Kirk, Bateman Go Deep as Toronto Buries Baltimore 7-3
Alejandro Kirk went 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBI, and Toronto put up five runs through three innings to make this one a non-contest early. The Blue Jays beat Baltimore 7-3 on September 12, 2026, with the damage done long before Pete Alonso had a chance to mount a comeback.
Toronto wasted no time. In the first inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled to right to score Bateman, then Kirk singled to right to score Guerrero Jr. — and just like that it was 2-0 before Baltimore could blink. That Guerrero Jr. double was the single biggest momentum shift of the night: Toronto's win probability swung from 52% to 63% on that one swing, an 11-point jump that set the tone for everything that followed. The story of the night was how quickly and efficiently the Blue Jays buried this game.
The third inning finished the job. Bateman launched a 403-foot shot to right center to push it to 3-0, and then Kirk went even deeper — 414 feet to left center — with Springer aboard, making it 5-0. Kirk's two-run blast was the knockout blow, and it looks like Baltimore's pitching staff simply had no answer for Toronto's middle of the order on this night. Anthony Nunez lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing 1 earned run on 1 hit with 4 strikeouts, while Luis De Leon threw 1.2 innings of scoreless ball — but the deficit was already insurmountable by the time either of them was working. Baltimore did get on the board in the fourth when Henderson scored on a fielding error by third baseman Okamoto, but that was more gift than rally. Andres Gimenez added an RBI double to right in the sixth to score Smith and push the lead to 6-1.
Alonso gave Baltimore fans something to cheer about in the seventh, going deep 387 feet to left to score Pozo and cut it to 6-3, but Toronto answered immediately in the same inning when Clement hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Guerrero Jr. and restore the four-run cushion at 7-3. That exchange appears to capture this game perfectly — Baltimore showed flashes, but Toronto had an answer every time. On the pitching side, Spencer Miles went 2.0 innings with 5 strikeouts and 0 earned runs, and Spencer Arrighetti followed with 2.2 innings of 0 ER ball. The Blue Jays' bullpen-heavy approach held up just fine when you spot your staff a five-run lead before the fourth inning even starts. George Springer went 2-for-5 with a run scored, and Gimenez added a 2-for-4 line — this was a full-roster effort, not a one-man show.