Orioles Let Chris Bassitt's Dominant Start Go To Waste, Drop Opener to Blue Jays 2-1

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A night after piling up 11 runs to complete a sweep of the American League-leading Rays, the Baltimore Orioles found themselves searching for a single timely hit to no avail.

The Orioles stranded opportunities throughout Thursday's series opener against the Blue Jays before a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning proved to be the difference in a 2-1 loss at Camden Yards, dropping them to 26-31 on the year.

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For much of the evening, it looked like Chris Bassitt might be rewarded for one of his better outings of the season against the team he spent the last three years pitching for.

The veteran right-hander held Toronto to one run across six innings, allowing four hits while throwing 80 pitches. The only damage came in the third inning when Andrés Giménez drove a solo home run into right-center field.

Bassitt's final line of six innings, one run and one walk continued a stretch of where he seems to have found his groove. Since April 17, he owns a 4.01 ERA and has completed at least five innings in six of his last eight outings.

After struggling to generate much offense against veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin, Coby Mayo changed the game with one swing. The rookie third baseman turned on a pitch and launched a 400-foot solo blast, his sixth of the season, to tie the score at 1-1, a score that would hold up until the eighth inning.

Anthony Nunez inherited a tie game in the eighth and immediately found trouble. A leadoff double by George Springer and an intentional walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put pressure on the rookie reliever. Nunez nearly escaped after recording a second out, but a four-pitch walk to pinch-hitter Yohendrick Piñango forced home the go-ahead run.

This was not the version of Nunez O's fans wanted to see, as he looked more like the four runs on three hits he gave up last week in Tampa Bay.

Baltimore showed life immediately after with a leadoff single from Taylor Ward, followed by Pete Alonso showing some rare speed with an infield single that took replay review to confirm.

But the late rally would be for naught, as Alonso couldn't make it back to first on a back-pick from catcher Brandon Valenzuela. Just an unreal turn of events to erase the best opportunity to answer for the O's.

"I over-anticipated contact in the zone," said Alonso per Jake Rill of MLB.com. "For me, I kind of had a pretty big primary lead with two outs. There's multiple things I wanted to do."

Entering the game down one in the ninth is a tough situation for any pitcher, especially one making his major league debut. After just getting the call prior to today's game, Cameron Weston retired the side with a strikeout and a crucial double play ball to keep the deficit at one.

"Everything I know about Cam and everything I know about him from people in the organization, he can handle that", said Orioles manager Craig Albernaz, per Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun. "That's a testament to who he is and the stuff he has.”

Much like the previous inning, the offense could not take advantage in the ninth. Leody Taveras singled to bring the tying run aboard, but the Orioles were unable to extend the inning as their three-game winning streak came to an end.

The Orioles will send Trevor Rodgers to the bump as they look to even this four-game series on Friday. Toronto has yet to announce a starter.

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