On the list of Orioles worries in 2026, the rotation is sliding down it.

Chris Bassitt allowed one run in six innings tonight, but he couldn’t prevent the Orioles from losing to the Blue Jays 2-1 before an announced crowd of 13,778 at Camden Yards.

Anthony Nunez entered the game in the eighth and was greeted by George Springer’s double to left-center field. Springer moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and the Orioles walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. intentionally and Daulton Varsho unintentionally to load the bases. Nunez struck out Kazuma Okamoto, but he walked pinch-hitter Yohendrick Piñango to force in the go-ahead run.

Nunez struck out Ernie Clement, but the inning left his ERA at 5.06.

The Orioles are 26-31 and two games behind third-place Toronto.

“I love it when he has a quicker slide step-ish to the plate,” manager Craig Albernaz said of Nunez. “He’s a little more efficient getting downhill and the bigger leg kick, looked like it was tough for him to kind of find the zone a little bit. They put some really good at-bats against him and that’s their calling card. They create a lot of contact. They force pitches in the strike zone and they weren’t chasing.”

Bassitt’s only clean inning was his last, but his ERA lowered to 5.06. He has a 4.01 ERA since April 17.

“Bassitt was dialed,” Albernaz said. “He was ready to face his former team. Velo was up. Did a great job mixing his pitches. Threw the slider a little bit more. Same thing with the sweeper. He did a great job of keeping us in the game and giving us a chance to win. He was outstanding.”

“You always want to have bragging rights, so to speak,” Bassitt said. “So yeah, there’s always that extra fun factor in it all.”

The rotation has produced a 2.09 ERA in eight games since May 20. A 2.19 ERA in the last seven games before tonight ranked third in the American League behind the Yankees (1.27) and Mariners (2.17) and was the sixth lowest in the majors.

The unit posted a 5.20 ERA in the first 49 games.

“I feel like we’re in a really good place,” Bassitt said. “I feel like we’re feeding off each other finally. Yeah, I like the work that all the guys are doing in the bullpen, off the field, to stay healthy. So yeah, honestly, I’ve never not been encouraged by this group, even when we were struggling. It was just, it took a little longer than I expected to fix the stuff. Frenchy (Drew French) and Klim (Ryan Klimek) kind of behind the scenes have really been some therapist-kind-of-thing for us. So, yeah, just overall the hard work that everyone’s kind of put in is kind of panning out.”

Former teammate Andrés Giménez led off the third inning by launching a curveball 417 feet to right field to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Opponents were batting .190 against the pitch before tonight, compared to .373 against the sinker and .343 against the cutter.

Bassitt struck out Jesús Sánchez on a sinker to strand a runner in the fourth, but he got into trouble again in the fifth on Clement’s leadoff double and a one-out walk to Brandon Valenzuela. Springer hit a soft liner to Jackson Holliday and Nathan Lukes grounded into a force.

Sánchez singled with one out in the second inning and Adley Rutschman threw him out trying to steal.

Patrick Corbin’s career has risen from the dead, and he retired 11 in a row before Coby Mayo tied the game with a home run in the fourth inning. Mayo launched a sinker 400 feet to center field at 110.3 mph for his sixth homer.

Corbin was removed after Rutschman’s leadoff single in the sixth. Braydon Fisher struck out Pete Alonso and pinch-hitter Samuel Basallo grounded into a double play.

Bassitt and Corbin both allowed one run and four hits and they both threw 80 pitches. Corbin had one more strike with 49.

Holliday singled off Jeff Hoffman and stole second base with two outs in the seventh inning, but Blaze Alexander struck out. Taylor Ward singled off Tyler Rogers leading off the eighth. Gunnar Henderson struck out on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, Alonso reached on an infield single with two outs on a ball that deflected off Rogers, and Valenzuela picked him off first base.

It’s the sixth time this season that an Oriole has been picked off.

“Me and Pete talked about it afterward,” Albernaz said. “So Pete was trying, like his mind was to beat the throw to second if there was a ground ball, but his primary lead was a little large, to say, and he was kind of left in no man’s land. And something like that, we talked about. That situation, it can’t happen, you know? And he acknowledged it and it’s something that we’ve got to be on top of and be conscious of, especially with the way Valenzuela can throw and likes the back pick.”

Alonso was sitting at his locker waiting for the media.

“I over-anticipated contact in the zone,” he said. “For me, I kind of had a pretty big primary lead with two outs, so there’s multiple things I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to get to second if there was a ball hit to the infield, beat the throw. And then also, too, if there’s a ball hit in the outfield, either in the gap or down the line, would give myself the best chance to score. So it was kind of, my momentum, I was anticipating contact, but, I mean, it was a hell of a throw, great tag, great play by them to take advantage of the situation. But yeah, I definitely over committed too much on getting my momentum going to try and get to second if there was a ball in the infield or score if there was ball in the gap.

