It’s the continuation of a series between AL East foes on the diamond down in Charm City. The Toronto Blue Jays are on the road as they play the second game of a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night. Toronto entered the series coming off a 3-2, 10-inning win over Minnesota on the road Sunday afternoon to split a four-game series. Baltimore missed a chance at a sweep of Pittsburgh as they were routed 8-1 in the finale of the series Sunday afternoon at home. This article was published prior to the conclusion of the opening game of the set at Oriole Park at Camden Yards Monday night.
Toronto bounced back from two straight losses as they dropped Minnesota in extra innings Sunday afternoon to earn a split of the four-game set. The Blue Jays entered Monday second in the AL East, 9.5 games behind the Yankees for the division lead. They owned the top wild card spot in the American League and were four games clear of the Guardians and Orioles to remain on the right side of the playoff cut line. On Sunday, Toronto got two hits each from Lourdes Guerriel Jr. (RBI) and Teoscar Hernandez (run) to pace a 10-hit attack. Kevin Gausman threw six scoreless frames, allowing six hits with no walks and five strikeouts, but didn’t factor in the decision. Jordan Romano (4-3) blew the save but earned the win after allowing one run on two hits with no walks against one strikeout in two innings of relief.
Alek Manoah is on the mound for the Blue Jays as he makes his 22nd start of the season in this contest. He comes in 12-5 with a 2.45 ERA, a 0.992 WHIP, 30 walks and 119 strikeouts over 132 innings of action. Manoah earned the win in his last start, which came Thursday on the road against the Twins. He threw six innings, allowing two runs on two hits with four walks and five strikeouts in a game the Blue Jays won handily, 9-3. In his last three starts, Manoah is 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP, five walks and 16 strikeouts over 17.1 innings of work. Manoah makes his fifth career start against the Orioles in this contest. He is 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA, a 0.672 WHIP, five walks and 29 strikeouts over 22.1 innings of work against them. In his lone start at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which came on June 19, 2021, he didn’t factor in the decision. Manoah threw 3.1 innings, allowing five runs on four hits, all homers, with one walk and six strikeouts in a 10-7 Blue Jays triumph.