Orioles' offense falls flat, Kyle Bradish stumbles in 7-3 loss to Blue Jays

Jacob Calvin Meyer, Baltimore Sun on Sep 12, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — These technically aren’t must-win games.

The Orioles’ 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday didn’t mathematically end Baltimore’s playoff hopes. A loss Sunday wouldn’t either.

But with only two weeks remaining in the season and the Orioles clinging to the fringes of wild-card contention, every game carries massive importance.

“You kind of have to treat every game right now like a must-win,” starting pitcher Chris Bassitt said after Friday’s series-opening victory. “We don’t have a lot of games left.”

The Orioles now have one fewer, and their chances of a miraculous comeback to make the postseason just got one game harder. Starting pitcher Kyle Bradish wasn’t sharp and allowed five runs in three innings, while his offense couldn’t put together a big inning the way it did Friday.

The defeat puts the Orioles temporarily 3 1/2 games out of the American League’s third and final wild-card spot. Baltimore (72-77) put itself in this position with a poor May and an 0-6 start to September.

To make the playoffs, the Orioles will likely have to win at least 10 — probably 11 or 12 — of their remaining 13 games to leapfrog the Cleveland Guardians, Blue Jays and Texas Rangers. The Orioles haven’t put together a stretch like that since early in 2024 before the franchise’s sudden downturn. FanGraphs puts the odds of it happening below 8%.

During the Blue Jays’ loss Friday, the boo birds were out for superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after his tough night at the plate. The 2025 postseason hero is having a down year, similar to Gunnar Henderson’s, with a .682 OPS and eight homers, with none of them coming in Toronto.

But Guerrero opened Saturday’s scoring with an RBI double off Bradish in the first inning before Alejandro Kirk tacked on a second run with an RBI single. Two innings later, Brett Bateman homered for the second day in a row, and Kirk one-upped him with a two-run blast to put Toronto (74-75) up 5-0. Bradish made it through the third but was pulled at 56 pitches after the frame ended.

Bradish, who turned 30 years old Saturday, wasn’t sharp to open the season, his first full one since returning from Tommy John elbow surgery, but the right-hander was excellent from mid-May through mid-August. As his innings have climbed, though, Bradish’s results have suffered. After allowing eight hits and five runs Saturday, Bradish has a 7.71 ERA over his past four starts, failing to pitch into the sixth inning in any of them.

The Orioles added runs in the fourth off bulk reliever Spencer Arrighetti and the seventh off short-inning reliever Paul Sewald on an error and a Pete Alonso homer, respectively. Alonso’s long ball was the 35th this season. He is one away from 300 in his career.

Baltimore’s bullpen was solid over its five frames with only two runs allowed on an Andrés Giménez double off Anthony Nunez and a sacrifice fly by Ernie Clement off Luis De León.

Baltimore will attempt to win the series Sunday with Trevor Rogers on the mound opposite Cy Young Award contender Dylan Cease.