Shane Baz and Kevin Gausman had a nice little pitching duel going today at Rogers Centre until the Orioles wrecked it in the fifth inning. They scored four runs, homering twice, and gave Baz some cushion.

The Blue Jays punctured it with a controversial five-run sixth, leaving Baz with one earned and five total on his line.

An apparent series win vanished, with the Orioles losing 6-4.

Rico Garcia allowed only his third run of the season on Brandon Valenzuela’s solo homer in the eighth.

Gausman didn’t return for the sixth. Baz came out after 5 2/3 and vented his entire way to the dugout.

Yohendrick Piñango hit a 423-foot leadoff homer. Left-handers were batting .206 against Baz in his last four starts before today.

Jesús Sánchez doubled with one out, Gunnar Henderson committed a fielding error, and Sánchez scored on Valenzuela’s groundout. The Orioles argued, and with good reason, that Ernie Clement veered way out of the baseline to avoid Henderson’s tag and also should have been ruled out.

Baz began walking to the dugout, spun and shouted at second base umpire Nic Lentz. Clement scored on Kazuma Okamoto’s single, Andrés Giménez plated the tying run with a double, and the Blue Jays took a 5-4 lead on pinch-hitter Nathan Lukes’ infield single. Giménez raced home from second base on the deflected ball.

The outing lowered Baz’s ERA to 4.09, but the game spun dramatically after he carried a shutout into the sixth.

The Orioles followed a 7-3 homestand with a 3-3 road trip to leave their record at 31-35. They tumbled back into fourth place.

More from home:

Don’t let Cowser get hot

Too late.

Colton Cowser homered in back-to-back games, with his solo shot today in the fifth inning giving the Orioles a 1-0 lead. He’s hit five in his last 15 games.

Cowser also has eight RBIs in his last seven games. He’s driven in a run in four straight.

The day began with Cowser batting .348 (16-for-46) with one double, five home runs, 14 RBIs, five walks and 11 runs scored in 19 games since May 17. He also reached on an infield single in the ninth.

This isn’t just recent heat that he’s bringing.

Today’s homer was measured at 400 feet with a 111.7 mph exit velocity, which is typical for Cowser. Five of his six homers have gone at least 400 feet.

Blaze of glory

It still applies.

Blaze Alexander doubled in the third and fifth innings, the latter scoring Jackson Holliday for a 2-0 lead. Holliday doubled with two outs and advanced to third base on Myles Straw’s fielding error.

Taylor Ward followed with a two-run homer, his third of the season, to increase the lead to 4-0.

Alexander produced the most impressive at-bat of the sequence. He fell behind 0-2, got the count to 1-2 and fouled off four pitches before reaching for an outside slider and driving it 342 feet to right-center field.

Gausman didn’t make a bad pitch. Alexander just handled it.

This is only the second time in 190 major league games that Alexander has produced multiple doubles. He did it on April 19, 2024 in San Francisco while playing for the Diamondbacks.

Alexander homered yesterday and came up big again this afternoon from the bottom of the order. Unfortunately for the Orioles, he also struck out with a runner on base to end the game.

Small ball failure

The Orioles entered the game with 10 sacrifice bunts to rank 11th in the majors.

The first two runners reached base in the seventh and everyone knew that Alexander would try to advance them. He laid down a bunt in front of the plate and Valenzuela threw out Tyler O’Neill at third base.

Tyler Rogers replaced Connor Seabold, and Ward grounded into a double play.

More Basallo health drama

There may not be an official stat for it, but Samuel Basallo might lead the league in visits from the head athletic trainer.

Basallo appeared to injure his left wrist while attempting a lunging tag of Giménez in the sixth. Pete Alonso got the out at first base, saw Giménez hustling home and bounced a throw to Basallo, who made a backhand grab.

The wrist appeared to bend as Basallo dug his mitt into Giménez’s side, causing the young catcher to grab it and grimace. Basallo had just returned to the lineup after leaving Friday’s game with discomfort in his right abdomen.

Leody Taveras pinch-hit for Basallo in the eighth and struck out against Louis Varland.

Latest on rotation

The Orioles are listing Monday night’s starter as TBA, which is related to Chris Bassitt’s questionable status. Bassitt came out of Wednesday’s game after three innings with lower-back tightness and underwent an examination in Baltimore.

Bassitt rejoined the team in Toronto.

Trevor Rogers starts Tuesday night, followed by Brandon Young on Wednesday night and Kyle Bradish on Thursday night.

Trey Gibson probably would be recalled to start Monday if Bassitt is unavailable.

Down on the farm

Tommy Pham hit a grand slam for Triple-A Norfolk. Pham has a June 12 opt-out date on his minor league contract.

Aron Estrada and Ethan Anderson hit back-to-back home runs for Double-A Chesapeake. Anderson had three hits. Tavian Josenberger also homered.

Baysox outfielder Thomas Sosa was out of the lineup again with a sore right knee after Thursday’s collision, but he was available off the bench.