TORONTO – Coming into the rubber match of their series at Toronto tonight, the Orioles had lost just one American League East series in 10 tries this year and just one in their past 24 division series dating to early April of 2023.

If there was a player who could change that it would be Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Hitting against a team he loves to torment, Guerrero homered and added a double and triple with four RBIs tonight as Toronto beat the Orioles 7-6 in front of 27,910 at Rogers Center.

Even with Guerrero's monster night at the plate, the O's had a chance to steal the series in the ninth inning. Trailing 7-2 at the turn of the ninth, the Orioles loaded the bases behind three consecutive singles from Ryan O'Hearn, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle. 

Then the runs followed. Jackson Holliday drove in a run with a groundout, Cedric Mullins doubled in another and then Colton Cowser singled for two more. It was quickly 7-6. And with the O's homer leader, Anthony Santander coming up. 

But righty reliever Chad Green got the final out as he induced Santander to fly to center on a 2-2 fastball and Toronto hung on. The O's rally fell a run short.  

Now two games out of both the second and third American League wild card spots, and four games behind the No. 1 spot held by Toronto, the Orioles begin a three-game series with the Blue Jays tonight at Camden Yards.

It’s a big series between two teams that did not play once during the season’s first 61 games, and then split four games in mid-June at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. The Orioles lost 11-1 in the series opener, won the second game 6-5, lost 7-6 in 10 and then blasted former Oriole Kevin Gausman 10-2 in the fourth game of that series. Gausman allowed seven runs (five earned) over 2 1/3 innings.

The Orioles (56-52) and Blue Jays (60-48) will play six times in the next 10 games and 15 in the last 54 of the O’s regular season. They will meet nine times in the last 28 games starting Sept. 5.

The Orioles have not had a lot of success in recent seasons against Toronto. They are 17-35 since the 2019 season and Toronto is unbeaten in its last 13 series versus Baltimore. When the O’s went 2-2 in Canada last month it was their first series win or split of three games or more against that team since Aug. 1-4, 2019.

The Orioles are 6-6-1 in series this season against the AL East after going 3-19-2 last year. They are 20-24 versus AL East teams and 13-10 at home against the division. The Orioles are 4-2 their last six division games this season and 8-6 in the last 14.

TORONTO – During the long grind of a 162-game season where even after they feel they're making some progress and starting to play overall better baseball, building day-to-day momentum has been a real challenge for these 2022 Orioles.

They have one three-game win streak this year, and given a chance for a second one last night, they got hammered 11-1 by Toronto. It matches their biggest losing margin all year – 10 runs for the third time.

The up-and-down Orioles were held to 10 runs in three games versus Cleveland and then scored nine against the Cubs. They produced just six runs in two losses at Kansas City before scoring 16 and winning twice. Then the Toronto series started with a dud. 

And rookie right-hander Kyle Bradish, a young pitcher trying to find his way and make improvements in the rugged American League East, had another subpar night, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings – his third straight outing where he failed to pitch five innings. He threw 90 pitches but his ERA increased from 6.45 to 6.86.

Bradish felt he was making some progress the second time through the Toronto lineup. Maybe it’s something to build on, but he was still missing a key pitch again.

Although the American League won its eighth straight All-Star Game 5-2, the Nationals were well represented on the National League side Tuesday night. In taking the mound to kick off the game at Coors Field in Denver, Max Scherzer went from one of the last players named to the NL roster to making his fourth Midsummer Classic start. He is now one of just six pitchers in the game's history to make that many starts. Scherzer started the game by getting opposing starting pitcher and leadoff...

MINNEAPOLIS - He's hitting .286 overall and .476 with runners in scoring position, so why not move Dwight Smith Jr. to the cleanup spot in the Orioles batting order? He's there tonight for the start of a three-game series with Minnesota at Target Field. When he was traded to the Orioles on March 8, probably not even Smith himself could have imagined things going this well with his new team. He was acquired for international signing bonus slots and has hit .286/.327/.527 with seven doubles,...