TORONTO _ The Orioles have left themselves with little margin for error over the regular season's final three weeks.
This time of the year, every loss is more costly, and every mistake is magnified, and in Monday night's series opener in Toronto, the Orioles' blooper-riddled game helped do them in.
The Orioles weren't beaten by the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. They practically gave a win away in a 4-3 loss at the Rogers Centre.
The one-run loss _ their fifth straight overall and third straight decided by three runs or fewer _ was magnified by three costly fielding errors that sent the Orioles (71-73) to another frustrating defeat.
Mark Trumbo lost a routine fly ball in right field off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez to open the bottom of the second inning, a ball that bounced well behind him and into foul ground. When Trumbo corralled the ball near the seats, he lost the ball into the stands while attempting to transfer. Hernandez landed on third with a double and E-9.
Two batters later, No. 9 hitter Darwin Barney hit a ball into the right-center-field gap that center fielder Adam Jones chased to the wall, but as Jones' arm went forward to throw to second, the ball fell out of his hand, and Barney landed on third with a RBI double and E-8.
The Blue Jays took advantage on Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, taking a 2-0 lead on Richard Urena's RBI double to score Barney.
In the sixth inning, right-hander Miguel Castro allowed a run without allowing a ball out of the infield.
After opening the inning by hitting Miguel Montero with a pitch, Hernandez reached on an infield single on a roller to third base. Goins grounded to first, moving both base runners into scoring position before Barney rolled a ball to first baseman Chris Davis, but with Castro converging, Davis had to toss around him to get the ball to second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who failed to get his foot on the first-base bag before Barney ran through.
Though he didn't get help from his defense in the second inning, Jimenez allowed three runs over five innings, the other run off him coming on Ryan Goins' homer in the fourth.
Trumbo homered in the fifth, and the Orioles' other runs came on run-scoring hits by Jones and Caleb Joseph.
Orioles catcher Welington Castillo left the game after he was hit in the groin area with a foul tip for the second time this season.
With two outs in the first inning, Montero fouled a 2-2 pitch back that caught Castillo in the groin area. Castillo keeled over in pain as assistant athletic trainer Brian Ebel and manager Buck Showalter attended to him.
He finished the inning but was replaced behind the plate by Joseph in the second inning.
The Orioles said that Castillo exited the game with a bruise.
This would be the second time this season Castillo was injured by a foul ball that hit him in the groin area. He missed 10 games with a testicular injury earlier this season after he was taken to the emergency room after taking a foul tip to the groin May 30.
Last season, Joseph missed a month with a testicular injury that required surgery.
With the Orioles trailing 3-1 in the fifth inning, Trumbo hit his 24th homer of the season off Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada to cut the lead to one run.
Trumbo took a 91-mph fastball into the seats in left-center field, an estimated 400 feet, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat after fouling off four straight two-strike pitches after falling behind 0-2.
The home run ended a 0-for-13 slide for Trumbo over his past five games.
Jimenez appeared doomed for another early exit after loading the bases in the first inning, but he didn't allow a run in a 29-pitch opening frame and managed to last five innings.
Jimenez retired the first two hitters he faced, then issued a walk to Josh Donaldson and allowed a single to Kendrys Morales before Kevin Pillar reached on a swinging bunt down the third-base line to load the bases.
But Jimenez struck out Montero to escape the jam, getting him to swing through a splitter to end the frame.
Jimenez allowed three runs over five innings, allowing six hits and two walks. He allowed a solo homer to Goins in the fourth, but that was the only hit Jimenez allowed after the second inning.
