BALTIMORE -- The Blue Jays got the victory, even if they couldn’t get the better of their old teammate.
Andrés Giménez homered for the lone run off Chris Bassitt, Yohendrick Piñango drew a bases-loaded walk to force George Springer across after his double led off the eighth inning and the Blue Jays earned a 2-1 win over the Orioles on Thursday to open a four-game set at Camden Yards.
Patrick Corbin allowed only Coby Mayo’s solo home run in five innings, then faced one batter in the sixth before exiting. Braydon Fisher, Jeff Hoffman and Tyler Rogers each worked in relief to help Toronto to a third straight win and ninth out of their last 13 games.
After Rogers took a ground ball off the foot, Louis Varland got the final four outs for his eighth save of the season, aided by catcher Brandon Valenzuela’s exceptional throw to pick Pete Alonso off first and close out the eighth.
“Just to be aware in that situation that that’s an option there, to get out of a jam there with a potential tying run on second, it’s a very heads-up play,” Corbin said of his rookie batterymate.
It was Toronto’s first game against the 37-year-old Bassitt after his three seasons with the club, where he pitched to a 37-31 record and 3.89 ERA.
And although he has had less success so far in Baltimore, Thursday’s outing was everything the Jays remembered, from a consistent ability to get ground balls in key situations to a third-inning sweeper strikeout of Springer that sent the Jays' DH back to the dugout in disbelieving laughter.
“It wasn’t that funny,” deadpanned Ernie Clement, who doubled off his former teammate. “He pitched great. … He was aggressive. He came right at us. It was a great swing by [Giménez] to get us on the board there.”
While Bassitt was sharp, yielding four hits and a walk over six innings, the 36-year-old Corbin matched him, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out four.
Two of those strikeouts came in the first, when he escaped a second-and-third, none-out jam by fanning Alonso and Mayo after Adley Rutschman lined out to short.
“Corbs has been nails, man” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “A couple of hitters into the game, and you walk into second and third, nobody out. And to me, that was kind of a little momentum swing, getting the lineout from Adley, and then two big strikeouts to two right-handed hitters that have a lot of power.”
Corbin stranded two more with two aboard in the fifth when Gunnar Henderson lined out softly to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first. He finished the night carrying a 3.65 ERA as a regular in a rotation that has desperately needed his contributions while combatting injuries.
“The start of this offseason, I never thought this team was going to need some starting pitching,” said Corbin, who signed a one-year, $1 million deal with Toronto on April 4 and debuted for Toronto six days later. “I feel good where I’m at now. I just want to continue to do that. And these guys here, everyone’s been awesome. It’s been just a fun team to be around.”
Eventually the Blue Jays went on to their second consecutive 2-1 win. Springer drilled Anthony Nunez’s 1-2 offering off the left-field wall to lead off the eighth, and Nunez then walked three -- including Guerrero intentionally and the 24-year-old, pinch-hitting Piñango with the sacks loaded on five pitches to force in the go-ahead run.
“I've been impressed with [Piñango] controlling the strike zone since he's been here, and he did that again on some close pitches,” Schneider said.