The Orioles avoided being eliminated for at least a few more hours by winning the first game of their doubleheader against Toronto on Wednesday afternoon. In the process, they officially eliminated the Blue Jays from postseason contention. Too bad, so sad. In short, Chris Bassitt got the better of Max Scherzer in the Old Guy Starting Pitching Matchup and that’s what brought the O’s to a 4-2 victory.
It’s not an exaggeration to call this the Old Guy Starting Pitching Matchup. These two pitchers set
a record for the oldest pair of starting pitchers in an MLB game 12 days ago and they set the record again when they met up today, each 12 days older than before. As They Might Be Giants remind us, “You’re older than you’ve ever been, and now you’re even older…”
Going off just the first inning, you might have been concerned that the Orioles were going to end up on the wrong end of this thing. Bassitt had to work around a one-out double to get a scoreless first, but the really concerning thing was that Scherzer struck out three batters looking in the first inning alone. Scherzer has apparently hoping to slip ahead of former teammate Justin Verlander on the career strikeout list, entering the day 11 behind. And at the end of the first inning, it was only eight behind.
What if he got them all today? It wouldn’t be unheard of to have the 2026 Orioles help a guy to an achievement like this. That’s not what happened, although Scherzer did get 7/11 of the way there by the time his five innings were up. The Orioles managed to get to him, though.
The Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, one of those innings where you could argue they probably should have scored more than they did. The inning began with a single-walk-single sequence, the second of those hits – a Jeremiah Jackson single – bringing a run home and leaving the Orioles still with men on first and third and nobody out.
The problem for the Orioles racking up a big inning after this was that the next two batters were Leody Taveras and Carlos Narváez. They each popped out, neither managing to bring home Colton Cowser from third base with some kind of productive out. Cowser did finally score, but only after Jackson tried to steal second base and ended up in a rundown, which he managed to drag out for long enough for Cowser to race home. This doesn’t count as a steal of home for Cowser. It did still count for a run.
Bassitt made that lead stick, even as he continued to work around giving up doubles. The Jays hit a double off of Bassitt in each of the first four innings of the game. None of those men ended up scoring a run. He did well to dodge further trouble in those innings. Even in the fifth inning, where Bassitt ended the doubles streak, he still gave up two singles, facing men on first and third with only one out, yet Bassitt was able to get the double play ground ball he needed, and the Orioles defense actually turned the double play behind him, preserving the 2-0 Orioles lead.
More damage was dealt to Scherzer’s ERA in the bottom of the fifth inning. There wasn’t much more to it than Dylan Beavers drawing a one-out walk ahead of Pete Alonso. The Polar Bear entered the game with 40 home runs this season. Scherzer attempted to elevate a four-seamer on Alonso and he didn’t elevate it enough. Alonso bashed the pitch into the Orioles bullpen. Make that 41 home runs for the season and 110 RBI. It is an impressive RBI number when you consider the disappointment that has frequently been going on ahead of him in the batting order. I really like that guy. The Orioles led, 4-0.
With Bassitt at a reasonable pitch count (82) and still seeming effective, the Orioles let him start the sixth inning. Eight pitches later, Bassitt had given up a walk and a single and then Bassitt was out, replaced by rookie pitcher Luis De León. If his first two games are stuck in your head, De León’s appearances may still inspire dread. He has done well since those first games, though, and entered this game with a 2.08 ERA. The real concern wasn’t his own ERA but what he would do with the inherited runners.
An easy groundout and a strikeout later and it looked like the answer was that De León would strand both of those guys. He induced a ground ball to second base that really should have been the third out. However, Jeremiah Jackson – seemingly intentionally – chose to make the throw to first as a two-hopper, and Alonso was not able to make the pick on the second bounce.
In the official scorer’s determination, this was an infield single with two runs scoring as a result of a throwing error on Jackson. The runs were charged to Bassitt. De León allowed a single after this and things were not far from going off the rails. Manager Craig Albernaz brought in Anthony Nunez and Nunez closed the door, getting the last out in the sixth before throwing a scoreless seventh as well.
Bassitt finished with two runs allowed over five innings plus two batters, mostly scattering seven hits and a walk. Scherzer allowed four runs over his five innings, with the Orioles picking up four hits and three walks. Neither team hit very well with RISP: The Jays were 1-14 and the Orioles were 1-8. Alonso’s homer plus the “steal” of home accounted for 75% of the runs without even needing a hit with RISP to do it.
The two teams will be back in action at 6:35 for the second game. The Orioles will be mathematically eliminated with a loss, or if the White Sox beat the Royals in a game that begins at 7:40. Trey Gibson is set to start the game for the O’s. There will be a roster move to facilitate this.
It is a longtime tradition on Camden Chat to name a Most Birdland Player after each victory. What is Most Birdland? Each person must decide for themselves. Sometimes, this is the most valuable player. Sometimes, it is not. For me, the answer does line up with Most Valuable today, as Alonso hitting that two-run homer on the same day he was unanimously named Most Valuable Oriole feels pretty Birdland. If only more of his teammates had lived up to their potential this year.
