This all could have been much different had the ball been a few feet to the right. It had plenty of distance — landing in the highest deck at Rogers Centre — but Teoscar Hernández turned back toward home plate rather than starting the trot of a grand slam.
And one pitch later, Jordan Lyles struck Hernández out, stranding the bases loaded in a gritty display that has been missing from the Orioles right-hander of late. In the midst of a skid that includes at least four runs against him in six of his last eight starts, perhaps the collective cheers of Blue Jays fans when the ball left Hernández’s bat weren’t premature. It’s the kind of hit that has gone against Lyles recently.
It made the strikeout to end the third inning more satisfying, as Lyles allowed just one run instead of a deluge. It still wasn’t a hallmark effort from Lyles, who hasn’t completed six innings in almost a month. But it was an improvement, a platform Baltimore needed en route to a 6-5 victory in Toronto that required a five-out save from right-hander Jorge López.
