BALTIMORE -- Most pitchers can’t get away with the kind of command issues Trey Yesavage successfully battled Saturday afternoon.
That includes his own teammates, Jeff Hoffman (4-4) and Connor Seabold.
Yesavage somehow allowed only a run in five innings after walking a career-high seven batters, but free passes eventually doomed the Blue Jays to a 6-5 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards after taking a four-run lead into the bottom of the ninth.
All five Oriole runs in the ninth were charged to Hoffman, who allowed three hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch while retiring one batter. Seabold was on the mound when the final run crossed on Pete Alonso’s single after entering with a 5-4 lead and issuing the second bases-loaded walk of the inning to Adley Rutschman.
When it was over, Toronto had lost after holding a four-run, ninth-inning lead for the first time since an 8-7, 10-inning defeat to the Dodgers on July 25, 2023.
“We were playing with fire the whole day,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “You can’t walk 11 [as a team]. To be in that position, up in the ninth inning after that is fortunate.”
The Blue Jays -- who have won 10 out of their last 15 -- will conclude a 17-day, 17-game stretch Sunday before an off day ahead of a three-game set in Atlanta.
“This kind of stuff happens, but they’ve really kind of put us in this position I think to where we’ve gotten to,” Schneider said of his bullpen. “And it’s tough, 17 in [a] row.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. registered his first four-hit game of the season and scored twice in what for eight innings felt like it would be the Blue Jays’ fifth consecutive victory.
Kazuma Okamoto’s eighth-inning double off Keegan Akin registered his third and fourth RBIs of the series. And Jesús Sánchez doubled in a run off the outstretched glove of Leody Taveras in deep center field in the fourth, then scored on Ernie Clement’s single.
Yesavage threw just 48 of 92 pitches for strikes, but was the living, breathing definition of effectively wild. He permitted only two hits, struck out four and twice got ground balls to escape bases-loaded, one-out jams without further damage. He finished the outing somehow fractionally lowering his ERA to 2.19.
“It was one of those days I was spraying all over the place,” said the former No. 1 prospect in the Blue Jays system who had never previously walked more than three batters in an MLB outing. “Gotta look back at some video and see what was going on. But I don’t know. It was one of those days.”
Yariel Rodríguez and Tyler Rogers each worked an inning. And after Louis Varland -- who closed Thursday’s 2-1 win -- retired the Nos. 2-4 hitters in Gunnar Henderson, Rutschman and Alonso in the eighth, Hoffman came into the ninth with a 5-1 lead and promptly struck out Samuel Basallo.
It all unraveled from there. Hoffman’s 1-1 offering plunked Coby Mayo, who scored on Taveras’ triple. Jackson Holliday singled in Taveras to make it 5-3, Colton Cowser doubled Holliday to third, Taylor Ward walked and then Hoffman walked Henderson with the bases loaded. He would finish the night holding a 6.31 ERA.
Seabold, acquired in a trade with the Tigers on Wednesday, fared little better, walking Rutschman to tie the game before Alonso singled through a drawn-in infield.
“Just command with the slider, split,” Schneider said of Hoffman’s struggles. “They put some good swings on some sliders down, and then he just kind of lost the zone for the walks. Kind of a theme for today. Then you put Connor in a tough spot there.”