Otto López shines as Blue Jays split doubleheader with Orioles to finish regular season

Otto López hit a tie-breaking two-run single in the seventh inning, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Orioles 5-1 to secure a split of Wednesday's doubleheader in Baltimore.

Terrin Vavra hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to lift Baltimore to a 5-4 victory in the opener.

López had three hits in the opener and two more in the second game. The Blue Jays, who entered the day having already clinched the top wild-card in the American League, finished the regular season 92-70 after going 91-71 in 2021.

Toronto will host the Seattle Mariners in a best-of-three series at Rogers Centre. Alek Manoah is set to start Toronto's post-season opener.

Blue Jays playoff schedule

• Game 1: Friday, 4:07 p.m. ET
• Game 2: Saturday, 4:07 p.m.
• Game 3: Sunday, 2:07 p.m.

Baltimore went 83-79, a remarkable 31-game improvement from a year ago. Fans gave the team a standing ovation after the second game, and players came out of the dugout to acknowledge it.

Both teams substituted liberally, combining to use 49 players in the two games. Toronto's George Springer was the only active position player who had the whole day off.

"The entire pitching staff, it kind of went according to plan, how we mapped it out," Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider said. "Came out of it healthy. Overall really good day."

López had a strong finish to his season with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons. In 91 games, the 24-year-old infielder/outfielder posted a .297 batting average and .378 on-base percentage.

Zimmer added a two-run single in the eighth.

Yusei Kikuchi (6-7) retired all five of his hitters to earn the win in relief for Toronto. Yennier Cano (1-1) took the loss.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the first and took a 1-0 lead on Danny Jansen's grounder. The Orioles tied it in the sixth on an RBI double by Kyle Stowers.

"It would be nice to maybe get off the deck in the first to the fifth and then cruise in. That's what I'm hoping for once in a while," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde joked. "We like to make it tough, and then pitch out of jams, and then pop one late to get a win."

DL Hall (1-1) earned his first career victory in relief, and Bryan Baker worked a perfect ninth for his first career save.

López opened the scoring for Toronto with an RBI single in the second. After Moreno's drive to right-centre made it 4-0, Austin Hays hit a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth for the Orioles.

The doubleheader was scheduled after the teams were rained out Tuesday.

WATCH | Excitement building for Blue Jays' playoff run:

Excitement builds for Blue Jays playoff run

2 years ago

Duration 2:03

The excitement is building for the Toronto Blue Jays post-season run that starts Friday when they host the Seattle Mariners. After the pandemic forced the team to play in empty stadiums out of the country, this post-season means even more to the team and its fans.