![\"Orioles](\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/pI6A1LJcpG_8z8RNi14W4WC9o-A=\/1400x1050\/filters:format(jpeg)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/25931833\/2206946134.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt\u2019s official: The Mountain is back.<\/p>\n
F\u00e9lix Bautista made his much-anticipated return to the mound this afternoon in Toronto, striking out the side in a scoreless ninth inning to wrap up a 9-5 win.<\/p>\n
Before that, the O\u2019s smacked three more home runs and overturned a fourth-inning deficit thanks to a Ram\u00f3n Ur\u00edas three-run double, putting them in position to win the series in tomorrow\u2019s finale.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hall of Fame-bound right-hander Max Scherzer was making his Blue Jays debut, but consider Colton Cowser unimpressed. The leadoff man lifted a 417-foot dinger to center field, and just two pitches into the game, the Orioles had a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
As far as today\u2019s game-opening accomplishments around MLB, it wasn\u2019t quite the equal of the Yankees hitting three home runs on the first three pitches, but it\u2019ll do.<\/p>\n
Later in the inning, Cowser\u2019s BFF Jordan Westburg bopped a solo homer of his own, taking one out to left-center field for the second time in the series, and the Orioles had staked Dean Kremer to a 2-0 lead before he took the mound.<\/p>\n
It, unfortunately, took only five batters for Kremer to squander the advantage.<\/p>\n
The first three batters greeted him with sharp singles, capped by Anthony Santander\u2019s run-scoring knock that gave him his first RBI as a Blue Jay. Well…congrats, I guess. Two batters later, Alejandro Kirk\u2019s sac fly knotted the score.<\/p>\n
The tie carried into the bottom of the third, which Kremer began with a Bo Bichette walk.<\/p>\n
He buckled down to strike out his nemesis Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Santander, but of all people it was Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez \u2014 who had just nine dingers and a .340 SLG last season \u2014 who burned him for a two-run homer, already his second of the series. That gave the Jays a 4-2 lead.<\/p>\n
When the top of the fourth rolled around, Scherzer \u2014 who had settled down after his shaky first, retiring seven Orioles in a row \u2014 was no longer on the mound.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays later announced that he left the game with right lat soreness. These things happen when you\u2019re 40, Max. Welcome to the club. But what a bummer of a way for him to have to leave in his first start of the season.<\/p>\n
Scherzer\u2019s misfortune was a game-changing opportunity for the Orioles, who jumped all over his middle-relief replacements. First up was lefty Richard Lovelady, who couldn\u2019t find the strike zone with a map and a compass. Ryan O\u2019Hearn led off the inning with a left-on-left bloop double, and with one out, Lovelady drilled Cedric Mullins. Hey! Watch it, buddy. Don\u2019t hurt our players.<\/p>\n
The next batter was Heston Kjerstad, and Lovelady…plunked him too. HEY! WHAT DID I JUST SAY? DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM HERE, RICHARD?? With the bases loaded, Gary S\u00e1nchez delivered a POFO \u2014 productive out for Orioles \u2014 with a sac fly, and Lovelady re-loaded the bases by walking Jackson Holliday.<\/p>\n
It was Ram\u00f3n Ur\u00edas who delivered the pivotal blow.<\/p>\n
The Birds\u2019 #9 hitter lashed a shot to deep right with Santander in dogged pursuit.<\/p>\n
In his Orioles days, we saw Anthony make his share of awkward, twisting, lunging catches at the wall, but fortunately it didn\u2019t happen here as the ball sailed over his head and off the fence. All three runners came home on the clutch Ur\u00edas double, putting the Orioles back in front, 6-4.<\/p>\n
The O\u2019s continued to pile on in the fifth against righty Jacob Barnes, courtesy of an Adley Rutschman double, Westburg single, Mullins RBI single, and Kjerstad sac fly, extending the lead to 8-4. Kremer promptly allowed the first two batters of the Blue Jays\u2019 fifth to reach base, but limited the damage to one run.<\/p>\n
After retiring the first batter of the sixth inning, Kremer was done. He wasn\u2019t good \u2014 five runs, five hits in 5.1 innings \u2014 but give him credit for getting into the sixth, at least.<\/p>\n
Kremer had a real problem with odd-numbered innings today; in the first, third, and fifth, he gave up five runs and seven baserunners. In the even-numbered innings, he retired all seven batters he faced.<\/p>\n
The Orioles capped their scoring in the seventh when Westburg socked yet another center-field home run, his second of the game and third of the year, and the 10th for the Orioles in just their first three games. These guys like dingers! Me too.<\/p>\n
From there it was just a matter of sweating through the Orioles\u2019 questionable bullpen. For the most part, the guys did a good job this afternoon \u2014 Keegan Akin got two outs, and Yennier Cano pitched a scoreless seventh in his season debut \u2014 but there always seems to be one guy who doesn\u2019t have it on any given day. This time it was Gregory Soto, fresh off his three-strikeout performance on Friday, who walked two of the three batters he faced in the eighth. Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez, though, bailed him out by retiring the next two.<\/p>\n
And in the ninth, it was Mountain Time at long last. F\u00e9lix Bautista\u2019s first MLB game action since August 2023 wasn\u2019t perfect \u2014 he allowed a Bichette double and walked Santander on four pitches nowhere near the zone \u2014 but he proved he still has dominant, strikeout-inducing stuff.<\/p>\n
In vintage F\u00e9lix form, he fanned Nathan Lukes on a nasty 3-2 splitter in the dirt. Later he unleashed another unhittable split to whiff Guerrero, and finally got Gim\u00e9nez to chase \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 a splitter for a game-ending punchout. Good old Felix. There\u2019s a sight for sore eyes for Orioles fans everywhere.<\/p>\n
Winning 9 to 5 \u2014 what a way to make a living. And the Birds are back in the win column.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s official: The Mountain is back. F\u00e9lix Bautista made his much-anticipated return to the mound this afternoon in Toronto, striking out the side in a scoreless ninth… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":45193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n