Orioles pull even with Jays

Toronto was in command of the wild-card race before two straight losses to Baltimore. Now the post-season is in question

Are the Blue Jays on the brink of disaster?

Could they actually turn what appeared to be an almost sure wild-card berth into a place outside of the post-season ?

No one in the full house at the Rogers Centre Thursday night could help but feel that negative vibe, with the Jays offence coming up terribly flat in a 4-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Toronto dropped its second of three games to Baltimore, and essentially fell flat on their playoff-bound faces.

The loss allowed Baltimore to pull even with Toronto for the top wild-card berth in the American League. But that’s not the entirety of the bad news as the two teams enter the final weekend of the season with three games left.

Both Detroit and Seattle are perilously close to knocking the Jays out of the wildcard race altogether. The Tigers are a game back, and Seattle entered the night two games back.

Toronto headed to Boston after the troubling loss. The Jays can re-seal their wild card-status with a three game sweep of Boston. Any number of losses in Boston, though, opens the door for the other teams.

Toronto lost the past two nights with an offence that frustratingly went soft, and this three game series with Baltimore hanged the complexion of the wild-card race.

Baltimore finishes the season out in New York against the Yankees, who are playing out their schedule, no longer in the wild-card race.

Detroit’s game against Cleveland Thursday was rained out, which sent the Tigers on to Atlanta to finish out their regular-season schedule against the last place Braves. Should the Tigers need to make up the rainout, they would play that game Monday.

Toronto’s troubles Thursday came against Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez, who worked a strong six-plus innings of one hitter.

Toronto hitters saw Jimenez almost three times through the order, and continually pounded the ball into the dirt. Jimenez, who had struggled against Toronto in four previous outings against them this season, tossed a tidy, 116-pitch effort, with three walks and five strikeouts.

Jays starter Marcus Stroman gave up nine hits over seven innings, and had a hard luck night.

That lineup, which leads the American League in homers, scored three runs on a pair of singles, a sacrifice fly, and a failed double-play attempt by the Jays.

Jimenez pitched a smart game, even though his pitch count suggested he was having trouble finding the strike zone.

The right-hander, who entered the game 0-1 with a 9.42 ERA in four starts against Toronto this season, was up over 90 pitches in the fifth inning, an obviously high number, and one that suggested he would have given up at least a run by that time in the game.

But Jimenez surrendered just one hit — Ezequiel Carrera’s leadoff single in the first inning, then retired 12 of the next 13 batters he faced in order.

Baltimore’s offence capitalized on the small openings they got from Stroman and the Jays defence.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy doubled — just off a diving attempt by Jays right fielder Michael Saunders — to open the third inning, and was moved to third on a nice piece of hitting by Adam Jones, a ground ball to the right side of the infield.

Two batters later, Manny Machado stroked a line drive to deep centre field.

That allowed Hardy to tag and score with the game’s first run.