Blue Jays fans laughing at Pete Alonso for gifting them win vs Orioles

When the Baltimore Orioles signed Pete Alonso to a five-year $155 million contract during the offseason, the hope was that the 31-year-old would be able to anchor their lineup and provide a power stroke they seemed to be missing last year.

The Orioles finished tied with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins for 11th in MLB with 191 home runs a year ago, but bringing in Alonso's pop (264 career home runs before 2026) along with his veteran presence (1,008 career games in seven seasons) was expected to benefit the Orioles, not hinder them.

On Thursday night in Baltimore, it was much more of the latter than the former as Alonso was picked off while on first base representing the potential go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth. A play that was executed to perfection by Blue Jays' catcher Brandon Valenzuela and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

It's a play that just can't happen if you're Alonso. The Blue Jays had just taken the lead in the top half of the eighth, on a bases loaded walk, but left the door wide open for the Orioles to do some damage as they couldn't cash in any more than a single run. But that play resulted in the Blue Jays getting out of the jam and going on to win the game 2-1.

Alonso owns up to his mistake, but Orioles staff deserve more of the blame

This play encapsulates just what a mess the Orioles have been for the better part of the last two years now. While Alonso played the first seven years of his career in the National League with the Mets, it should have been well known by the Orioles staff that the Blue Jays would try to execute this kind of play. In fact Guerrero Jr. has sort of made this his calling card during his years in the big leagues. This thread on X shows how often Guerrero and his catchers have managed to pull off this play.

Full credit goes to Alonso after the game though for owning up to the mistake. Orioles beat writer for MLB.com Jake Rill wrote that Alonso was sitting at his locker after the game waiting for the media to speak to him about the play and Alonso says he "felt awful."

Alonso said, "I over-anticipated contact in the zone. For me, I kind of had a pretty big primary lead with 2 outs. There's multiple things I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to get to 2nd if there was a ball hit to the infield, beat the throw, and then also, too, if there's a ball hit in the outfield -- either in the gap or down the line -- I would give myself the best chance to score.

So it was kind of my momentum, I was anticipating contact, but they did a -- I mean, it was a hell of a throw. It was a hell of a throw, great tag. Great play by them to take advantage of the situation."

It's a tough loss for the Orioles who are now 26-31 after the loss, while the Blue Jays improved to 28-29. Neither team are where they would like to be, but for the Blue Jays, who have been ravaged by injuries, being able to pull out a victory like this against a division rival feels like both a reason to breath a sigh of relief, and poke a bit of fun at a team that was expected to challenge them for a run at the AL East this season.

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