Toronto Blue Jays salvage trip by winning a wild series finale in Baltimore

Edmonton Journal

3 days ago

The Jays got to exhale and exult, albeit by the thinnest of margins, by ending an ugly slide that saw the team lose four straight, including three losses that were so lopsided that concerns began to mount.
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One of the catalysts to a roughly two-month run that vaulted the Jays to the top of the MLB standings was their offence, which went missing in the Sunday's series finale in Detroit and into the first three games in Baltimore.
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The unlikely heroes were Myles Straw — who had a three-hit game, including a two-run homer — Nathan Lukes, whose three-run pinch-hit dinger capped off a five-run seventh inning, and rookie pitcher Braydon Fisher, who got two big outs — though the second to end a frenetic frame was a ball on a full count that would have tied the game.
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Here are three takeaways from an entertaining afternoon in which Jays manager John Schneider emptied his bench, be it positional players or pitchers — including Seranthony Dominguez, the reliever the Jays acquired from the O's in between Tuesday's double dip, for the second game in a row.
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Not much was made of Bo Bichette's game-ending strikeout in the night cap of Tuesday's split doubleheader. The truth is his at-bat was an abomination.
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The game was on the line and Bichette resorted to his old ways by chasing an elevated fastball to cap off an 0-for-5 day after he went 5-for-5 in Detroit to ignite a franchise record for consecutive hits in nine at-bats.
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In his second, Bichette grounded out to strand a runner at second as the Jays' inability to hit with runners in scoring position only got worse — though it did improve in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that tied the game.
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Then came a Bichette sac fly to ostensibly give the Jays the lead until the O's asked for a video review. The play was overturned and the game remained deadlocked.