TORONTO — If it wasn’t for Anthony Santander’s game-saving catch in the second game of the series, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would have produced an even more prolific stretch against the Orioles.
As it was, Santander wasn’t in right field during Thursday’s series finale, which Baltimore lost 7-6 to the Toronto Blue Jays after a late rally fell just short. There was Ryan O’Hearn, racing back to his left, colliding with the wall and coming up empty on a play in the sixth inning that developed similarly to Santander’s snag Wednesday.
The triple from Guerrero tacked on another run for Toronto, and it continued the infielder’s recent surge against Baltimore. Guerrero also hit an RBI double in the first inning and blasted a two-run home run in the fifth against right-hander Dean Kremer.
Guerrero finished with three hits to extend a 20-game hitting streak. Seven of those games have come against the Orioles — and in them Guerrero is hitting 14-for-25 with 10 RBIs. Four of the RBIs came Thursday as he demolished Orioles pitching once more.
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“Really good ballplayer, and it seems like he’s putting it all together right now,” said outfielder Colton Cowser, who led the Orioles on offense. “He’s really just showing this league what he’s capable of.”
During Guerrero’s hitting streak, the 25-year-old is batting 37-for-73 (.507). He is a batter to pitch around, and the Orioles attempted to be careful with him. Dean Kremer didn’t mind the location of his first-inning sinker, which flew in low and inside — “he’s swinging it right now,” Kremer said, and Guerrero hit it for a double anyway.
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Kremer would rue the location of his fifth-inning fastball to Guerrero, though. He walked Daulton Varsho to lead off the frame and then left a fastball over the heart of the plate. Guerrero blasted it for a two-run shot.
And, with right-hander Bryan Baker on the mound in the sixth, Guerrero still caused damage despite seeing four pitches outside or on the edge of the strike zone. Baker threw an elevated fastball that just nicked the zone, but Guerrero lifted it for an RBI triple anyway.
“It was a combination of a lot of things,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “One, we walked Varsho twice ahead of him. That’s not a recipe for success. And then we’re missing fastballs in the middle part of the plate to a guy that’s red hot. I know Dean was trying to go up, in, off one. Left it middle in. Baker was trying to go off. Leaked back to the middle. Just some poor pitch execution to him, a guy that’s really dangerous, and it hurt us.”
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Kremer walked five batters and allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings. One of those runs came home on a balk in the first inning, which Kremer said occurred because he saw Alejandro Kirk’s head down in the box rather than at the ready.
In all, the performance left something to be desired, especially after right-hander Grayson Rodriguez suffered a mild lat strain this week. The rest of a rotation that has been battered by injury will need to step up, but Kremer said that doesn’t add pressure.
“Like we’ve done the last three years, if somebody goes down, somebody’s got to pick them up,” Kremer said. “And usually the guy that comes in to pick him up does a good job. So I don’t think the other starters feel any added pressure than a normal day.”
Meanwhile, as Toronto drew ahead largely because of its one-man show, Baltimore struggled to mount resistance against right-hander Kevin Gausman. The former Orioles hurler allowed a two-run homer from Cowser, but that was it.
He worked eight innings with three hits and two runs against him. Gausman walked three and struck out only two, but he forced plenty of weak contact — and benefited when harder contact found gloves rather than grass.
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“He was locating, first and foremost, his fastball really well,” Cowser said. “Getting ahead of guys. And his splitter is really good, and he was keeping it down and working it to both sides of the plate, and I think, when he’s doing that, he’s having a lot of success.”
It was an inauspicious end to a series loss in Toronto, which included a bullpen collapse in the first game Tuesday and improved with a comeback victory Wednesday.
There was a rally in the ninth, beginning against right-hander Zach Pop. The Orioles recorded three straight hits to chase Pop from the game, and right-hander Chad Green allowed an RBI double to Cedric Mullins to make it interesting.
The game grew even tighter once Cowser pulled a two-run single into right field. But Santander, the hitter Baltimore would most welcome in a big spot, flied out to end the game. There wouldn’t be a full comeback in the finale — not after Guerrero played a starring role for the Blue Jays as part of a torrid stretch.
“Great job of rallying there in the ninth inning,” Hyde said. “Just a little bit too little, too late. We’ve got to give up less runs than we’re giving up.”