ORIOLES BLAST 4 HRS IN WIN
The Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays will be seeing a lot of each other in the coming weeks.
Orioles 7, Blue Jays 4
On Monday night, Ramon Urias and the upstart Orioles measured up fine.
Urias hit a three-run homer in the first inning, and Anthony Santander, Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays also went deep to lift Baltimore to a 7-4 victory over the Blue Jays at home.
The Orioles, who entered the day two games behind Seattle and Tampa Bay for the final two wild cards in the American League, pulled within three of Toronto for the first wild card. This was the first of 15 meetings down the stretch between the Blue Jays and Orioles.
“I don’t know if it’s a statement. I think that we swung the bats really well,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “Nice to see us hit some homers. I feel like it’s been a little bit since we’ve had a game like that offensively.”
Baltimore starter Jordan Lyles (9-8) allowed a thirdinning homer by Cavan Biggio, but the Orioles responded in their half of that inning with back-to-back solo
shots by Santander and Mountcastle to make it 5-1.
Matt Chapman hit a solo homer for Toronto in the sixth, but Hays answered with one of his own in the bottom half.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the eighth, but Felix Bautista came on and retired Whit Merrifield on a two-out grounder with two on. Mountcastle’s RBI single made it 7-4.
The first two Toronto batters of the ninth reached on an error and a single against Bautista. Then the big right-hander struck out Teoscar Hernandez and got Bo Bichette to bounce into a double play to secure his fifth save.
Yusei Kikuchi (4-6) allowed five runs and six hits
in five-plus innings for the Blue Jays.
“Just a tough way to start today, I think, in the first inning,” manager John Schneider said. “With the three-run homer, kind of putting yourself in a hole a little bit.”
Lyles yielded two runs and eight hits in 52⁄3 innings.
“We obviously know how good and talented they are — one of the better offenses in baseball,“Lyles said. “We know we’re getting into a good stretch of quality opponents. We’ve been playing ball well. Just another series, another Monday night.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, the longest in the this year.
Baltimore has won six of seven.
Heyward out, Reyes in
The Cubs will cut ties with right fielder Jason Heyward after the 2022 season, ending one of the most expensive and unproductive free agent singings. Heyward, who turns 33 today, signed an eight-year, $184 million contract prior to the 2016 season but has batted only .245 with 62 home runs in seven seasons with the Cubs. Heyward is batting .204 with one home run and 10 RBIs in 137 at-bats this season but has been on the 10-day injured list since June 27 because of right knee inflammation.
In other news, the Cubs claimed outfielder Franmil Reyes off waivers from Cleveland.
Reyes batted .213 with nine homers, 28 RBIs and a .603 OPS in 70 games with the Guardians this season. He struck out 104 times in 263 at-bats.
The 27-year-old Reyes is a .253 career hitter with 101 home runs and a .793 OPS in five major league seasons.
Notable
Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley says he is leaving the Red Sox broadcasts at the end of the season. It’s his 50th in Major League Baseball.