Pinch hitter Yohendrick Pinango on Thursday drew a tiebreaking bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 in the first matchup of the season between the American League East teams.
The Blue Jays won their third game in a row and captured their seventh victory in a nine-game stretch.
Toronto’s Andres Gimenez and Baltimore’s Coby Mayo hit solo home runs.
Photo: Daniel Kucin Jr-Imagn Images
The only player in the game with more than one hit was the Orioles’ Taylor Ward, who secured his second hit with a single to lead off the bottom of the eighth. He reached second base on Pete Alonso’s two-out single, but Louis Varland took over on the mound and picked off Alonso to end the frame.
Baltimore, who were coming off a three-game sweep of the American League-best Tampa Bay Rays, held an 8-6 edge in hits.
Jeff Hoffman (4-3) was the winning pitcher with one scoreless inning of relief. Varland recorded four outs for his eighth save, despite yielding Leody Taveras’ one-out single in the ninth.
Baltimore reliever Anthony Nunez (2-2) walked three in his lone inning. Cameron Weston made his major league debut by pitching a scoreless ninth for the Orioles.
Blue Jays starter Patrick Corbin worked five-plus innings and gave up one run on four hits and one walk. He struck out four.
Orioles starter Chris Bassitt limited his former team to one run on four hits and one walk across six innings. He fanned two.
Gimenez led off the third inning with his sixth home run. Mayo pulled the Orioles even, also delivering his sixth long ball of the season, with two outs in the fourth.
George Springer opened the Toronto eighth with a double, and an intentional walk of Vladimir Guerrero Jr, and a walk issued to Daulton Varsho loaded the bases with one out. Kazuma Okamoto struck out before Nunez walked Pinango, sending Springer across the plate with what became the winning run.
The teams combined to go none-for-11 with runners in scoring position and strand 15 runners.
Elsewhere, the Astros outplayed the Rangers 5-1, the Angels tamed the Tigers 7-1, the Braves roued the Red Sox 10-2, the White Sox trounced the Twins 6-2 and the Cubs crushed the Pirates 7-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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