The Orioles opened a series against the Blue Jays on Thursday night at 6:35 ET with Chris Bassitt on the mound, and Baltimore has kept finding wins in his starts even when the right-hander has struggled to hold up his end. The matchup gave the Orioles another chance to test a strange pattern: Bassitt was 4-3 with a 5.51 ERA, yet Baltimore was 7-3 in his appearances.
That is why the game drew attention before the first pitch. Bassitt had been pretty much terrible so far, but the Orioles had still ridden his outings to a better record than his own numbers suggested. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, came in having gone 9-5 over the previous two weeks despite a team batting line of.231/.298/.374, a stretch in which their pitching staff helped cover for the lack of offense by allowing a.599 OPS and a 2.65 ERA.
Baltimore also changed its roster on the same day it met Toronto. The club optioned Trey Gibson back to Norfolk after he had started the previous day's game, then selected Cameron Weston from Norfolk. The Orioles also activated Heston Kjerstad from the injured list and optioned him to Norfolk, a quick turn that left the lineup and pitching staff looking different before the series opener even began.
Toronto's side of the game also carried some added weight because of the way the Blue Jays have filled out their roster this year. The club signed Japanese infielder Okamoto as a free agent over the offseason, and by May 28 he had 11 home runs. Patrick Corbin was listed as the Blue Jays pitcher for the night game, giving Toronto another arm to try to keep its recent run going.
The larger question around Bassitt is not whether he can make the Orioles uncomfortable; it is whether Baltimore can keep turning his starts into wins while his numbers remain this shaky. The answer on May 28 would come only from the game itself, but the setup already said enough about how odd this series opener looked before anyone settled in for the night.
