Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk tried everything, but the Toronto Blue Jays couldn’t take the Orioles to a third straight game on Tuesday in Baltimore and lost 9-6.
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Both Bichette and Kirk had four hits. The first achieved this feat of arms the day after a performance of three home runs in one game, in the second duel of a doubleheader. He thus produced two of his points. For his part, Kirk drove in a run.
However, it was not an offensive performance, nor a defensive performance that caught the eye, but a series of events in the final innings.
Both benches first emptied, after the Blue Jays’ turn at bat, when crowd-favorite pitcher Bryan Baker was spotted gesturing towards the visitors’ bench, letting them know they talked too much for his taste.
Then, late in the seventh inning, Jays manager John Schneider was ejected after expressing his dissatisfaction with calls made by the umpire behind the plate about some pitches.
Eventually, in the eighth inning, the Orioles prevailed after challenging a umpire’s ruling that declared their runner out at home plate, due to a new rule preventing the catcher from blocking home plate to the runner. Kirk was never in the runner’s way, however, raising several questions about this rule.
The two teams will meet again on Wednesday to conclude this series of four duels.