Orioles lose control in sixth inning, walking three and then plunking two with bases loaded, in 4-1 loss to Blue Jays

Shintaro Fujinami, the Orioles’ lone bullpen addition ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, brings tremendous upside. Wednesday’s outing showed his downside.

Inheriting two runners from Grayson Rodriguez with two outs in the sixth of Baltimore’s matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays, Fujinami issued a four-pitch walk, then hit consecutive batters, allowing both of Rodriguez’s runners to score before an error by shortstop Jorge Mateo brought in another. The three scores in a hitless inning provided the final margin in Baltimore’s 4-1 defeat at the Rogers Centre.

At the cost of sending No. 30 prospect Easton Lucas to the Oakland Athletics, Fujinami was a tantalizing acquisition for the Orioles (66-42), with his high-velocity fastball and wicked splitter making him an enticing option to add to manager Brandon Hyde’s All-Star late-inning tandem of Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista. But the right-hander has at times struggled to harness his devastating stuff, seemingly needing to settle into his outings. Including Wednesday’s performance, the first two batters to face Fujinami across his first six appearances with Baltimore have gone 1-for-6 with a home run while walking five times and getting hit once.

Rodriguez allowed two hits, one run and no walks through 5 2/3 innings before issuing consecutive free passes. Fujinami entered and threw four straight balls to load the bases before his fifth pitch hit Matt Chapman. After a mound visit, Fujinami got ahead 0-2 on Danny Jansen, then hit him, too. He seemed to get out of it with a ground ball right to Mateo, but he booted the ball to allow another run to score.

Ryan Mountcastle continued to have success since coming off the injured list with two singles and two walks, accounting for almost half of the nine times an Oriole reached base Wednesday.

Around the horn

• Orioles closer Félix Bautista was named the AL Reliever of the Month for the third time. In July, he did not allow a run over 14 innings, striking out 25 of 48 batters faced. “He’s just been unbelievable,” Brandon Hyde.
• Baltimore promoted outfielder Dylan Beavers, its No. 22 prospect according to Baseball America, to Double-A Bowie. The No. 33 pick in last year’s draft, Beavers went 2-for-4 with a double with his Baysox debut Wednesday.

This story will be updated.

Orioles at Blue Jays

Thursday, 3:07 p.m.

TV: MASN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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