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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays suffer a crushing loss to the late charging Orioles
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Photo credit: © Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images
Aidan Sinclair
May 30, 2026, 19:31 EDT
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Yesterday, the Blue Jays finally climbed back to .500 in a thrilling come-from-behind victory. Today, they held a four-run lead in the ninth inning, only to allow five runs and let a very winnable game slip away from their grasp.  
Trey Yesavage was on the mound for the Blue Jays in this contest, coming off his worst start of the year against the Marlins, in large part due to poor defence behind him. It wasn’t Yesavage’s best day on the mound control-wise, but he managed to limit the damage, keeping the Orioles to just one run.
The 22-year-old cruised through his first two innings before walking Jeremiah Jackson and Taylor Ward in the bottom of the third, setting up Gunnar Henderson with a runner in scoring position. He singled to centre field, bringing home Jackson and scoring the Orioles’ first run of the afternoon. 
Yesavage eventually loaded the bases later that inning, but was bailed out thanks to Kazuma Okamoto starting a 5-4-3 double play, keeping the O’s off the board. It was deja vu in the fourth, with the right-hander walking another pair of batters, loading up the bases again and being bailed out yet again by Okamoto, who single-handedly turned another double play, stepping on third base and throwing to first to end the frame. 
Yesavage finished with five innings, one earned run and four strikeouts across 92 pitches. Though that stat line would suggest he was in control all afternoon, it turned out the contrary was true. He threw just 48 pitches for strikes and walked a career-high seven batters in the outing, fighting his command all day. His ERA now sits at 2.19 with a 1.16 WHIP on the season. 
It was Brandon Young on the mound for the Orioles in this one, coming off his best start of the year against the Tigers, in which he threw 6.2 innings of shutout ball. He kept the Jays off the board through three innings before a Jesus Sanchez double scored Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the top of the fourth. Ernie Clement followed with a single, bringing home Sanchez, and giving the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead. 
It wasn’t until the top of the eighth that another run was scored, when Okamoto brought home Nathan Lukes and Guerrero on a two rbi double, giving the Jays a 4-1 advantage. Guerrero added a fifth and final run in the top of the ninth, scoring Lukes, and finishing 4/5 in the game. 
Yariel Rodriguez, Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland all threw clean innings in this contest before Jeff Hoffman came in with a four-run lead in the ninth. Entering today’s game, Hoffman hadn’t allowed an earned run since May 15th, bringing his season ERA to 4.62. He struck out the first batter he saw in Samuel Basallo, before things took a quick turn for the worse. 
A sequence of a Coby Mayo hit-by-pitch, Leody Taveras triple and Jackson Holliday single brought the score to 5-3. Hoffman then gave up a double to Colton Cowser and walked Taylor Ward, setting up Henderson with bases loaded. He also walked, bringing the Jays’ lead to just one at 5-4. Hoffman was pulled for Connor Seabold, who immediately walked Adley Rutschman, tying the game at 5-5. Pete Alsono followed with a single to right field, completing the Orioles’ comeback and delivering the Blue Jays a heartbreaking 6-5 loss. 
The most notable concern from today’s game was obviously the continued struggles of Jeff Hoffman, who, after this game, saw his ERA balloon back up to 6.31. His WHIP sits at 1.75, and though he has been struck by poor luck with a .492 BABIP heading into today’s game, he simply has not proven to be a reliable arm at the back end of the bullpen. 
It will be another bullpen game tomorrow afternoon, with Spencer Miles slated to cover the bulk of the innings of the contest. He has been excellent in this role, lowering his season ERA to 2.16 and most recently allowing just one run to the Marlins across 4.1 innings. It will be Kyle Bradish on the mound for the Orioles as the Blue Jays look to win their third straight series and get back to .500, in an early 12:15 pm EST matchup on Sunday.

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