“It’s really tough to kind of take ourselves out of the inning like that, from just playing too far over my skis, so to speak. I feel awful. And then also not good either, not executing (with) guys in scoring position, less than two outs in the first inning. Yeah, tough one, tough one. I mean, huge kudos to (Bassitt) and the bullpen for just, everyone pitched their hearts out today. So it’s just really, really frustrating not being able to get this done.

“There’s two moments where I could have definitely done better. And it was runners in scoring position, less than two outs, and that play late in the game there.”

Leody Taveras singled off Louis Varland with one out in the ninth, but the Orioles couldn’t get a clutch hit.

The teams were a combined 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Teams forget how to play defense against the Orioles

Maybe it’s only true at Camden Yards.

The Rays committed seven errors in the first two games of the series and were swept. Blue Jays didn’t get out of the first inning tonight without a miscue.

Ward led off with a single into center field and Okamoto booted Henderson’s ground ball, which rolled to shortstop Andrés Giménez. Ward saw that third base was unoccupied and raced Okamoto for it.

Giménez threw to Okamoto, who slapped the tag on the diving Ward and realized that the ball was on the ground next to him. Third base umpire Todd Tichenor couldn’t find it and made the out call, which was overturned on a challenge.

Okamoto messed up twice in a comical sequence, but the Orioles didn’t get the last laugh. Second and third, no outs and Corbin escaped the jam on a line drive to short and two strikeouts.

“That’s a situation where you’d like to scratch one across,” Albernaz said.

The Orioles squandered another opportunity in the fifth after Alexander doubled with two outs and moved up on a wild pitch and Ward walked and stole second base. Henderson lined to first and slammed his helmet to the ground.

Cano stayed on active roster

The Orioles didn’t put reliever Yennier Cano on the injured list before the game, a move that seemed inevitable last night after he limped off the mound with tightness in his right hamstring.

The only change in the bullpen came with the Orioles selecting Cameron Weston’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk. They optioned Trey Gibson, who earned his first major league win last night and the celebratory beer shower.

“What Gibby did was awesome, but also it’s just part of the game,” Albernaz said. “Like yesterday, to add Gibson, we were one pitcher short in the bullpen. So with the way our ‘pen is running hot right now because of the type of games we’ve been playing, we needed a bullpen arm.

“Gibby was awesome about it. It’s the worst part of the job, having those conversations. But for a young player, Gibby gets it, and he handled it like a pro. Doesn’t make it right, but also he understands like this is part of it. We have a great plan in place for him. He’s very diligent with his work, so we know when he goes down to Norfolk, he’s not out of sight, out of mind. He’s going to get his work in. He’ll be ready for the next time his name’s called.”

Weston made his major league debut in the ninth inning in a 2-1 game. He struck out Giménez, much to the delight of his family and friends, and a walk was erased on Springer’s double play grounder.

“That was awesome,” Albernaz said. “That was fun to see him go out there and do this thing and especially the first strikeout. I told him. I gave him the ball. It’s only the first one, but it’s the only first one, so he’s pumped, his family. He looked great, pounded the strike zone, sweeper looked great and the split, too. I was excited to get him out there.”

Why in a 2-1 game?

“The situation we’re in,” Albernaz replied. “The ‘pen’s running hot. If we use somebody else, we’ll have a handful of guys down tomorrow, and also everything I know about Cam and everything I know about him from people in the organization, he can handle that. We were actually debating on a tie game, sending him back out there, too. So that’s a testament to who he is and the stuff he has.”

“It was interesting,” said Weston, who learned late last night about his promotion. “I just tried to keep it as simple as possible. Just keep it like any other game. I’m not trying to put too much pressure on myself. It was a lot of fun.

“They let me know a little bit, I would say about two innings before, kind of that that would be the situation. Wasn’t too shocking. I had good prep time for it, so it wasn’t anything crazy.”

Down on the farm

Double-A Chesapeake left-hander Joseph Dzierwa allowed two runs and struck out nine batters in 4 2/3 innings. Second baseman Aron Estrada homered again, his sixth, first baseman Thomas Sosa hit his fourth, left fielder Tavian Josenberger hit his third, and center fielder Fernando Peguero hit his first. Peguero had three hits and three RBIs from the bottom of the order.

Dzierwa has struck out 19 and walked only one in his first 10 innings with the Baysox.