[jksander]

April 21, 2026: Sean Burke (1-1, 2.70 ERA, 10.0 IP, 11 K’s, 0.90 WHIP) started in game one against the Blue Jays, facing Tomoyuki Sugano (1-1, 2.84 ERA, 19.0 IP, 18 K’s, 1.05 WHIP). Yordys Valdes hit a leadoff homer in the top of the first to get us on the board, his first homer and only his second run batted in of the entire season though his fielding has kept him valuable early on. But we aren’t used to how this domed stadium plays, and it showed quickly in the bottom of the inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr hitting an RBI double to tie it up on one out. Good thing our bats kept popping! Brandon Valenzuela hit a two-run homer in the top of the second, his third of the season, They tied it up with a two-run single by Anthony Santander in the bottom of the third, and Ryan Ward hit a two-run blast out of right to shoot them back into the lead, digging us a 5-3 hole heading into the top of the fourth. In the top of the fifth Heston Kjerstad walked the bases loaded, and Cody Bellinger walked in a run, ending Sugano’s night on the mound with two outs as we cut their lead down to one run. But Burke got blasted in the bottom of the inning, and after Ryan Ward hit another three-run homer (his second multi-run blast of the game, we had to bring out Syndergaard, trailing 8-4 with no outs. Bazardo came out in the sixth, giving up another run, but Miguel Vargas did his part to keep us in the game, hitting a two-run homer out of right in the top of the eighth to get us back within three. Jonathan Cannon took over with one out and men on first and second in the bottom of the eighth, getting us out of the inning with at least a slim chance of a comeback. Brooks Lee took first on an E6 error, but Valdes batted into a double play to squelch the rally as Meidroth then popped out harmlessly to right, Toronto beating us 9-6.

Burke took the loss, falling to 1-2 with a 7.07 ERA after allowing eight hits, four walks, eight runs and two strikeouts in his miserable four inning start. Kjerstad’s hitting streak came to an end, but he at least walked once so his on-base streak is now at seven straight. They outhit us 12-8, and though Valdes couldn’t keep the rally going in the ninth, he did lead the team with three hits, two runs and an RBI, while Tauchman hit twice and scored two runs.

April 22, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (0-2, 6.00 ERA, 12.0 IP, 13 K’s, 1.75 WHIP) made his fourth start of the season, facing Joe Rock (1-1, 2.60 ERA, 17.1 IP, 19 K’s, 1.10 WHIP) who has had a hot run of it for the Blue Jays the last couple starts. Valenzuela hit a two-run homer in the top of the second, and Yordys Valdes hit an RBI single in the top of the fourth to add on a run. Toronto got on the board with a solo homer by Daulton Varsho with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but a sac-fly by Vargas got us that run back and an RBI double by Valenzuela put us up 5-1 in the middle of the sixth. We scored again in the seventh off a sac-fly by Vargas, and Julian Merryweather took the ball from Rasmussen with two outs and Vlad on first in the bottom of the seventh, getting a pop-fly to left to end the inning. Luis Sanchez took over in the eighth, and after another sac-fly (this one by Tauchman) added on another run in the top of the ninth, Sanchez stayed out for the final frame, pitching around a Santander walk with three strikeouts as we shut them down mercilessly, 7-1! Rasmussen got his first win of the year, improving to 1-2 with a 4.34 ERA with a 6.2 inning two hit effort, walking one and striking out five against one earned run. Sanchez continues to impress as well, finishing our last two innings with one hit, one walk and five strikeouts, giving him 25 K’s already through 12.2 innings. We outhit them 12-3, led by Kjerstad and Rafaela, who each had three hits and two runs scored. Kjerstad has been stunning so far this year, hitting .357 through his first 70 at-bats, with four doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs -- in his first three years in Baltimore he had a total of one win above replacement through 190 games, and he’s already got 0.8 WAR this season through 17!

April 23, 2026: Dylan Cease (0-1, 2.14 ERA, 21.0 IP, 20 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) pitched a complete game six days ago, and he’s up in the rotation this evening in our final game against the Blue Jays, facing Jose Berrios (0-2, 7.42 ERA, 13.1 IP, 11 K’s, 1.72 WHIP). Varsho hit himself a two-run blast out of right to give Toronto the lead in the bottom of the second, and we didn’t get on the board until the top of the fifth, when Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single on two outs to get us back within a run. Toronto got it back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Andres Gimenez, and we were still in a 3-1 hole in the bottom of the seventh when Jose Alvarado took over on the mound. Bazardo pitched in the eighth, keeping us in the fight, and a sac-fly drove in a run to cut their lead to one with two outs and Gallo on second! It’s a shame that Ha-seong Kim popped out harmlessly to right, ending the game as a 5-4 loss, because we’d fought hard to the very end. Cease, who pitched six innings with five hits, a walk, four strikeouts and three earned runs, has had really bad luck this year, starting his season out with an 0-2 record and a 2.67 ERA, despite putting up a 156 ERA+ and 1.1 WAR while allowing opposing batters to hit just .239 ... he’s bound to turn it around with some wins if we can just get him run support when it counts. Unfortunately today we had six hits, same as them, led by Meidroth who had two hits and an RBI, while Kjerstad added a hit and a walk but got nowhere.

We’ll head to Cincinnati with a 7-11 record, now in last place in the AL Central, though only 4.5 games out of first. The Reds are currently 11-8 and half a game out of first in the NL Central, behind the Cubs who are on a seven-game winning streak.