for a three-game set to close out the regular season, Oct. 3 to 5.