TORONTO — Nights like this, you can see what the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays were supposed to look like.
On the mound, Chris Bassitt kept a talented, young Orioles lineup off-balance with eight different pitches on his way to one of his best starts of the season. On defence, the Blue Jays were phenomenal, saving multiple hits with their gloves. And at the plate, they came up with big hits when it counted most — none bigger than Alejandro Kirk’s three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.
Add in some quality work from relievers Genesis Cabrera and Chad Green, and the Blue Jays thoroughly out-played a Baltimore team that began the day tied for the MLB lead in wins. In the course of a disappointing season, these games have been hard to come by for the Blue Jays.
“I actually think they’re one of the best lineups, if not the best lineup in baseball,” said Bassitt, who took the loss against Baltimore a week ago at Camden Yards. “I have weaknesses, and they’re probably the hardest team that I could face. So it forces you to work on things (between starts) that you’re not really comfortable working on. And I would say I probably had my best slider I’ve had in years today because of it.”
“Definitely,” Kirk agreed through interpreter Hector Lebron. “The slider was perfect.”
Beyond the slider, Bassitt worked in some slow sweepers and slower curves while the Orioles managed just two runs over seven-plus innings. It’s the kind of outing the Blue Jays have come to expect from Bassitt, who wasn’t put on the trade block last month in the hopes he can continue delivering performances like these in 2025.
Even then, the game wasn’t without a little late drama as Craig Kimbrel hit Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the back in the bottom of the seventh inning, at which point manager John Schneider burst out of the dugout yelling “that’s bull(crap)” in the direction of Orioles manager Brandon Hyde.
Assigning intent is always challenging, but it’s easy to see why the Blue Jays had their defences up: their best player was plunked in the first game between these two teams since Blue Jays reliever Yerry Rodriguez broke the hand of Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg last Wednesday.
“We’re not trying to hit anyone,” Schneider said afterwards. “Westburg, it sucks that he got hit … you just don’t like your best hitter getting hit that high. That’s all it was. Heat of the moment stuff.”
The inning before he took a fastball between the numbers, Guerrero Jr. started a five-run rally by pushing an inside heater to right field for an opposite-field hit that extended his hitting streak to 18 games. Spencer Horwitz followed with another single, setting up Kirk’s three-run shot, a line drive over the left field wall that was just his third of the season.
“I’m feeling very good at the plate right now,” Kirk said, crediting his recent success to early work behind the scenes. “I was looking for something up in the zone.”
For the first five innings, the Blue Jays managed nothing against Albert Suarez, a late replacement for Grayson Rodriguez, who was scratched with a lat injury. But later in the sixth, Addison Barger hit a two-run double to add insurance runs that the Blue Jays would end up needing.
Really, though, the Blue Jays won this game because of pitching and defence. Through his first seven innings, Bassitt allowed just one run, a solo homer to Jackson Holliday on a cutter nicely placed on the inside corner.
Give the 20-year-old Holliday credit, he made an adjustment after Bassitt fooled him on a slow curve the first time up. But looking back, Bassitt blamed himself for throwing Holliday a cutter so soon after showing him a sinker.
“Really stupid sequencing,” Bassitt said. “He’s a super special player. Going to have a long, long career, but I just can’t make that type of mistake.”
Aside from the Holliday homer, Bassitt was at his unpredictable best on his way to a season-high nine strikeouts. But he had some help, such as the catch Daulton Varsho made crashing into the right-centre field wall.
“If Varsho doesn’t win a Platinum Glove, then we need to get rid of it,” Bassitt said. “He’s the best defender in all of baseball and no one’s even close.
“You shouldn’t expect him to make all of those plays, but he might be the only one in the world that can actually do it. I’m never going to take him and what he’s doing for granted.”
Added Schneider: “I’ve said it a million times: he’s the best there is.”
Even beyond Varsho’s catch, Joey Loperfido showed off his range with a pair of running grabs in left, while infielders Leo Jimenez, Ernie Clement and Addison Barger made one impressive play apiece.
“It was a great defensive display,” Kirk said.
All told, it was the kind of team effort that’s often eluded the 2024 Blue Jays. But facing one of the game’s best teams, they did everything right this time.
