The visiting Baltimore Orioles may be undermanned, but they still have Ryan Mountcastle, and he will try to continue his success against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
The Orioles first baseman was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and two doubles Tuesday night as the Orioles posted a 6-5 win over the Blue Jays.
The teams have split the first two contests of the four-game series, the first of the season between the teams.
The Orioles had lost their seven previous games against Toronto.
The home run was Mountcastle’s 10th of the season and also the 10th of his career against the Blue Jays, the most he has had against any team. He also has 18 RBIs in his 27 games against Toronto. It was his second career game with three extra-base hits. The other was a three-homer game against Toronto last June 19.
“I guess I just do a little bit better against them,” Mountcastle said. “All the other guys in our division are pretty good, too. So I guess I’ve got to hit good against one of them. Hopefully.”
Since May 30, Mountcastle has five homers and seven doubles in 14 games.
“I’m just hitting the ball hard,” Mountcastle said. “Seems like I’ve been doing that a decent amount this year and they’re finally starting to fall.”
The Orioles are playing the series without Anthony Santander, who did not meet Canadian COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
They also were without Trey Mancini (swollen hand) after he was hit by a pitch on a strikeout in the Blue Jays’ 11-1 victory on Monday. Mancini could miss two or three games.
The Blue Jays will start right-hander Jose Berrios (5-2, 4.73 ERA) on Wednesday with left-hander Bruce Zimmermann (2-5, 5.52) going for the Orioles.
Berrios was 1-0 with a 1.32 ERA in two starts against Baltimore last season. He is 6-0 with a 2.94 ERA in eight career starts against the Orioles.
Zimmermann has faced Toronto once. He took the loss when he allowed three runs and five hits in two-thirds of an inning on Oct. 3.
Blue Jays catcher Gabriel Moreno had the first three-hit game and his first two major league RBIs on Tuesday. He made his major league debut Saturday.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doubled in going 1-for-4 on Tuesday to extend his season-best hitting streak to nine games. He is batting .472 (17-for-36) during that stretch.
Toronto leadoff hitter George Springer was 0-for-4 but had a walk to extend his on-base streak to 24 games.
The Blue Jays announced before the game on Tuesday that left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu will need season-ending left elbow surgery. It is considered a chronic injury to the UCL and not an acute injury, so the extent of the surgery has yet to be determined.
“It got to the point where he just said, ‘I want to compete as quickly as humanly possible,’ and felt like this was the best way to do that and he’s going to focus on doing that for us,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “He’s professional, a very tough individual and has perspective. But he’s extremely disappointed he won’t be part of this in the near term.”
Toronto also put right-hander Julian Merryweather (left abdominal strain) on the injured list Tuesday and recalled right-hander Jeremy Beasley from Triple-A Buffalo. Merryweather was removed from a relief appearance on Monday because of the injury.
–Field Level Media