TORONTO — Having hampered the Boston Red Sox’s efforts to reach the postseason by winning two of their final three home games against them this week, the Orioles opened their last series of 2021 by continuing to keep the pressure on Boston.
But Friday night at the Rogers Centre, they did so not by playing spoiler, but by doing the opposite, with the Toronto Blue Jays winning 6-4 to remain in the hunt for an American League wild-card spot. The victory allowed Toronto to at worst keep pace with the Red Sox, who lead the Washington Nationals as they try to remain one game ahead of the Blue Jays. The Seattle Mariners entered the day tied with Boston for the second wild-card spot and host the Los Angeles Angeles late Friday.
Despite finding themselves on the opposite end of the standings, the Orioles (52-108) earned a series victory against Boston this week to keep the race interesting and seemed poised to threaten the Blue Jays, seeing a slim deficit grow in the middle innings only to nearly erase it in one turn at bat. Yet the loss ensures they will finish no better than they did in 2019, Brandon Hyde’s first and only 162-game season as their manager.
Deploying one last bullpen game in 2021, Baltimore opened with Thomas Eshelman, who retired the first six Toronto batters only for a single to precede a home run by Danny Jansen. Conner Greene and Fernando Abad worked scoreless outings before Brooks Kriske surrendered four runs in the sixth as the Blue Jays broke the game open.
Meanwhile, Toronto left-hander Steven Matz shut down Baltimore for seven innings before Kelvin Gutiérrez continued his season-ending tear with a home run off Matz’s second pitch of the eighth. Tyler Nevin followed with a walk to chase Matz, then Pat Valaika also sent a ball over the left-field fence off Adam Cimber to cut the deficit to three runs.
When Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle reached against Cimber to bring up the tying run, Toronto turned to closer Jordan Romano. He surrendered an RBI single to Trey Mancini and loaded the bases for Gutiérrez’s second plate appearance of the frame, but Baltimore’s third baseman grounded out to his opposite number to end the threat. Romano worked a clean ninth for the five-out save.
Diaper Dandies
The Orioles had some fun before their final road trip of the season with all their rookies donning similar attire as they left Camden Yards one last time, the dress-up a common practice around the league. Baltimore’s managed to be unique.
A photo posted to social media late Friday showed many of the Orioles’ rookies in white T-shirts and diapers, with some of them wearing what appeared to be beaks. The theme was “Baby Birds,” said Mancini, who came up with the attire alongside pitchers John Means and Cole Sulser.
“Some people were like, ‘What the hell is this?,’ and I was like, ‘Oh God, people aren’t getting it,” Mancini said. “I was in charge of purchasing all the outfits. We were gonna get actual baby costumes, but we ordered adult diapers instead. It was questionable.”
Hyde said the players involved seemed to enjoy themselves.
“These guys showcased their bodies,” Hyde said. “I think ‘interesting’ is the right word.”
