Blue Jays make it close in Seranthony Dominguez's debut, but drop their fourth in a row

National Post

3 days ago

From opponent to teammate, Seranthony Dominguez made his Blue Jays debut in the seventh inning of a 2-2 tilt in Baltimore on Tuesday night, mere hours after being traded by the Orioles between games of their scheduled doubleheader.
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Dominguez, a hard-throwing right-hander, showed both his good and bad sides in his high-leverage inning, but ultimately held the O's scoreless. Jeff Hoffman followed him and wasn't so fortunate — giving up back-to-back doubles in the eighth as the Orioles won 3-2 to sweep the doubleheader — following a 16-4 rout in the afternoon opener — and hand the Jays their fourth loss in a row.
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At least this game was close, which couldn't be said of the previous three in which the Jays were outscored 37-12.
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Dominguez did his part under what had to be awkward circumstances for the 30-year-old, whose strikeout and walk percentages are both high.
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He struck out the first batter he faced, pinch-hitter Colton Cowser, after falling behind 2-0, and got out of the inning by fanning Jackson Holliday.
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In between, he hit Dylan Carlson with a pitch. But after Carlson stole second, Dominguez stepped off the mound and got Carlson in a rundown.
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It was quite the debut and the kind of appearance the Jays knew what they were getting when they acquired Dominguez.
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Offensively, the Jays out-hit the O's 8-7, but hit into three double plays — two of them inning-ending — in the seventh, eighth and ninth.
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The following are three takeaways from the nightcap that shaved the Jays' hold on first-place in the AL East to four games with the Yankees beating the Tampa Bay Rays.
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1. All eyes on Lauer
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A dizzying day that saw one veteran reliever (Chad Green) shown the door, while another crossed the field to join his new team via a trade, and Eric Lauer suddenly found himself in the brightest of spotlights.
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A must-win would be a stretch, but the lefty needed to stabilize what was turning into an creaky situation for the Blue Jays.
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A 10-pitch first inning certainly helped as he was handed a 1-0 lead. Lauer loaded the bases in the second but struck out Carlson to get out it, albeit having thrown 27 more pitches.
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Lauer's curveball is a thing of beauty, and it was highlighted when he struck out Gunnar Henderson swinging to end the third inning.
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The lefty wound up lasting five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out four. More importantly, he'd done his job and kept his team in the game, tied 2-2.
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The Orioles, meanwhile, started 27th-man callup Brandon Young who, truth be told, was a bit better than Lauer on this day, going six innings and allowing two runs while fanning six.
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It was the kind of effort the Jays were hoping to get — but didn't — from their pitching callups in the early game as Easton Lucas and Lazaro Estrada combined to give up 10 runs over six innings.