Blue Jays hit 3 straight homers off Trevor Rogers to capture series win vs. Orioles

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TORONTO — How does a bases-empty, two-out situation turn into disaster? Three pitches that lead to three deep fly balls — the kind that send Rogers Centre’s fans into a fervor.

That was particularly the case when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stood at home plate for one second, two seconds, three, then began a slow trot around the bases here for the first time this season. This superstar-turned-slump artist, who received a heavy share of boos Friday night, was instead serenaded once he reached home plate.

As left-hander Trevor Rogers attempted to regroup, this sellout crowd chanted “Vladdy,” and this bemusing star — who finally hit his first home run at home — cllimbed the dugout steps for a curtain call.

In that three-batter span, the Blue Jays took control of the series, going on to beat the Orioles, 8-1, on Sunday. It was a quick-fire strike that took advantage of Rogers’ changeup to George Springer, his low-and-middle sweeper to Guerrero and his middle-middle fastball to Kazuma Okamoto.

“Really unfortunate there,” Rogers said. “It was a big game for us and didn’t pitch well enough, so that one’s on me.”

Well, not entirely. The bombardment from the Blue Jays only made all of Baltimore’s missed chances stand out in maddeningly stark contrast.

Baltimore left 13 runners on base, with Pete Alonso’s 100th RBI of the season the lone breakthrough against right-hander Dylan Cease — whose sporadic command practically begged for a big inning. Instead the Orioles leave Toronto with a series loss, and their already shady postseason odds shrink further.

“We’re all fighting for our lives here to get into the postseason,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “To win the first one and then drop the next two is disappointing, but we still have more games ahead of us, and like anything, we need to turn the page quickly.”

Baltimore (72-78) has benefited from the lackadaisical postseason race — er, crawl — that is ongoing in the American League. With the Cleveland Guardians winning, the Orioles are four games back. The Chicago White Sox may be the next team to chase, should Cleveland overtake them in the division. Even then, the White Sox have a healthy lead on the Orioles.

None of that may even matter. And, with the way the Orioles approached several plate appearances Sunday, it would be a tall task to go on a 12-game surge before the year ends.

Cease lacked any semblance of command in the first inning. He walked two and allowed a single to Alonso. But he struck out Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to avoid early damage.

“Once we get the bases loaded, Coby’s at-bat was really good. He fouled off pitches, and it was a great take and a good [ball-strike] challenge from their catcher, [Brandon] Valenzuela,” Albernaz said. “And then we chased a lot after that.”

That was the first glimpse at what became a theme. In the third inning, for instance, Cease issued a pair of two-out walks, including one on four pitches to Mayo. Rather than working the count, piling up Cease’s pitch count while also forcing him to enter the zone, Basallo swung at Cease’s first pitch, an elevated fastball, and popped it up.

And, despite Dylan Beavers doubling to begin the fifth and Alonso driving him home for Baltimore’s lone run, another instance of expanding the zone occurred. Basallo and Encarnacion-Strand grounded out with two runners on base to end the inning, but neither of them saw a pitch in the zone. They swung at balls, and hitting in this league is difficult enough without swinging at pitchers’ pitches.

“We were able to make [Cease] throw a lot of pitches,” said shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who reached base four times. “And it felt like, whenever we had people on base, maybe expanded a little bit, and I felt like that’s what got us in trouble.”

In general, chasing outside the zone hasn’t been a teamwide issue for the Orioles. But Albernaz said it appeared the lineup was pressing, and Henderson agreed.

“It was probably just a mindset thing,” Henderson said. “It’s easier said than done, but just got to bear down in those situations and, obviously, not trying to do too much and overcommit to stuff.”

Albernaz wanted to see more selective aggression — picking an exact location and getting an “A” swing off.

“When you foul it off or hit it weakly to the opposite field [on the first pitch], you’re just trying to do too much and it looks like you don’t have an approach,” Albernaz said.

The trio of Blue Jays batters did not have that problem in the bottom of the fifth inning. They waited for Rogers to come into the zone, and once he did, they left no doubt. Those big swings — with none more electrifying for a packed house in Toronto than Guerrero’s — left the Orioles down and out.

Rogers felt the only really poor location in the bunch was to Okamoto, when he fired a fastball over the middle. He commended Springer for staying on his changeup and credited Guerrero for staying on the sweeper.

It only got worse for Baltimore, with four runs crossing in the eighth. The biggest blow came when Springer lashed a line drive to left field. Beavers tried to make a play on the ball, but his lunging attempt to pick the hop ended in a whiff, and the ball rattled to the wall to plate three runs.

Albernaz said Beavers got caught between diving and holding up. “He was beating himself up pretty good about it in the dugout,” Albernaz said.

The game was just about over before then, anyway. That just put a fork in a dismal finale at Rogers Centre.

This article has been updated.