Chris Bassitt kept the Toronto Blue Jays to one run over six innings Thursday in Baltimore, but the Orioles still lost when their bullpen gave up the game after his strong start.
The outing gave the Blue Jays vs Orioles matchup an edge that went beyond the box score. George Springer opened the game by stepping into the batter's box and sticking out his tongue toward the mound, and Bassitt later said he tried not to look at any Toronto players or coaches because he did not want his emotions to take over. If he made eye contact, he said, his affection for the people he spent three seasons with would have outweighed the competitive side.
Bassitt knows the Blue Jays too well for this to feel routine. He spent three years in Toronto before joining Baltimore on a one-year, $18.5-million deal after speaking with the Orioles in the offseason, and he delivered another clean reminder of what the Blue Jays lost last year: a 3.96 ERA over 170.1 innings and 31 starts, plus a brief but valuable return in October when injury sent him to the bullpen and he allowed one run over 8.2 innings across the American League Championship Series and the World Series.
That is why the reunion meant something on both sides. Jeff Hoffman said Bassitt was a huge reason Toronto came as close as it did last season, while Ernie Clement said the club definitely misses him and called him one of its main guys. Bassitt, for his part, said the relationships in Toronto were deeper than he expected when he signed there and added that he has no animosity toward the Blue Jays, even if he had to look away to keep his edge.
The timing made the scene sharper. Toronto was in Baltimore for a four-game series at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, giving Bassitt a current test against former teammates while the Orioles continue to try to build after a last-place finish in the AL East. The next few nights will say more about the series, but Thursday already showed how much Bassitt still means to the teams on both sides of the field.
