You have to have some respect for Jace Peterson of the Baltimore Orioles. He ended up pitching the eighth inning of this afternoon’s blowout 19-3 loss at the hands of Boston. Yes, a position player. What’s worse? It was game one of a doubleheader.
Baltimore area native Ryan Meisinger got the start, and fared about as well as every other Orioles’ pitcher in this game. Meisinger’s line: .1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 0 K. Not exactly how any player wants to look, but especially when pitching for his hometown team.
Trey Mancini smacked a solo homer in the second inning for the Orioles. Renato Nunez followed later in the inning with a two-run shot of his own. And that was the Orioles’ scoring on the afternoon. On the flip side, anyone who could score in every which manner for Boston, did so. It’s been that kind of season for the Orioles.
Apparently Peterson had been in Buck’s ear for some time wanting to pitch in a game. And I feel like we’ve seen more position players pitching this year than ever before. Managers obviously don’t want to burn through relievers, and it’s especially understandable in a case like this. The game was out of control as it was, and it was the first leg of a twin bill.
The Orioles have obviously done this before, famously with Chris Davis at Fenway. However again, I feel as if we’ve seen this type of thing more often this year across the league than ever before. I understand the yearn by position players to get a shot at pitching, however it’s an artform that should only be tried by capable people.
Then again, perhaps this is one of those things similar to the new concept of an “opener” in games. This of course instead of a closer at the end. Maybe it’ll be something that more and more managers will attempt so as to save bullpen relievers. Who knows…I just feel there are a lot of things which appear up for debate as we go on in the story of baseball.
The series concludes this evening at Fenway Park (also the final road game of the 2018 season). The Orioles have not yet named a starter, but whomever he is he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Chris Sale. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.
Birdland Crush 