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That was very painful in the area. Yusei Kikuchi was missing from the jump, and the offense was back to the ‘couldn’t put together a hit’ mode that had plagued him since the start of the season. The Jays have to play more than a quarter of their 54 games against the Orioles to clinch their wild card spot, so starting this series with a loss puts them in a tough spot.
The attack was fought early. Jordan Lyles isn’t fooling anyone, but a lot of mediocre quality contact leads to quick exits. The first base runner got two out on a walk by Matt Chapman, and the first hit resulted in a line single by Remel Tapia. Danny Jansen appeared to keep either goal out.
They got on the board in the third when Cavan Biggio hit a fly ball over the center field wall. Whit Merrifield and Teoscar Hernandez each added a single, but three deep fly outs prevented their father from cutting into Baltimore’s lead.
The fourth and fifth failed with three infield singles (by Tapia, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk) but failed to score. Chapman got things moving again in the sixth with Camden’s lame new gimmick to left field with an uncatchable bomb, Toronto pulled within 3. Jansen followed that with a walk to throw Lyles out of the game, but Cionel Perez iced Biggio for the game. Stop strike.
In the seventh, Dillon Tate struck out Guerrero and Merrifield and brought Kirk to second on a groundout. He stayed in the eighth, and that was the point where the Blue Jays’ offense finally tied the game. After Hernandez led off, Bo Bichette and Chapman drove balls up the middle to put two men in and put him out of the game. Facing Joey Krehbiel, Teppia ripped a hard ground ball single to right, knocking Bichet home and the tying run to the plate. Jansen’s sac fly brought Chapman home to make it 6-4. Krehbiel looked a little flustered this time, dropping a pickoff attempt and allowing Tapia to advance to second and then walk Bigeon on four pitches. That was all Orioles manager Brandon Hyde needed to see. He went to closer Felix Bautista to save the four. He got a pitch from Merrifield to end the game.
In the ninth, Guerrero reached on an error by shortstop Matthews and Kirk lined a single to right to bring the tying run to the plate again. Again, they failed to capitalize. Hernandez struck out and Bichette grounded into a game-ending double play.
Yusei Kikuchi walked two of the first three batters he faced and gave up a home run to Ramon Uriah to put the Orioles up 3-0. He righted the ship in the second, with a beautiful throw by Danny Johnson when George Matteo reached the infield and tried to steal second.
The Bats came back with a fly ball single to left, and a flyout from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk (the latter of whom needed a great run). Ryan McKenna’s single was canceled out by a double play, but Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle blasted back-to-back solo shots to make it 5-1.
The fourth was easy, with only Austin Hays’ single reaching. In the fifth, Kikuchi got the 1-2-3 inning that scientists had previously only theorized. He could not repeat the method in the sixth, unfortunately, the leading man Mountcastle was going and forced Schneider in favor of Trent Thornton.
It was a bad start any way you look at it. He squared off too often (3 home runs), walked too many (3) and didn’t strike out enough guys (4). I don’t know what else Jay can expect at this point. His gamescore, a quick-and-dirty stat Bill James developed to give a snapshot of the rookie’s overall performance, was 23 tonight. 50 is average, 40 is about replacement level. Kikuchi has now been under 30 six times in 10 starts. He’s more often terrible than competent, and the current trend isn’t toward improvement.
Forced to mop up, Thornton induced a double play to end the walk, but immediately gave up a homer to Austin Hayes to give the Jays a 6-2 win. There he struck out Mathews to stop the bleeding and followed with a clean 7th inning.
With the game somewhat close in the bottom of the eighth, Schneider walked Trevor Richards. He wasn’t up to the task, leading off leadoff man Adley Rutschman and then back-to-back singles to Santander and Mountcastle to push the Orioles’ lead to 3. He was able to stop there, getting a double play ground ball. And a pop-up to exit the entrance.
Jays of the Day: Tapia (0.107)
Breastfeeding: Kikuchi (-0.307), Hernandez (-0.158), Bichte (-0.143)
Alec Manoah will be toeing the rubber for Toronto, who feel they need to win game two, while rookie Kyle Brady will do the same for Baltimore. The first highlight ins 7:05 ET.
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