The odds of the Orioles winning a game in which their two best hitters are given off days and half of the starting infield is fresh off of a promotion from Triple-A were not particularly high.
Ryan McKenna, Domingo Leyba, and Ramón Urías all went from starting for Norfolk one night to making up a third of Baltimore’s lineup the next.
It didn’t start off too bad, however.
That advantage wouldn’t last long as the Blue Jays loaded the bases with no outs against Jorge López in the second inning on a single and two walks.
Things wouldn’t work out so nicely in the third inning.
Just 59 of his 100 pitches were thrown for strikes as he struggled to locate or get the Blue Jay hitters to chase his sinker out of the zone.
At one point the right-hander threw a fastball at 99.6 miles per hour, his fastest offering since reaching the big leagues.
The Orioles’ offense did come somewhat close to mounting a comeback in the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with two outs.