Benches clear in Baltimore as Orioles get back at Blue Jays – Toronto Sun

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BALTIMORE — Normally Vlad Guerrero Jr. reserves his most savage of blows for his bat, which can assault a baseball like no other in the major leagues.

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But on a night when tempers boiled over at Camden Yards, the Jays first baseman made his best shot a verbal one directed at a former teammate who clearly wasn’t beloved in the Toronto clubhouse.

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“When you stare at the person (after getting him out), it’s kind of disrespectful,” Guerrero said after the Jays fell 9-6 to the Orioles in a testy affair in which emotions were running high for both teams. “Does he think he’s a superhero or something?

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“We believe that if you look at the dugout you want problems. You want us to react. It crosses the line a bit.”

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Or a lot, as Guerrero’s teammates were willing to say on and off the record following the third game of a four-game series following a doubleheader sweep by the Jays the previous day.

Rewind to the dustup that took place as the three hour and 53 minute game was headed to the seventh-inning stretch. Orioles pitcher Bryan Baker, who had induced a double play earlier in the inning had words for Teoscar Hernandez, who had slugged a homer off of him the night before.

The two continued the exchange as Hernandez returned to the Jays dugout, but when Baker struck out Matt Chapman, the lit fuse ignited.

Baker glared into the Jays dugout, pointing repeatedly and Toronto players had seen enough.

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Led by Hernandez and Guerrero, the charge from the dugout was swift and spirited

“It was Baker looking into our dugout like he has every time he pitches against us since he wasn’t part or our team and our team reacted,” said Jays manager John Schneider, who was ejected in the bottom of the inning after seeing one too many marginal ball calls from incompetent home plate ump, Jeff Nelson. “It wasn’t the first time he’s done it, so our guys were fed up with it.”

If you missed the Schneider zinger there, Baker appeared in one game for the Jays in 2021 after spending parts of four seasons in the Toronto farm system.

It’ was clear post-game that the Jays had little use for Baker as a teammate, but the disdain for him as an opponent is next level.

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‘I feel like when you’re out there performing, it gets pretty intense,” Jays closer Jordan Romano said. “The way I do it and other guys on this team do it, there’s a certain element of respect for the batter, especially when you’re giving up runs.

“Myself, personally, I wouldn’t be chirping the guys who are scoring on me.”

Ouch.

There was more of the same from Hernandez, who like Guerrero had to be physically restrained from going after Baker and had his Jays jersey torn off in the process. The normally mild-mannered infielder was infuriated in the moment.

Afterwards, he chuckled.

“I guess Baker was mad because (on Monday) I hit a homer off of him,” Hernandez said. “Every time he pitches against us, he’s just trying to make it a show.”

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And now the show goes on, in a rivalry that continues to intensify as the resurgent Orioles moved back to within 3.5 games of the Jays for the final American League wildcard spot.

O’s manager Brandon Hyde has had his issues with the Jays in the past and Schneider is well aware of the implications of the remaining seven games between the two teams.

Next up on that slate is a Wednesday evening contest that promises to keep the intensity given the Jays will send their bulldog starter Alek Manoah to the mound looking to take a 3-1 series win over the O’s.

The fiery right hander spent the moments after Tuesday’s final out looking across the diamond at the Orioles he will face on Wednesday, game seven of a 10-game, three-city road trip for the Jays.

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“We’re all playing for something right now,” Schneider said post game, having had an opportunity to cool down. “We’re playing really well. We’re confident with what we’re going and we have one of our best dudes (Manoah, on Wednesday.)

“Win a series and move on.”

TURD OF A THIRD

By the time the shenanigans had wrapped up, the struggles of Jays starter Mitch White were all but forgotten, though they will resurface when the fifth spot in the rotation returns.

Trouble began when White walked the No. 8 and 9 hitters in the O’s lineup, Rougned Odor and Jorge Mateo. Next up was a pitch to the hand of Cedric Mullins and that free pass loaded the bases.

By the time the inning was over, the Orioles had put up five runs, all of them charged to White, who only lasted 2.1 innings.

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It was the third consecutive poor outing for White, who was acquired at the trade deadline as a replacement for struggling Yusei Kikuchi at the fifth spot in the Jays rotation.

It hasn’t been pretty, either, as White has allowed 16 runs over his three starts, while only pitching a combined 12 innings.

BO SHOW

Jays shortstop Bo Bichette picked up where left off on his sizzling Labour Day, launching his fourth homer in two games, a third-inning shot that hit the top of the wall in right field.

It continued the torrid pace for Bichette, who followed Tuesday’s homer with a double in his next at-bat and a single after that.

“He’s about as locked in as I’ve seen him in terms of being task-task-oriented and executing a plan,” Schneider said of Bichette. “It’s a very locked-in player on a lot of different levels.”

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GAME ON

The Jays looked like they were headed for another strong start scoring a run in the second on an RBI single from Matt Chapman that brought Alejandro Kirk home … the Jays added two more in the third on Bichette’s 22nd homer of the season and pulled to within a run again in the fifth when a Chapman double brought home Bichette … The eventual winning run came after Kikuchi came in with one out in the sixth allowing a Cedric Mullins single to score Mateo. There will be some serious second guessing on the move to Kikuchi in a one-run game, especially after the reliever that preceded him, Anthony Bass, retired the four batters he faced on seven pitches .. Any serious chances of a late Jays rally were squelched when the Orioles added three run-in the eighth, though Alejandro Kirk, with his fourth hit off the night, drove in Bichette for a ninth-inning score … The Jays offence continued to bang out hits, counting 13 on the night and 38 combined in the first three games of the series.