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Series recap: Blue Jays sweep Orioles to extend division lead
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Photo credit: © Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Sep 15, 2025, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 15, 2025, 21:40 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays now have a sizable lead in the American League East.
Over the weekend, the Blue Jays hosted the Baltimore Orioles for a three-game series, winning all three games to extend their division lead to four games (with a tiebreaker). Let’s take a look at what happened over the weekend!
On Friday, the Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Blue Jays managed to tie it thanks to a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Myles Straw hit a clutch RBI double in the bottom of the sixth for the game-winning run, with an insurance run coming off the bat of Ernie Clement in the bottom of the seventh, an RBI single. Daulton Varsho hit a two-RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, and Guerrero Jr. drove in his second run of the game to give the Jays a 6-1 victory.
Saturday saw the Orioles take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, and it stood that way all the way until the bottom of the fifth, when Addison Barger hit his 20th home run of the season. The Orioles regained their two-run lead in the top of the eighth, the Jays made it 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth, and the Orioles scored another run in the top of the ninth, making it a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Of course, the Blue Jays found a way to not only tie it, but win it with a walk-off sacrifice fly from Alejandro Kirk.
Unsurprisingly, the Orioles took the lead in Sunday’s game, as Coby Mayo hit a home run in the top of the second. It was all the Blue Jays from there, as George Springer hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third, while the game-winning run was driven in by Clement’s two-run double in the bottom of the fourth. Springer hit his 29th home run of the season, as the Jays routed the Orioles 11-2 in the series finale.
It hasn’t happened often this season, but this series saw the offence, starting rotation, and bullpen at their best simultaneously. Starting with the offence, only Ty France (-100 wRC+), Nathan Lukes (-14 wRC+), Andrés Giménez (7 wRC+), and Davis Schneider (41 wRC+) had a wRC+ below 100. Schneider and Giménez had 10 and 12 plate appearances, respectively, but Giménez’s lone hit was an RBI single to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday.
As has been the case all season, Springer led the offence, hitting one of two home runs while batting .500 for a 305 wRC+. Guerrero Jr. had a strong series, finishing with a 206 wRC+. Clement and Kirk each had a strong series with significant plate appearances, finishing with a 159 wRC+ and 127 wRC+, respectively.
Varsho had only nine plate appearances, but finished with a 210 wRC+. Barger had a 226 wRC+  in eight plate appearances and hit the other home run in the series.  Myles Straw had a 370 wRC+ in four plate appearances, Tyler Heineman had a 188 wRC+ in two plate appearances, Joey Loperfido had a 178 wRC+ in five plate appearances, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had a 127 wRC+ in five plate appearances.
All three starters had a strong outing. Shane Bieber pitched a quality start on Sunday, giving up one earned run in six innings of work. Chris Bassitt also gave up one earned run in his five innings of work, while Max Scherzer gave up two earned runs in his five innings of work.
Three relievers, Braydon Fisher, Eric Lauer, and Louis Varland, gave up earned runs in their outings. Both Varland and Fisher gave up home runs. Ryan Borucki pitched a scoreless two and one-third innings, Tommy Nance and Brendon Little pitched a scoreless inning. Seranthony Domínguez pitched a scoreless third of an inning, and Yariel Rodríguez pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning.
Entering their series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, the Blue Jays hold a four-game lead over the New York Yankees for the American League East crown, with the tiebreaker. Trey Yesavage starts Monday’s game to begin the four-game series, while the Yankees face the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox have an off-day.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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