BALTIMORE — The Toronto Blue Jays were expecting Chris Bassitt to be fired up when he took the mound against his former team on Thursday evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
“I’m expecting him to want to throw a no-hitter,” quipped Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
“He rises to the occasion,” said right-hander Jeff Hoffman.
Bassitt, who signed a one-year deal with Baltimore in the off-season after three successful seasons in Toronto, would frequently pop in on hitters’ meetings with his old club. He’s as observant as anybody and loved to chat with Blue Jays teammates about how they were being attacked in the box.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he pitches great,” said Kevin Gausman before the game. “He knows these guys better than most of the teams he’s facing and knows their weaknesses and so you know he’s gonna try to exploit those.”
Bassitt did just that during his outing, stifling the visitors over his six strong frames. However, the Blue Jays were able to get to the Orioles bullpen, with Yohendrick Piñango drawing a bases-loaded walk to plate the go-ahead run in a tight, 2-1 win during the opener of a four-game set between the AL East rivals. With the win, the Blue Jays improved to 28-29 on the season.
Bassitt allowed just one run, an Andrés Giménez homer, on four hits over six innings, walking one and striking out two.
The right-hander has struggled this season, entering Thursday’s contest with a 5.51 ERA, yet looked like the best version of himself against the Blue Jays. He filled up the zone with his six pitches and kept the hard contact to a minimum.
Meanwhile, Blue Jays left-hander Patrick Corbin matched Bassitt during his outing, allowing just a solo homer to Coby Mayo over his five-plus innings. Corbin put runners on second and third base in both the first and fifth innings yet bore down and made pitches to escape those jams unharmed. He allowed four hits, walking one and striking out four.
Corbin has been an important member of a Blue Jays rotation that’s been beset by injury. Over 10 starts, he owns an impressive 3.65 ERA across 49.1 innings.
The Blue Jays’ bullpen provided four innings of scoreless relief, buying enough time for the offence to come through. George Springer led off the eighth inning with a double off Orioles right-hander Anthony Nunez and walks to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho loaded the bases, setting up Piñango to push across the winning run with his own walk.