Instant Reaction: Blue Jays, Bassitt trounced by Orioles in Game 1 of series

There is no question that the American-League leading Toronto Blue Jays are a contender, but there is uncertainty about their pitching staff.  

With the July 31 trade deadline less than three days away and the Blue Jays up by two games in the AL, their rotation that ranks 24th in both ERA and WAR and ailing bullpen were put under the magnifying glass on Monday in an 11-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. 

Chris Bassitt looked sharp initially, striking out three of the first seven batters he faced while allowing only one hard hit ball. But his precise sinkers and slow, looping curveballs were solved by an Orioles lineup that tagged him for six earned runs on seven hits and one walk over only 2 1/3 innings.  

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Nathan Lukes each hit a home run and Bo Bichette started 4-for-4, setting a new Blue Jays’ franchise record by notching a hit in nine straight at-bats and taking MLB lead with 130 hits. Tony Fernandez, Paul Molitor, Rance Mulliniks and Adam Lind were all tied at eight.  

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Bassitt effectively located his sinker on the edges of the zone early, dotting at the knees and on the outside black.  

After Ryan O’Hearn reached in the second on a line-drive leadoff single, Bassitt quickly recorded two outs, and then did the same to Cedric Mullins, spamming six straight fastballs – five of them sinkers – to work the count full. One strike away from ending the inning, a Bassitt sinker caught too much of the plate and Mullins yanked it 408 feet over the right-field wall. Two pitches later No. 9 hitter Coby Mayo mashed another sinker five feet farther over the fence in left to make the score 3-0 Orioles.  

The Blue Jays had a two-out response in the top of the third, with Lukes pulling a knee-high curveball into the seats after fouling off three straight competitive pitches, including a similarly located curve. George Springer followed with a walk before Guerrero pounded a middle-in sinker out to centre for his 15th home run of the season, evening the score.  

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The offence kept flowing as Jordan Westburg led off the next half inning with a line-drive single to centre. Next Gunnar Henderson walked as Bassitt missed badly with his changeup, sinker and cutter. Adley Rutschman started off the following at-bat 3-1 before ripping a middle-middle fastball straight off the centre field wall scoring both runners.  

The same slow curve that elicited uncomfortable swings from Baltimore hitters a couple innings earlier was ripped into centre by trade candidate Ramon Laureano, plating Rutschman and ending Bassitt’s night prematurely.  

Ernie Clement and Joey Loperfido started the fourth with back-to-back ground-ball singles and Tyler Heineman advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, the Blue Jays’ American League-leading 23rd of the season. 

Next Clement made a difficult base-running read, darting home on a hard-hit ground ball to second that was misplayed by Jackson Holliday.  

Lukes came up and nearly hit his second deep-fly of the game to tie the score at six, but Cedric Mullins leapt at the wall and brought the 104 m.p.h., 402-foot fly ball back into play with a spectacular home run-stealing snag. 

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After relieving Bassitt and promptly inducing an inning-ending double play, Mason Fluharty wriggled out of the fourth after allowing two hits thanks to a successful challenge. Westburg inexplicably made it to second on a routine ground-ball single but popped up off the bag on his slide.  

The Blue Jays other available lefty, Brendon Little, entered in the fifth as John Schneider seemingly looked to keep the game close with the heart of Baltimore’s order due up. Yet Little had a rare off night.  

Rutschman and O’Hearn laced back-to-back doubles before Laureano, a certified southpaw-masher, crushed a down-and-in knuckle curve for a no-doubter extending Baltimore’s lead to 9-4.  

It was only the second home run Little has allowed this season, and the first on his knuckle curve, the best curveball in baseball with a plus-eight run value according to Statcast. O’Hearn’s knock was also uncharacteristic as Little had only allowed one other double to a left-handed hitter in 2025. 

The Orioles added two more runs on a Mayo RBI groundout and a solo shot by Colton Cowser off Justin Bruihl. Tommy Nance pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in mop-up relief and Braydon Fisher tossed a clean eighth.  

While the Blue Jays have been reminded that losing is in fact possible over the last two days, they still have a comfortable lead in the standings, a desirable schedule over the next nine games to add to that lead and reinforcements on the way both in players returning from injury and deadline additions.