The Baltimore Orioles’ series finale against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays was rained out Wednesday night and will be made up as part of a Labour Day doubleheader Sept. 5.
The first game of the traditional doubleheader will begin at 1:05 p.m. ET that day. Game 2 will follow about 30 minutes after the end of the first.
The Orioles were vying for a three-game sweep of their American League East rivals, which would have tightened the divisional and wild-card races even further. Toronto is 60-50 and in possession of the first AL wild-card spot entering Wednesday’s play. The Orioles are 58-52, just two games back and tied with another AL East foe, the Tampa Bay Rays, for the last wild-card position.
The Blue Jays and Orioles will play one another 12 more times down the stretch. They’ll reconvene in Toronto next week for a three-game series, play six times in September and finish the regular season with a three-game set in Baltimore Oct. 3-5.
For now, the Blue Jays will return home for a weekend series against the Cleveland Guardians that begins Friday.
Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios (8-4, 5.19 ERA) was scheduled to start opposite O’s righty Dean Kremer (4-3, 3.43 ERA) on Wednesday.
The Orioles beat the Blue Jays 7-4 and 6-5 on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. They won Tuesday on Rougned Odor’s two-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth against Yimi Garcia.
“[The Orioles] are obviously playing really well, and they’ve made some pretty big improvements,” Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider said. “They have a couple of young, exciting players. I think gone are the days where you can say the AL East is owned by one [team]. So we’re taking this series just like we’d take on anyone else, and it’s going to be competitive.”
The Blue Jays had two home runs and four RBIs from Bo Bichette on Tuesday.
Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 1-for-5 to extend his hit streak to a career-best 20 games. He is batting .386 (32-for-83) during the streak.