The Baltimore Orioles (24-34) bats awoken late in the game but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Toronto Blue Jays (31-27) in Major League Baseball action on Friday. Baltimore was struck hard early and often by Toronto, who was able to plate six runs in the bottom of the Sixth Inning.
All Toronto was able to do was place the balls exactly where they wanted to in scoring those early runs and giving themselves the early lead. Thanks to the pitching performance by Tijuan Walker, who was able to keep the Baltimore bats off balance. Walker went three innings, striking out four batters.
It was later in the game when the Baltimore bats came to life as homers by Ramon Urias and Cedric Mullins that started to cut into that hefty lead in the top of the Fifth Inning. The O’s kept fighting all game long, continuing to use the long ball to chip away at the score.
In the top of the Sixth the Orioles bats continued to sizzle thanks to a Jose Iglesias homer and an Hanser Alberto RBI double, that made the score 10-4 at the time. Sadly the bats ran out of time, only plating one more run at the top of the Ninth, when Mullins was able to drive in a run with a groundout.
The Orioles will look to end the 2020 season on a strong note with two more games against the Blue Jays this weekend. Baltimore will have a game on Saturday (today) set for 6:37 p.m on the MASN Network. Taking the mound in the game on Saturday will be John Means (2-3, 5.02 ERA) who will take on Matt Shoemaker (0-1, 4.71 ERA).
Means has had an up-and down season for Baltimore, but has been able to pitch to a 2.74 ERA in the last four starts, he is looking to show the club why he will be a valuable piece going into the 2021 season. As for Shoemaker, the righty is returning from a shoulder inflammation injury. Matt has been able to make a start since his return to injury showing some velocity and threw 54 pitches over three innings, look for the Toronto starter to work his way to the 65-70 pitch count in the game against the Orioles tonight.
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