Toronto Blue Jays humbled in loss to Baltimore Orioles

“2”. 39. Final. “10”. 11

The Toronto Blue Jays landed on the unfamiliar end of a blowout Friday night, falling 10-2 to the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays struggled to keep the ball in the park against one of baseball’s most powerful lineups, and for the first time in a long time, all three phases struggled simultaneously.

Starter Drew Hutchison had another inconsistent night which will surely spark conversation about his role in the Blue Jays rotation as they charge towards the playoffs. While he is coming off two encouraging outings, there’s no longer time to figure it out as they go. This was an ugly one for Toronto, but let’s admit it, they were due.

Game Notes:

Marcus Stroman was in the house! With his start for AAA Buffalo looming, Stroman threw a side session in front of the Blue Jays coaches and trainers Friday afternoon. Believe it or not, he’s spilling over with confidence regarding his return.
Hutchison flew out of the gates with an eight-pitch first inning where he pounded the zone low and with confidence. Chris Davis would tag Hutch with his 39th home run of the season in the second inning, though, and it was a no-doubter. Ryan Flaherty would then drive in the second run of the inning with a double that just bounced off the tip of Jose Bautista‘s glove.
Toronto’s first run was a little less conventional. With men on first and second Ryan Goins grounded into a potential double play, but Ubaldo Jimenez allowed the throw to go past him while covering first allowing Chris Colabello to score. Good things seem to be following Goins around!
Josh Donaldson finally drew the Blue Jays even in the 5th with a sac fly to deep left field. Everything the man touches turns into an RBI.
Chris Davis took Hutch deep again in the sixth to the opposite field, good for a 4-2 Orioles lead. Matt Wieters followed it up with a solo shot of his own, assisted by Ben Revere‘s volley over the wall.
Ryan Tepera hit Adam Jones with a pitch in the seventh, causing warnings to both dugouts. Thankfully, outside of Buck Showalter getting his traditional 10 seconds of grumpy and unproductive camera time, little more came of it.
Bo Schultz would cough up back-to-back doubles in the eighth to push the score out to 8-2 before an Adam Jones home run pushed it to 10-2.

Drew Hutchison. STARTING PITCHING . “D”. Everything seemed to be going well for Hutchison early, but it all fell apart in the fifth. Hutch hit the middle innings and got shelled, leaving after 5.0 and allowing six earned runs on nine hits and three home runs. He’s got another scheduled start against Boston before Marcus Stroman is scheduled to return, but he did nothing to help his case for starts in late September..

“RELIEVERS” . “C-”. Hendriks quickly found himself with the bases loaded and nobody out, but allowed just one run (charged to Hutch) on a weak fly ball to keep it close. I’ll argue eight days a week that Hendriks has been this bullpen’s unsung hero. It wasn’t so pretty the rest of the way, but again, it was “one of those nights”.. . Hendriks, Tepera, Schultz, Loup, Francis

“D”. A good night at the plate from Colabello may be the lone bright spot here. He kept on hitting with a 3-for-3 performance including a walk and a double.. . Chris Colabello. “OFFENCE”

MVJ: Chris Colabello

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