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

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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.

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.

At least this game was close, which couldn’t be said of the previous three in which the Jays were outscored 37-12.

Dominguez did his part under what had to be awkward circumstances for the 30-year-old, whose strikeout and walk percentages are both high.

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.

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.

It was quite the debut and the kind of appearance the Jays knew what they were getting when they acquired Dominguez.

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.

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.

1. All eyes on Lauer

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.

A must-win would be a stretch, but the lefty needed to stabilize what was turning into an creaky situation for the Blue Jays.

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.

Lauer’s curveball is a thing of beauty, and it was highlighted when he struck out Gunnar Henderson swinging to end the third inning.

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.

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.

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.

2. Catch-22

As expected with Alejandro Pena on the seven-day concussion injured list, Tyler Heineman and Ali Sanchez split the catching starts for the Jays.

Sanchez started the opener and went 1-for-4 but, with the Jays being blown out, was asked to pitch the bottom of the eighth with Heineman coming into catch for him.

Sanchez gave up two runs on three hits.

In the nightcap, Heineman went 3-for-3 with a ninth-inning walk.

3. Lineup shuffle

Joey Loperfido had a 3-for-4 day at the plate in the first game, which included hitting his third home run of the season, but had to leave later on when he jammed his left thumb at home plate. An X-ray revealed no fracture.

In the nightcap, Loperfido was not in the starting lineup and neither was George Springer, who was hit on the left side of the face in the ninth inning of Monday’s loss.

The many moving pieces and quick turnaround between games forced the Jays to reshuffle their lineup.

Addison Barger batted cleanup with Bo Bichette moving up into the No. 2 slot as designated hitter. It didn’t go well. Bichette, scorching hot through most of July — including a 9-for-9 stretch through Sunday and Monday — went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in the nightcap and grounded into one of the late double plays. He was 1-for-8 in the doubleheader.

Defensively, Ernie Clement started at short, while Davis Schneider, who hit in Springer’s No. 2 hole in the afternoon game, started at second and hit fifth in the order.

Loperfido did enter the second game with a runner at second and one out in the eighth inning in a pinch-hit role for Schneider and drew a walk.

Up next

Wednesday’s series finale (12:35 p.m. first pitch) has a mound matchup featuring Jose Berrios and Dean Kremer, who have combined to give up 33 homers this season … Berrios has yielded four longballs in his past three starts, while Kremer has given up four in his past four outings … Both right-handers do have winning records.