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The Blue Jays and Orioles started their closing sequence Tuesday night time at Camden Yards in Baltimore, taking part in the form of baseball worthy of a post-season backdrop.
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Maybe the 2 sides will hook up when the stakes are a lot larger however, for now, followers can anticipate two extra electrical energy charged conferences after the Jays beat the AL East-leading Orioles 6-3 in 10 innings. It was an necessary victory for the Jays who wanted it to maintain tempo with the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners, each straightforward winners on Tuesday, within the tight AL wild-card race.
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With one swing of the bat, Brandon Belt — who homered twice on Sunday in Cincinnati — offered the massive blow on a first-pitch, two-run no-doubter over the right-centre discipline fence to interrupt a 3-3 tie. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who adopted Belt with a double to left, scored an insurance coverage run from third on a wild pitch.
Good factor, too. No lead appeared secure on this sequence opener, no workforce in a position to construct the required momentum because the Jays discovered themselves as soon as once more immersed in a tightly contested sport with no margin for error.
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Because the night time drew longer, the drama solely intensified, realizing Toronto had gone 2-8 in opposition to the O’s this season previous to Tuesday.
Each groups needed to resort to their high-leverage arms from their respective bullpens, which solely added to the playoff-type ambiance.
Baltimore jumped on the Blue Jays in its first at-bats when an Austin Hayes RBI double produced the sport’s first run.
Yusei Kikuchi had given up solely 5 earned runs in his earlier six begins, however his offence would decide him up within the second inning when Daulton Varsho’s two-run blast gave the Jays a 2-1 lead, and Kevin Kiermaier’s two-out RBI double within the fourth made it 3-1.
The O’s, nevertheless, pulled even within the fifth, scoring one run on a double steal and a throwing error by catcher Danny Jansen, and one other on a double by rookie Jordan Westburg off reliever Yimi Garcia. Garcia had changed Kikuchi with two out within the fifth.
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The Jays bullpen was lights out after that as Trevor Richards, Jordan Hicks, Erik Swanson, Tim Mayza and, lastly, Jordan Romano went 5 mixed shutout innings, permitting only one hit and one stroll (each by Mayza) whereas hanging out eight. Romano earned his thirty first save with a 1-2-3 Tenth.
Kikuchi wasn’t at his finest, however he was no slug, both. The lefty gave up seven hits because the Orioles introduced strategy to the plate in opposition to him and made strong contact. However Kikuchi additionally escaped hassle with seven strikeouts in his 4.2 innings.
VLADBY BACK, POWER ISN’T
Guerrero was again within the lineup after the Jays took him out of the sport Sunday within the fourth inning when he harm his left center finger after dropping management of his bat following a wild swing and miss.
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And whereas the Tenth-inning double was first extra-base hit in 9 video games, it gave him three hits on the night time.
Vladdy, nevertheless, has only one homer in his previous 24 video games.
JACK OF ALL TRADES
In his Orioles debut on Aug. 3, Jack Flaherty went six innings to tempo Baltimore to its 6-1 win at Rogers Centre.
His outing featured eight strikeouts and two walks, whereas Flaherty allowed the one run and surrendered 4 hits. Additionally of notice have been the 15 consecutive hitters Flaherty retired. On April 1, the veteran righty earned the win when he pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals, who dispatched the Jays 4-1 at Busch Stadium. In each video games, Flaherty’s pitching counterpart was Kevin Gausman. The 2 will duel at Oriole Park at Camden Yards Wednesday night time with Flaherty going for the three-peat in his fourth begin with Baltimore.
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Since he earned the win in Toronto, Flaherty went 5 innings in a loss to Houston after which took the loss by going three innings in opposition to San Diego.
MANOAH MYSTERY
It will likely be two weeks in the past this Friday when Alek Manoah was supposedly despatched to triple-A Buffalo, his second minor-league stint this season.
Solely this time, Manoah has remained in Toronto all the time. Curious, to say the least, for a one-time ace who has fallen fully out of the big-league rotation and isn’t pitching, wherever.
The Jays say they’ve long-relief choices if required in a pinch, however it seems they don’t contain Manoah. When you’ll recall, it was Bowden Francis who earned a three-inning save, his first save as an enormous leaguer, on Sunday in Cincinnati.
When Manoah was demoted the primary time, the Blue Jays used Trevor Richards as an opener after which gave the ball to Francis.
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