Blue Jays Watch Helplessly While Red Sox Close In : AL East: Toronto loses in Baltimore, 6-3, then sees Boston on television nearly finish off the division race.

The deal came down a few minutes before 11 o’clock Monday night in the visitors’ clubhouse at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The Toronto Blue Jays stood in their cleats and uniforms and watched on a television screen as the Boston Red Sox collected one, two, three outs in the ninth inning.

The Blue Jays had this moment to themselves, their clubhouse still closed to reporters. The big room smelled of sweat and ointments, and it was silent. No one threw a chair. No one cursed, at least not above a whisper. The players turned from the television and lined up and ate the dinner a caterer provided.

There wasn’t much to say once the reporters were allowed in. What could they say that the standings didn’t? The Blue Jays lost a game they had to win, the Baltimore Orioles skewering their postseason hopes, 6-3. They are two games behind the Red Sox with two to play.

“We’ll come back out here tomorrow and see if we can get some help,” Manager Cito Gaston said. “If Boston loses two and we’re lucky enough to win two here, who knows, we’ll see. But it looks pretty bad right now.”

The players milled around, reconciling their plight. They complained that they should have scored more runs off the Orioles’ starting pitcher, Jose Mesa. Kelly Gruber, the Blue Jays’ third baseman, sat on a couch afterward.

“Mesa was pretty fortunate to get away with what he did,” Gruber said. “We hit the ball pretty hard off him and had him shaking his head out there. But a lot of balls didn’t fall.

“We had the lead for the first six innings and you looked up and we only had three hits. We should have had more.”

As Mesa warmed up before the top of the sixth, the scoreboard delivered news from Boston: The Red Sox’s lead over the Chicago White Sox was up to 3-0. The Blue Jays understood that their margin of error had been pared from a thread to nothing, but they still could take a nervous comfort in their 3-1 lead.

They started the game with two runs in the first, making the statement they wanted about not letting the Red Sox get away easily and held the lead until the sixth. But David Wells, the Blue Jay starter, walked Bill Ripken to begin the bottom of the sixth.

The next batter, Mike Devereaux, lined a 2-and-1 pitch into the stands behind left field. Suddenly, the score was tied. One out later, Randy Milligan bounced a single. Jeff McKnight sacrificed him to second. Up came Bob Melvin with a chance to break the tie. His sharp single to left gave the Orioles a 4-3 lead.

Mesa (3-2) wound up the winning pitcher after 7 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs and four hits for his second victory over the slumping Blue Jays in 19 days. Toronto has lost five of its last six games.

Kevin Hickey got one out and Gregg Olson finished for his 37th save.

The Orioles made it 5-3 in the seventh on Ripken’s single, and Sam Horn hit a homer in the eighth to make the score 6-3.

With the Blue Jays down to their last batter, Mookie Wilson, the scoreboard flashed the latest from Boston: The Red Sox, having blown a 3-0 lead, scored in the the eighth. Wilson struck out and it was all but over.