Series Preview Blue Jays vs. Orioles: Baltimore stuck after sell-out

The Toronto Blue Jays end a nine-game road trip against teams in the playoff race with a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Blue Jays are leading the American League wildcard race while the Orioles are fourth with the Cleveland Guardians, two games behind the last places held jointly by the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners.

Here’s a look at the Blue Jays Orioles series.

Probably jugs

Monday, 7:05 PM ET / 4:05 PM PT: Toronto LHP Yusei Kikuchi (4-5, 4.86 ERA) vs. Baltimore RHP Jordan Lyles (8-8, 4.40 ERA)

Tuesday, 7:05 PM ET / 4:05 PM PT: Toronto RHP Alek Manoah (12-5, 2.45 ERA) vs. Baltimore RHP Kyle Bradish (1-4, 6.55 ERA)

Wednesday 7:05 PM ET / 4:05 PM PT: Toronto RHP Jose Berrios (8-4, 5.19 ERA) vs. Baltimore RHP Dean Kremer (4-3, 3.43 ERA)

(All games on Sportsnet)

Latest on the Blue Jays

The Blue Jays (60-48) clinched a four-game streak split in Minnesota on Sunday with a dramatic 3-2 win over the Twins in 10 innings.

Whit Merrifield was originally ruled out on a sacrifice fly in the 10th, but the call was canceled when catcher Gary Sanchez was found to have blocked the trajectory to the plate.

After failing to maintain a 2-1 lead in ninth place, Jordan Romano finished the Twins in tenth place to take the win.

But there are injuries. Outfielder George Springer (elbow) and left-hander Tim Mayza are both out, with the latter in a position where Toronto has little depth.

Toronto is now 3-3 on the road trip.

Latest on the Orioles

The Orioles (56-52) appeared to be waving the season in the white towel as they dealt outfielder/infielder Trey Mancini to the Houston Astros and Jorge Lopez to the Twins before last week’s trading close.

After those moves were completed, however, the Orioles went on to win five straight games before the streak ended in an 8-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. Despite this, they are now 21-10 in July and August.

Worst team in the AL East since Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off homer against the Orioles in the 2016 Wild Card Game at the Rogers Centre, worst team in the AL East in all but one season, the Orioles apparently weren’t ready for this one Year to put some serious pressure on the deadline despite the turnaround after falling a season-high 11 games below .500 on June 10.

Interestingly, the Orioles had a game similar to Merrifield’s, which was also knocked down on Sunday – and hurt Baltimore.

Catcher Robinson Chirinos was ruled that he broke the home plate collision rule after Pittsburgh’s Greg Allen was originally called out after running home in the seventh.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was sacked, as was Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, for denying the call.

He said so

“We want to go wild, but it’s my job to run the organization as a whole from top to bottom. And sometimes there are opportunities that feel like a step backwards. But overall it’s a step forward for the whole organization and that’s the position I’m in.”
– Orioles CEO Mike Elias after the close of trading.

Welcome back

The Orioles are optimistic that outfielder Austin Hays (oblique) will return Monday after missing the last four games.

season series

The Blue Jays and Orioles have 15 games left against each other.

Her only series to date was a split four gamer in June at the Rogers Centre.

Manoah had an 11-1 win in the opener, but Kikuchi didn’t make it to the fifth inning the next day with a 6-5 loss.

Toronto won the third game 7-6 when the Orioles made the odd decision to open the 10th inning for Vladimir Guerrero Jr – and he tied for the winning singles. However, Baltimore broke up with a 10-2 demolition on escape day.

Next

After a day of rest Thursday, the Blue Jays return home for three games against Cleveland and three against Baltimore.