BALTIMORE – Sure, watching the Baltimore Orioles celebrate an American League East title that for a short while felt firmly in their grasp sucked for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Being the loser in a clinching game is like driving the cool kids to the hottest party and then being denied entry at the door while they hit the floor. “Can’t help you get in homey, but thanks for the ride, yo.”
So yeah, seeing the Orioles frolic in the infield, celebrating their first division title since 1997 after an 8-2 victory stung more than the Darren O’Day fastball intentionally thrown at Jose Bautista’s backside in the eighth inning for the Blue Jays.
They got their post-season berth and some vengeance, too. Feel the burn.
“What is there to say? They played better than we did. That’s it,” said Bautista. “We had a lot of things to deal with, so did they. But they figured out a way to keep winning, and we haven’t won as many games as they have, simple as that, simple math. They won more games than we did, that’s why they’re division champions. But we’re not out of it. Who cares about winning the division when you still have a chance to make it to the playoffs? And we still have one. I’m more focused on that.”
Tuesday’s outcome was certainly no surprise as the Blue Jays lost the division long ago – their six-game lead back on June 6 is a rapidly fading memory – and the cruel reality before them is that their already faint hopes of winning the second wild card are growing dimmer and dimmer with each loss.
They have 12 games remaining and with the deficit where it’s at, a stumble from the teams in front of them probably isn’t enough. Divine intervention is pretty close to where it’s at if they hope to party the way the Orioles did at Camden Yards deep into the night.
“Watching what we have to watch is probably the worst thing you can experience as a player, it’s something you never want to have to experience again,” said Drew Hutchison, who struck out a career-best 11 while surrendering six runs in 6.1 innings. “We still have some games left here, we know what the odds are and all that, but with respect to that we just need to win as much as we can and see what happens. We still have a lot to play for with our pride.”
Recovering to win Wednesday’s finale at Camden Yards is a good place to start, and perhaps with the division locked up, the wrecking ball the Orioles have been since mid-June might ease up for a bit.
Like they did Monday, the Blue Jays again opened the scoring in the first, this time on an Edwin Encarnacion double, and again they squandered a chance to open up a bigger edge.
Hutchison looked set to deliver a shutdown bottom of the first but with a man on and two out Nelson Cruz punched a single to right against the shift to extend the frame. Steve Pearce – whom the Blue Jays sought to sign when the Orioles cut him loose back in April but ultimately re-signed in Baltimore when Chris Davis got hurt – then crushed a three-run homer.
The Blue Jays pulled within one in the second on a Jose Reyes single but Encarnacion hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded to end the second, Jimmy Paredes opened the bottom of the inning with a solo blast to make it 4-2, and it was pretty much champagne time from then on.
“You’ve got to be better,” said Hutchison. “I was good at times, but you can’t come out flat like that, it’s just not acceptable. First inning I made some good pitches and then I made a bad pitch, same with the other home run. I just came out and was a little bit off, and that’s something you need to correct before I did. Once I got in a groove I was good but overall, I wasn’t good enough.”
The same can be said for the Blue Jays as a whole, as they’ve dropped four of their last five on the heels of an 11-6 run that started on Aug. 27.
Losing Melky Cabrera to a broken pinky Sept. 5 in Boston didn’t help but while his loss is glaring, the Orioles are sailing smoothly even after the suspension of slugger Chris Davis. Granted he isn’t having as strong a season as Cabrera, but the Aug. 30 acquisitions of outfielder Alejandro De Aza and infielder Kelly Johnson provided the Orioles with the depth needed to help buttress against such misfortunes.
Ubaldo Jimenez, the free-agent starter added during spring training by the Orioles whom the Blue Jays sniffed around on but never bid upon, allowed two runs over five pitch-heavy innings of work, and then the Orioles bullpen took over to close things out.
The Orioles bats busted things open in the seventh when Hutchison allowed a single to Paredes and then threw away a Ryan Flaherty comebacker to leave men on the corners. After striking out Nick Hundley, he was pulled for Aaron Loup, who promptly hit Nick Markakis in the shoulder and De Aza proceeded to clear the bases with a triple, and all but officially made it champagne time.
O’Day took over in the eighth and hit Bautista with his second pitch, prompting home-plate umpire Chad Fairchild to warn both teams, a wise move given Monday’s mess with Marcus Stroman, Caleb Joseph and Jose Reyes. Bautista stood at home plate after getting hit, took off his protective equipment and calmly took first base without looking at O’Day.
“I suspected that something might have been coming,” said Bautista. “I don’t mind it at all. I know how the game is played and it’s part of it. I just thought it was a little weird that they threw a first pitch breaking ball for a strike and then hit me instead of just hitting me right away. I guess they wanted to have a little leeway to use it as an excuse to say that they weren’t trying to. Everyone knows they were trying to. They should have just manned up and hit me with first pitch.”
The Blue Jays stranded Bautista, and after Daniel Norris surrendered a run on Hundley’s sacrifice fly, Tommy Hunter mopped things up in the ninth, triggering bedlam among a crowd of 35,297, and making it two years in a row the Blue Jays have watched an AL East rival clinch the division.
“We’ve still got a job to do, we’ve still got 12 games left and we still have a chance for the second wild card spot,” said Bautista. “That’s the only thing I’m concerned about right now, I couldn’t care less for them celebrating or winning the division.”
That window of opportunity is closing, too, and they’re going to have a very, very hard time preventing it from happening.