When teams are in the rebuilding phase, there is going to be that handful of days when nothing seems to go right. Saturday was one of those days for the Orioles.
Less than 24 hours after snapping a 20-game road losing streak, Baltimore was trounced 12-4 by the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y.
Keegan Akin, who started strong, allowed six runs in 4 1/3 innings. Konner Wade, who made his Major League debut, had an even rougher afternoon, allowing six runs in just 1 2/3 innings. Aside from a four-run seventh inning, when the Orioles jumped on a possibly fatigued Hyun Jin Ryu, the bats were quiet.
What jumped out above all else, however, was Baltimore's inability to finish off innings. Every run that the Blue Jays scored came with two outs.
In the third inning, Akin recorded two outs before Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette hit back-to-back doubles, followed by home runs from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez. In a span of four batters, the Blue Jays plated four runs.
In the fifth, Wade recorded the second out after taking over for Akin but ran into some bad luck. Wade jammed George Springer with a well-placed sinker, inducing an exit velocity of 68.6 mph, but Springer's fly ball found ground in shallow left field as shortstop Pat Valaika was unable to corral it, allowing Bichette to score from second. Randal Grichuk followed with a backbreaking no-doubt three-run home run, giving the Blue Jays an 8-0 lead.
In the sixth, Wade was one out away from keeping it 8-0 after putting runners on second and third. But he walked Guerrero, then allowed consecutive singles to Hern¨¢ndez, Springer and Grichuk.
Of the 23 runs Akin has allowed as a starter, all but one have been scored from the third inning on.
¡°I feel like I¡¯m staying in one spot too much,¡± Akin said. ¡°Just gotta mix it up, back and forth, up and down. I just made a couple bad pitches and paid for it today. Just gotta get better and get through that third inning. It seems to be a common theme lately.¡±
On top of the loss, veteran shortstop Freddy Galvis left the game in the second inning due to right quad discomfort after legging out a bunt single. Galvis limped to first base after making a couple of hard steps out of the batter¡¯s box and was seen clutching his right quad as he left the field.
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m concerned,¡± manager Brandon Hyde said. ¡°Just kind of the way it happened and how he felt following.¡±
One of the few silver linings came courtesy of Alexander Wells, the No. 17 prospect in the Orioles¡¯ system, who pitched two scoreless innings in his Major League debut.
Wells¡¯ afternoon wasn¡¯t easy against Toronto¡¯s potent lineup. The southpaw needed 29 pitches to get through his first inning, winning a 12-pitch battle with Semien and a seven-pitch battle against Guerrero in the seventh. While the left-hander did issue a pair of rare walks -- Wells allowed 1.42 walks per nine innings in the Minors -- it was an encouraging debut nonetheless.