KIRKY PUTS THE BLUE JAYS UP BY 5️⃣
Instant Reaction: Blue Jays slug two home runs to even up series with Orioles
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Sep 12, 2026, 18:18 EDT
The Toronto Blue Jays are back in the win column.
On Saturday, the Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 to improve their record to 74-75 through 149 games and ensured they will set up a rubber match for the series on Sunday.
The win moved the Blue Jays 1.5 games back of the Cleveland Guardians for the American League’s final Wild Card spot, with the Guardians currently taking on the Minnesota Twins.
After falling behind early during Friday’s 7-4 loss, the Blue Jays ensured that wouldn’t be the case in the middle game of the series. Spencer Miles escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, before Toronto’s offence got after Kyle Bradish.
Brett Bateman led off the game with a five-pitch walk and advanced to second on a George Springer groundout. With a runner on second and one out, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drilled an 0-1 sinker from Bradish into the right-centre gap to give the Blue Jays an early 1-0 lead.
Guerrero wouldn’t be on second for long, as Alejandro Kirk followed with an RBI single to right field, which extended the lead to 2-0 with Kirk’s 37th RBI of the season.
After a 31-pitch first inning, Miles settled in during the top of the second inning by requiring only 13 pitches to strike out the Orioles in order. Miles got Heston Kjerstad looking, and both Colton Cowser and Carlos Narváez swinging to finish his afternoon.
Miles finished with five strikeouts in the outing and allowed one hit and two walks. For the season, Miles has now pitched in 46 games in his rookie campaign and is 6-2 with a 2.71 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. The 26-year-old has struck out 86 batters across 89.2 innings pitched and held opponents to a .216 average.
After launching his first career home run on Friday night, Bateman struck once again in the bottom of the third. The 24-year-old jumped on a 94.8 MPH fastball from Bradish and lifted it 403 feet over the right-centre field wall for his second home run of the season.
The Blue Jays weren’t done scoring in the bottom of the third as Kirk got to Bradish once again. Kirk slugged a first-pitch slider from the right-hander 414 feet over the left-centre field wall for a two-run home run and his 10th long ball of the campaign.
The Orioles scored their first run in the top of the fourth off Spencer Arrighetti, but were aided by some shaky defence. Gunnar Henderson roped a one out double and came around to score after Kazuma Okamoto committed two errors on a Christian Encarnacion-Strand ground ball. Okamoto bobbled the softly hit ball before airmailing Guerrero at first to allow Henderson to come home to score and make it a 5-1 game.
Fortunately for Arrighetti, after Colton Cowser lined a single to right field with two out, Encarnacion-Strand was cut down trying to score by Nathan Lukes on a perfect throw to the plate, resulting in Lukes’ ninth outfield assist of the season.
Working as the bulk reliever on Saturday, Arrighetti turned in a pitching line of 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, in what was the best showing the 26-year-old has displayed since being acquired by the Blue Jays from the Houston Astros in exchange for Daulton Varsho. Through five outings (two starts) since joining the Blue Jays, Arrighetti is 1-4 with a 6.87 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP.
The Blue Jays extended their lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Andrés Giménez doubled home Josh Smith, who was hit by a pitch from Orioles right-hander Anthony Nunez.
Rogers Centre got awfully tense when Pete Alonso launched a two-run home run off reliever Paul Sewald in the top of the seventh inning to cut the Blue Jays’ lead to 6-3. Only one of the runs was charged to Sewald, who has now recorded an ERA of 0.87 through 12 outings since being added to the roster on August 14.
Ernie Clement lifted a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the bottom half of the frame to give the Blue Jays some breathing room as they turned the ball over to Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland.
The Blue Jays will go for the series win on Sunday when they hand the ball to Dylan Cease for his 28th start of the season. The Orioles will counter with left-hander Trevor Rogers.
First pitch is 1:37 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre.
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