After the Baltimore Orioles won the first game of a twin bill against Toronto this afternoon, Trey Gibson rightfully went seven innings. The scorecard doesn’t indicate that, but he went almost seven innings. And looked outstanding in the process. Gibson’s line: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s two-RBI single in the first inning set the tone and gave the O’s a 2-0 lead. He later scored on Colton Cowser’s RBI-double, extending the lead to 3-0. Encarnacion-Strand would come back in the fourth for an encore, and his solo homer put the O’s in the lead at 4-0.
The start of the night however was Trey Gibson. He picked up where Oriole pitching left off in the first game, and dealt a death blow to Toronto. Again, he rightfully should have pitched at least seven innings. He did make it back into the dugout after what he thought was the third out in the seventh…
…but apparently that doesn’t mean much. Toronto manager John Schneider has a way of rubbing other teams the wrong way. And in a move that made no sense save for rattling a division rival, he shot his shot. After what we thought was the end of the inning, John Schneider issued a challenge.
The final out appeared to be a 4-1 putout by Jeremiah Jackson. However Schneider challenged the play, suggesting that Jackson’s foot was in the outfield grass when the ball was hit. Which under new MLB rules over the course of the past few seasons (banning shifts), is illegal. After review the umpire overturned the call, and awarded the hitter (Keys) first base on an error.
Gibson walked the next hitter, and was pulled. It’s tough settling back in the dugout, thinking you’re out of the inning, only to have to go back out there. Gibson deserved better. Needless to say, that was an oddity.
Whether or not Jackson’s shoe was actually grazing the first strands of outfield grass, is another story. I say that Schneider has a way of rubbing other teams wrong because that was sort of a gamesmanship move, in a moment where it meant nothing for his team. That due to the fact that by virtue of his team losing to the Orioles in the first game, they had already been eliminated from the postseason play.
Yennier Cano got the O’s out of the inning, so there’s that. They also brought on Felix Bautista in the ninth, and while he surrendered a two-run homer, he closed out his first game at home since last summer. Hopefully a foreshadowing moment going into next year.
As this is being written, the Orioles are still mathematically alive for the postseason. This albeit the odds are long. Assuming they don’t make it, there will be many moments on which we’ll look back and blame. One of them being that afternoon in Toronto when the game went wayward due to a Toronto runner going way out of the base path.
For what it’s worth, MLB acknowledged that was a bad call. In layman’s terms, the Orioles got hosed. That’s one of many things which stand out. And it’s one of many things which will have aided in the Orioles being home in October. Because keep in mind that (assuming they’re eliminated at some point) they will have missed the playoffs due to so many loses on the margins. Including that one.
So perhaps it’s fitting that it was the Orioles who eliminated Toronto from the postseason chase. As part of a series sweep. While people are perhaps justly critical of the Orioles this year, it goes without saying that they aren’t the team who was a hair away from a World Series title last year, and couldn’t make the playoffs in 2026.
