As Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes jumped in the air next to the warning track, the 14,929-person crowd hushed. Did he catch it? Did he not?
He came to the ground empty-handed, frantically searching for the ball that had landed between his feet. Baltimore’s fans exploded when they realized Adley Rutschman had gotten a hit, jumping to their feet as Gunnar Henderson scored from second base.
For a few moments, Orioles fans tasted a morsel of what the playoffs could’ve looked like, had the team played better in the first half. And, beating the best team in baseball never tasted sweeter.
The Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, taking both ends of the doubleheader and clinching a series win, 3-2.
Baltimore’s success came in multiple forms, none more obvious than right-handed starter Brandon Young.
Young threw the longest game of his career, and it was his best. Going into the game, the matchup favored the Blue Jays: the team led the majors in batting average and hits.
Meanwhile, Young’s ERA had hovered between the high 6.00s and low 7.00s. He admitted last week in Cleveland he was “frustrated” with how his first seven major league starts had gone.
Tonight, though, was different. Young shook off the expectations and pitched through 6 innings, earning his first career quality start. He gave up 6 hits, but he struck out an equal number of batters and walked only two.
The Jays scored twice against Young before the Orioles could get on the board, once in the second and another in the fourth. But Baltimore kept the game competitive.
The Orioles hit nine hard-hit balls with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph or higher, according to Statcast.
Ryan O’Hearn smoked the first pitch in his fourth inning at-bat 97.4 mph down the left-field line. The ball struck the wall and bounced toward left-center for a run-scoring triple.
O’Hearn scored on the next play, a groundout to second, and Baltimore evened the score, 2-2.
Arguably, the Orioles battled bad luck as much as they did the Blue Jays. O’Hearn’s triple would’ve been a homer in 26 out of 30 ballparks, including in Toronto. Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Tyler O’Neill was feet away from his fifth homer run in five games; however, the umpires confirmed it was foul after review.
In a unique twist, Baltimore fans saw reliever Seranthony Domínguez — who was an Oriole during Game 1, only to be traded to Toronto before the start of Game 2 — enter the game for the Blue Jays in the seventh.
Domínguez should help bolster the bullpen Blue Jays, who have the league’s best record. Toronto entered the game a 3.94 ERA, 17th best in the majors.
In the one inning he threw, Domínguez struck out two swinging. He hit Dylan Carson with a pitch, but later caught him attempting to steal third.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Henderson lashed a double to right field and Rutschman immediately followed it up with the double that Lukes couldn’t locate.
Orioles righty Corbin Martin came on in the ninth with a one-run lead and ramped up the tension by hitting the first batter he faced and walking the next.
A sacrifice bunt advanced both runners to scoring position, but Martin was able to settle in from there, striking out Lukes and Bo Bichette to earn his first career save.