Toronto Blue Jays, Game 16: Of Passed Balls And Missed Opportunities

After fighting back to level, the Blue Jays fell 4-3 to the Orioles on an extra-innings passed ball

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For just the second time in franchise history, the Toronto Blue Jays lost a game as a result of a passed ball.

Wednesday night in extra innings, a Joe Biagini slider scooted passed catcher Josh Thole, allowing his Baltimore counterpart Caleb Joseph to scamper home and score the winning run as the Orioles claimed a 4-3 victory in extra innings to halt Toronto’s modest three-game winning streak.

A day after the Blue Jays got one that they could have let get away, this one feels like one that got away, even though Baltimore opened the scoring with three runs in the first inning, courtesy of a couple of timely knocks from the heart of the Orioles’ order. But Toronto starter R.A. Dickey only gave up two more hits over his next five innings and didn’t concede another run, giving the Jays a chance to claw their way back into the game and while they brought the score level, the numbers point to this being a game where extras shouldn’t have been needed in the first place.

Toronto fought back with runs in the third (RBI single from Edwin Encarnacion), the fifth (Josh Donaldson home run) and the seventh (RBI double from Encarnacion), but couldn’t push that additional run across and they had their chances. For the game, Toronto went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10, highlighting that the opportunities were there; Toronto just couldn’t execute.

The final half-inning was similar in a way, as Biagini replaced Drew Storen, got the first two outs and then faltered, giving up a double to Joseph and an infield hit to Joey Rickard that moved Joseph to third. A walk to Manny Machado followed and then Thole simply couldn’t handle a low slider from Biagini and when it scooted under his glove and towards the backstop, Joseph darted home with the winning run.

Having clawed back and been presented multiple opportunities to take the lead, failing to do so and falling this way has to sting. Hopefully it also serves as motivation heading into the series finale on Thursday.

Player of the Game: Michael Saunders

Moved into the lead-off spot a couple games back, Saunders has responded and on Wednesday night, he was the catalyst for the Toronto offense. The British Columbia native went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored, bumping his average to .306 and elevating his OBP to a very good .382.

Kevin Pillar was struggling in the role, so manager John Gibbons made a change and Saunders has responded quite well. As long as he’s healthy, the Canadian outfielder should continue to occupy the first position in the batting order.

Hopefully he’ll keep producing like this as well.

On Deck: The series wraps up Thursday with a winner-takes-all (in this series) battle between Marco Estrada and Chris Tillman.

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