BALTIMORE -- With two on and one out early in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde brought in rookie Nick Vespi over any of his high-leverage relief trio of Dillon Tate, Cionel Pérez and Félix Bautista. Vespi surrendered a three-run home run, while each of the three late-inning options went unused as the Toronto Blue Jays won both of the day’s games to balloon Baltimore’s distance from a playoff spot.
“Obviously, in a game like that,” Hyde explained a day later, “I don’t want to use those three guys in the third inning.”
The fourth inning, though, seemingly changes the calculus. Beginning with calling on Tate in that frame, Hyde deployed his bullpen as aggressively as he has all season in pursuit of a much-needed win Tuesday. With Pérez and Bautista also entering earlier than usual, he got it, with the Orioles beating the Blue Jays, 9-6, to move within 3 1/2 games of an American League wild-card spot and give themselves a chance at a series split Wednesday.
