(Baltimore) Brandon Belt homered in the 10th inning on Mike Baumann’s first pitch and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 on Tuesday night.
The loss ended the Orioles’ three-game winning streak, which saw their lead atop the American East Division shrink to two games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.
With Bo Bichette set up on second base as an auto-runner, in the top of the 10th inning, Belt hit a arrow into the right field bleachers for his 14th long ball of the campaign.
“A lot of times it’s who makes the fewest mistakes,” Belt said. That’s how it went for us. Their guy made a mistake in the middle and I took advantage of it. »
The Blue Jays have won five of their last seven outings and hit seven homers in their last two games.
“That’s what it’s going to take us to win the section title,” Belt said. Everyone must contribute. »
Most notably Belt, who has hit the trails in his last 16 starts, slugging six fours during that streak.
“He doesn’t really hesitate. When he gets a good shot to hit, he doesn’t miss it, Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. He succeeded again. »
In a game in which there were multiple missed chances – the Orioles left 10 runners on base and only got two balls for sure in 14 appearances with men in scoring position – Belt provided the coup de grace.
“Belt was a very, very good hitter for a long time,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. He was waiting for a fastball over home plate and, obviously, he didn’t miss it at all. We had our chances before that momentum and we didn’t get the job done. »
The Torontonians added a run in the 10th inning on a bad pitch from Baumann (9-1), the first reliever in Orioles history to win their first nine decisions.
Tim Mayza (3-1) was perfect in the ninth inning for the visitors and Jordan Romano had the last three outs of the game to record a save 31st of his 34 attempts.
Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi allowed three runs and seven hits in four and two-thirds innings of work. It was the first time in seven starts since July 6 that the southpaw allowed more than two earned runs.
The Orioles trailed 3-1 in the fifth inning before ousting Kikuchi from the matchup and tying the game at the expense of reliever Yimi Garcia. Jorge Mateo came on to score after a poor throw from Blue Jays receiver Danny Jansen on a double steal. Garcia later conceded a one-point double to rookie Jordan Westburg.
Austin Hays hit a one-run double in the first inning for the Orioles, but the Blue Jays took the lead in the second when rookie starter Grayson Rodriguez gave Daulton Varsho a two-run long ball. Kevin Kiermaier extended Toronto’s lead with a one-run double in the fourth.
