TORONTO – What was shaping up as a resurgent outing for Steven Matz hit the wall quickly and abruptly in the middle innings, Trent Thornton’s recent struggles continued and a game in the Toronto Blue Jays’ grasp almost instantaneously slipped through their fingers.
Add in a costly error, a wild pitch and the offence’s inability to get to rookie Spenser Watkins and there wasn’t much to pull from a 7-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.
Solo homers from Randal Grichuk in the seventh off Dillon Tate and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., in the eighth off Tanner Scott, plus a two-run drive by Lourdes Gurriel Jr., in the ninth made it close, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a second straight loss.
Before hitting his 28th homer, Guerrero ripped a sacrifice fly in the first to open the scoring off Watkins, who held the Blue Jays to two singles and two walks over the next four innings.
That wasn’t enough to back Matz in his second start since returning from the COVID-19 injured list, as he gave up a go-ahead two-run homer with two outs in the fourth to Pedro Severino and then was lifted in the fifth after Domingo Leyba reached on a Bo Bichette throwing error and scored on Cedric Mullins two-run shot.
Severino turned around a fat, middle-in sinker that Matz had, to that point, commanded rather effectively, generating eight whiffs and seven fouls on 20 swings. Mullins hammered a slider the lefty used only five times.
Thornton, who had allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits and three walks in 3.1 innings over his past three outings, inherited a 4-1 deficit and quickly pushed the game out of reach. He had a Trey Mancini single, a Ryan Mountcastle double, a run-scoring wild-pitch and an Anthony Santander two-run homer after striking out Austin Hays. Manager Charlie Montoyo pulled Thornton after George Springer chased down a Ramon Urias smash by the wall in centre.
