Last night the Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco combined for 14 runs in an Oriole victory. However someone told the Birds that the trend was supposed to continue this afternoon, as San Francisco jumped on the Orioles and starter David Hess early on. Hess’ line: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 4 K.
Walks plagued Hess this afternoon. He walked two in the first inning, which led to Belt’s two-RBI single. And low and behold, that RBI-single came with two outs. Opponents’ propensity to get to Oriole pitching with two outs is uncanny. But them’s the breaks.
Hess would also surrender a solo homer to Posey in the third, which ran the lead to 3-0. The Orioles looked like they may have been making a run in the fourth when Renato Nunez smacked a solo homer of his own. But at the end it was a mirage…
…San Francisco came right back. The fifth inning was the back-breaker for the Birds this afternoon. Panic smacked an RBI-single, Belt a two-RBI double, and Longoria added a sac fly-RBI. Austin Wynns would add an RBI-single in the Orioles’ column in the last of the fifth, but that was too little too late. San Francisco added on an insurance run at the end just for good measure.
A lot of folks like to bring up the fact that David Hess has struggled since he was lifted while throwing a no-hitter in Toronto. That of course was in the first week of the season. Let it go said that it’s impossible for that to have had any affect mechanically on Hess. Hyde did the right thing for Hess and his career by pulling him. It was hard to see, but it was the right thing.
Many well-intentioned fans say that there’s a psychological aspect to it as well – in other words, it’s more than just mechanical. That might be semi-true. However if Hess was that bothered by that in a psychological manner, he doesn’t have the gumption to pitch at the big league level. In other words, he was never going to make it anyways. Point here being: that had no effect on Hess’ performance as time’s gone on.
The series and the home stand concludes tomorrow afternoon at Camden Yards. Gabriel Ynoa gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by San Francisco’s Jeff Samardzija. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 