You might remember him from movies like the Blue Jays’ late April loss to the Oakland Athletics, when he oversaw one of the five worst strike zones in more than 2,000 MLB games played this season — and one that greatly favored Oakland — as judged from Referee Scorecards. And since Monday afternoon, when he ruled in Kevin Gausman, he has avoided giving up his first pitch with a runner on base. Gausman was furious. a commotion was caused. There was little noticeable difference on Gausman’s delivery one pitch later with the runner on second, which was not considered a negative. In the words of the Blue Jays starter, it “felt premeditated.” We cut to the top of the seventh inning Tuesday, and Nelson was letting the Blue Jays have it, saying, “I’m not listening, okay? And I heard you — and that’s it.’ Two strikes later, the benches cleared. [brightcove videoID=6311961865112 playerID=JCdte3tMv height=360 width=640] That incident stemmed from an interaction between Bryan Baker — who spent a week on Toronto’s roster last September — and Teoscar Hernandez. After the Orioles reliever grounded the Blue Jays outfielder into a double play on a full-count pitch, Baker followed Hernandez up the first-base line and said something to him. Hernandez laughed it off and returned to his dugout. Moments later, Baker struck out Matt Chapman to end the inning and looked straight into the Blue Jays dugout, gesturing to Hernandez as he walked off the mound. That’s when things broke out. And after the game, the Blue Jays had words for their former teammate. “I didn’t understand why Bryan Baker was looking in our boat after giving up a run in multiple days,” interim manager John Schneider said. “I don’t think it was Teo. I think it was Baker looking at our dugout like he does every time he comes against us since he wasn’t on our team. And I think our team responded.” “I guess he was mad because I hit a homer yesterday. Every time he plays against us, he tries to put on a show,” Hernandez said. “When I hit the ground ball, he stares at me and goes, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ Like I don’t know what happened. And then he hits Chapman and he came back to our dugout and started talking and pointing at me, saying I was talking too much. But I wasn’t talking, I wasn’t saying anything. And then he started walking and I just reacted.” “You can enjoy the moment. We get it. If you beat someone, you can celebrate. But when you stare at the person, it’s kind of disrespectful. I mean, I don’t know, maybe you think you’re a superhero or something — whatever that is. But, yeah, it’s crossing the line,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said. He has celebrated. But he never looked at the dugout. And we think if you’re looking at the dugout, you’re asking for trouble. You want us to react.” The Blue Jays certainly fought back, injecting plenty of spice and intrigue into what ended up being a 9-6 loss to the Orioles. Tensions continued to escalate before the bottom of the seventh as Nelson issued warnings to Yimi Garcia and every dugout, which brought Schneider back onto the field for a word. It wasn’t his last. Seven pitches later, as a Garcia slider near the bottom of the zone was ruled a ball, Nelson heard something from the Blue Jays bullpen he didn’t like and ejected Snyder from the game. Which prompted the most intense moment we’ve seen from the Blue Jays interim manager since he took the job eight weeks ago: Snyder got his money. Nelson stood there and took it. And a series between two American League East rivals battling for a wild-card spot delivered the fireworks everyone expected when it started. “I didn’t understand the warnings,” Snyder said. “And I thought some pitches were close that Jeff didn’t agree with. I asked, “Was he down?” And he threw me out. So, I wasn’t sure what triggered it.” Well, that sets a pretty good stage for Wednesday, as Alek Manoah — the seasoned 24-year-old gave the Orioles a good, long look from his dugout as they celebrated Tuesday’s win — faces Dean Kremer in the finale of this four-game series. games. The Blue Jays will begin 3.5 days of games at the Orioles for the third and final wild card spot. This would make the stakes of the game quite high even without anything else. Now, however, there will be everything else. “We’re all playing for something right now,” Schneider said. “We are playing very well. We’ve won a lot of streaks on the road. We are confident in what we do. And we have one of our best guys tomorrow. Win a series and move on.” Of course, to win this series, Toronto will need to play better than they did the day before and take advantage of opportunities to drive in runs. The Blue Jays struck out three times on Tuesday despite beating the Orioles by four. Bo Bichette stayed hot in the sun level, going 4-for-5 with a double and a homer, giving him hits in 16 of 28 plate appearances this month. Alejandro Kirk had four hits himself, while George Springer and Matt Chapman each had two. But Mitch White had his worst outing since being acquired at the trade deadline, getting just seven outs while giving up five runs on three hits and three walks. Orioles starter Kyle Bradish wasn’t much better, allowing three runs in three innings. But his bullpen held Toronto’s offense in check while the Orioles’ pitchers struggled against Toronto, particularly Trevor Richards, who gave up three runs in the bottom of the eighth. White’s trouble came in the third inning, which started with a seven-pitch walk by No. 8 hitter Rougned Odor, followed by a five-pitch walk by No. 9 hitter Jorge Mateo. He got behind the next batter, Cedric Mullins, battled back to within two hits, then pulled him, loading the bases with nobody out. It’s not what you want. Neither did back-up 1-1 slider White three pitches later, which Adley Rutschman walked up the third-base line to snag two of those runners. Neither did the nine-pitch battle White found himself with the next, Anthony Santander. White eventually got Santander to strike out. But then Ryan Mountcastle did 106.5 mp.h. only through a dragged inner field. And a four-pitch Ramon Urias walk later, White’s night was done. He ended up throwing 36 pitches in that third inning, giving up five runs while striking out just two. “I think he just lost command. It was strange. He was very good in the first two innings. And then you walk Odor, and you walk Mateo, and you hit Cedric on a two-strike pitch, which is a little out of character,” Schneider said. “So from there we tried to stretch a little bit outside of him because you’re a little bit light [in the bullpen.] But only his command escaped. And as good as it started, that was a tough third.” White’s biggest problem was the inability to create swing and miss. He earned just one whiff in a season-low 63 pitches and the third time in six starts with Toronto that he had fewer than seven. White’s slider has been a reliable weapon that has been missing for him throughout his career and as recently as last Wednesday, when he earned nine swinging strikes with it against the Chicago Cubs. But he pitched 16 times Tuesday and missed just that at-bat as Orioles hitters either walked out (10 times), fouled out (three) or put it in play (two). The right-hander’s sequence and location likely had something to do with it, as too many of his sliders were thrown early in counts and landed too far from the plate. Meanwhile, his control fluctuated throughout his start — particularly against five Orioles hitting left-handers — as he missed either well off the plate or right over his heart. White’s best pitch of the night was his four-seam fastball with a glove on right-handed hitters, which landed for five called strikes, including one that plated Mountcastle in the second inning. But that was all White had to work on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Toronto’s offense had its chances, but went 4-for-16 with runners in position, scoring eight. The most critical missed opportunity came in the fourth, when Cavan Biggio scored a leadoff walk off Bradish and advanced to third on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. single. That’s where Biggio ended the inning, as Whit Merrifield flied out too shallow to score, George Springer struck out looking at a 1-2 pitch on the knees, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. landed on an elevated slide. . Situations like this, in which the Blue Jays put a runner on third with less than two outs, are all too familiar. Entering Tuesday’s game, Toronto hitters had fielded with less than two outs and a runner on third 231 times this season and had earned that run in just 114 of them — 49.4 percent. That ranked 22nd among MLB’s 30 teams and only one-tenth of a percentage point ahead of the 23rd-place Atlanta Braves. So, plenty to look forward to in Wednesday’s finale. Toronto plate appearances with runners in scoring position. A fiery starting pitcher looks at a club his team messed with the day before. Any transfer from the dust between Baker and Hernandez. Nelson gets involved, as he always seems to do. He feels like a grown up. It feels like…
