The Baltimore Orioles, on the strength of two ninth inning comebacks, took two out of three from the Toronto Blue Jays on Father’s Day Weekend at Rogers Centre.
Both teams battled back from deficits but it was the more resilient Orioles who did just enough to win the series against another tough American League East opponent. After splitting the first two games, the Birds jumped to a 7-0 lead in the second inning of the series finale.
Unfortunately, nothing came easy during this series as the Blue Jays (37-34) came right back with six runs in the second inning to make the score 7-6. They later added three runs to take a 9-7 lead. Baltimore (36-33) answered with a Chris Davis solo shot (15) in the fifth and a J.J. Hardy RBI single in the seventh inning to tie the score at 9-9.
This set the stage for some late-game heroics as the Orioles scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a lead that would stand at 13-9.
The ninth inning began with two walks. J.J. Hardy, who had both the game-tying and the game-winning hits, singled which gave the birds the lead at 10-9. Ryan Flaherty followed with a triple which scored two more runs. Manny Machado then followed with a single and the Birds had a more comfortable four run lead.
Closer Zach Britton then came in and shut down the feisty Blue Jays to record his 19th save of the year.
The hitters from each team did some early damage as neither starter made if past the second inning. Orioles starter Chris Tillman, who was riding a three-game winning streak, never found his groove After taking a 7-0 lead highlighted by a Jimmy Paredes’s three-run homer. Tillman was not able to seize the moment with a seemingly very comfortable lead.
He allowed the Blue Jays to come storming right back with six runs in the second inning. Just like that the score was 7-6 and Tillman was out of the game not able to finish even two innings of work.
Paredes and Flaherty led the team with three RBIs each. Machado and Hardy, who was clutch when it counted, had two RBIs apiece.
The bullpen gave up three runs but shut out the Jays after the fourth inning. O’Day came on to record his fourth win (4-0) of the year.
In the first game of the series, a 5-4 Toronto victory, the Orioles were actually no-hit for seven innings by Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada. But with “comeback” the theme of the series, the Orioles, down 5-0, exploded for six hits and four runs in the last two innings to put a scare into the Blue Jays.
The second game of the series, a 5-3 Orioles late-game victory, saw the Birds score three runs in the ninth inning to pull away and win the game in dramatic style.
With the score tied 2-2 going into the ninth inning, Baltimore catcher Caleb Joseph knocked an RBI single to give the Birds a 3-2 lead. Machado followed with a two-RBI double to give Baltimore a 5-2 lead.
Closer Zach Britton came in and surrendered one run before settling down to notch his 18th save of the year.
The game’s defining moment occurred in the eighth inning when, with the score tied at 2-2, the Blue Jays had bases loaded with no-outs. Orioles reliever O’Day then calmly struck out the side to end the threat allowing his team to mount another late-game rally and gain an important win in a division that has four teams at a better than .500 record with both the Orioles and the Jays three games behind the division-leading (40-31) Tampa Bay Rays.
