The Baltimore Orioles lost the dramatic 11th inning AL Wild Card game to their AL East rival the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 in a walk off homer at a delirious Rogers Centre.
Both teams gave it everything they had and the score was tied 2-2 going into the 11th inning. That is when Baltimore brought in starter Ubaldo Jimenez to pitch. His command was not sharp and the first two Toronto batters he faced smacked singles. That set up the dramatic finish.
Next stepped Blue Jay’s slugger Edwin Encarnacion into the batters box. Jimenez threw him a pitch that caught too much of the plate and he deposited it over the outfield fence much to the delight of the crowd and the dismay of the Orioles their season over in the winner-take-all game.
Oriole’s fans will have all Winter to wonder why Oriole’s manager Buck Showalter did not bring in closer Zach Britton when the Blue Jays had men on first and third and Jimenez struggling.
Starter Chris Tillman struck out four allowed four hits one walk and two runs in 4.1 innings of work. The bullpen was outstanding striking out seven and allowing no runs.
The offense was supplied by slugger Mark Trumbo who smacked a two-run homer in the fourth inning to tie the game.
Still, the season was a success as both teams finished second in the division with identical (89-73) regular season records and both teams clinched their playoff berths on the last game of the season. the Birds, who struggled on the road won their last five road series to qualify for the playoffs.
The Oriole’s who lived by the long ball had three players, Mark Trumbo (ML-Best 47) Chris Davis (38) and Manny Machado (37) with at least 30 homers for the first time in team history.
They led the Majors with 253 homers, 28 more than the second best St. Louis Cardinals and had six players with at least 20 home runs.
Adam Jones (29) Jonathan Schoop (25) and Pedro Alverez (22) were the other Oriole’s home run leaders.
The team RBI leaders were Trumbo (108) Machado (96) and Davis with (84). Trumbo finished in the top 10 in RBIs for the AL. Machado, who was voted team MVP finished the season with the highest batting average at .294.
Tillman led the staff with a (16-6) record and Dylan Bundy became a starter after the All-Star break and finished with a (10-6) record. Starter Kevin Gausman really came on strong in the second half and finished with a record of (9-12).
Closer Britton was spectacular and led the AL with 47 straight saves and ended the season with a 0.54 ERA. He is a candidate for the Cy Young Award given to the best pitcher in each league.
The Orioles begin the 2017 season on April 3 at Camden Yards against…wait for it, the Blue Jays.
