Orioles lose control in sixth inning, walking three and then plunking two with bases loaded, in 4-1 loss to Blue Jays – The Denver Post

Shintaro Fujinami, the Orioles’ lone bullpen addition ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, brings tremendous upside. Wednesday’s outing showed his downside.

Inheriting two runners from Grayson Rodriguez with two outs in the sixth of Baltimore’s matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays, Fujinami issued a four-pitch walk, then hit consecutive batters, allowing both of Rodriguez’s runners to score before an error by shortstop Jorge Mateo brought in another. The three scores in a hitless inning provided the final margin in Baltimore’s 4-1 defeat at the Rogers Centre.

“Grayson was doing a great job today, and I didn’t want to give up a run,” Fujinami said through interpreter Issei Kamada. “I just put too much pressure on myself.”

At the cost of sending No. 30 prospect Easton Lucas to the Oakland Athletics, Fujinami was a tantalizing acquisition for the Orioles (66-42), with his high-velocity fastball and wicked splitter making him an enticing option to add to manager Brandon Hyde’s All-Star late-inning tandem of Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista. But the right-hander has at times struggled to harness his devastating stuff, seemingly needing to settle into his outings. Including Wednesday’s performance, the first two batters to face Fujinami across his first six appearances with Baltimore have gone 1-for-6 with a home run while walking five times and getting hit once. Asked whether the trend will affect how he deploys Fujinami going forward, Hyde responded, “Well, we really need him.”

“He just didn’t have his command,” Hyde added. “His last few times out, he was really, really good, and hopefully, he can get back to that.”

Rodriguez allowed two hits, one run and no walks through 5 2/3 innings before issuing consecutive free passes in full counts, the latter coming in a 10-pitch battle with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Coming off a three-outing span in which he struck out seven with two walks over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, Fujinami entered and threw four straight balls to load the bases before his fifth pitch hit Matt Chapman. After a mound visit, Fujinami got ahead 0-2 on Danny Jansen, then hit him, too. He seemed to get out of it with a grounder right to Mateo, but the infielder booted the ball to allow another run to score.

Overall as an Oriole, Fujinami has allowed four runs (three earned) in 6 2/3 innings with five walks, two hit batters and nine strikeouts.

“I wanted to get an out so bad,” Fujinami said. “I was kind of rushing through, and my slide step was too quick and my timing was a little off.”

Ryan Mountcastle continued to have success since coming off the injured list with two singles and two walks, accounting for almost half of the nine times an Oriole reached base Wednesday. Baltimore’s lone run came on Adley Rutschman’s infield single in the fifth.

Around the horn

• Orioles closer Félix Bautista was named the AL Reliever of the Month for the third time. In July, he did not allow a run over 14 innings, striking out 25 of 48 batters faced. “He’s just been unbelievable,” Hyde said.
• Baltimore promoted outfielder Dylan Beavers, its No. 22 prospect according to Baseball America, to Double-A Bowie. The No. 33 pick in last year’s draft, Beavers went 2-for-4 with a double with his Baysox debut Wednesday.

This story will be updated.

Orioles at Blue Jays

Thursday, 3:07 p.m.

TV: MASN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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