The Toronto Blue Jays are set to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round of the postseason after losing to the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 on Sunday in their regular season finale.
The Orioles denied Toronto (32-28) a chance to finish second in the AL East and instead relegated the Blue Jays to the eighth and final seed in the AL playoffs. Toronto will open a three-game series in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
All in all, it’s a vast improvement on 2019, when the Blue Jays finished a distant fourth at 67-95. They were 4-6 against Tampa Bay this season.
Renato Núñez reached base three times in his return to the lineup and Cedric Mullins hit two triples for the Orioles.
Baltimore (25-35) also improved on a last-place finish in 2019, when they went 54-108. By winning their finale, the Orioles ensured they finished one game ahead of Boston for fourth.
Núñez started at DH after missing the previous three games because of a sore knee. He walked in the first, hit an RBI double in the third, and singled and scored in the fifth. He lined out in the seventh and struck out in the ninth.
Mullins was denied a home run when Blue Jays outfielder Jonathan Davis made a sensational leaping catch for the final out of the second. Davis sprinted into the corner and stretched above the wall to rob Mullins, managing to hold on to the ball as he fell onto the warning track.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had four hits, including a two-run home run, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added a solo shot for the Blue Jays, who needed a victory and a Miami win over the Yankees to move up in the standings. They couldn’t make an early 4-1 lead hold up.
Mullins hit a two-run triple in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Austin Hays.
Rio Ruiz and Pat Valaika had RBI base hits in the fifth and a third run scored on Hanser Alberto’s ground out.
Gurriel doubled in the second, homered in the third, singled in the sixth, and doubled again in the eighth.
Baltimore’s Travis Lakins Sr. (3-2) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Cesar Valdez worked the ninth for his third save in three chances.
Toronto’s Shun Yamaguchi (2-4) took the loss, allowing three runs and four hits in two innings.
