Blue Jays rout Orioles but get no help, miss playoffs

TORONTO (AP) — George Springer and the Blue Jays put on one final power display, but even a 91st victory in Game 162 couldn’t keep Toronto's vagabond season going.

Springer hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched his 48th homer as the Blue Jays romped to a 12-4 blowout of the Baltimore Orioles that wasn’t enough to avoid playoff elimination Sunday.

“Unfortunately our fate was in the hands of another team,” Springer said. “We were hoping for something but obviously it didn’t happen.”

Toronto needed to win and a loss by the Yankees or Red Sox on the final day of the regular season to force at least a tiebreaker game Monday for an AL wild card. But the Blue Jays’ hopes were dashed when Boston rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Washington 7-5 on a two-run homer by Rafael Devers in the top of the ninth inning that silenced stunned Toronto fans at Rogers Centre who stuck around to watch the Red Sox on the big video board.

A little earlier, New York edged Tampa Bay 1-0 with a run in the bottom of the ninth to clinch a postseason berth.

“It hurts,” Guerrero said through a translator. “Knowing that you won 91 games and you didn’t make the playoffs, it really hurts me, it hurts all my teammates. That’s just going to make me stronger to come back next year even better than this year.”

The only other time the Blue Jays won 90 or more games and failed to reach the postseason was 1987, when Toronto’s 96 victories left the team two games behind AL East champion Detroit. The Blue Jays lost their final seven games that season, four to the Tigers.

Hyun Jin Ryu (14-10) pitched five innings to win for the first time since Sept. 6, Marcus Semien hit a solo home run and Tesocar Hernández had three hits and three RBIs as the Blue Jays scored in...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Blue-Jays-rout-Orioles-but-get-no-help-miss-16506604.php