It really didn’t matter who the Baltimore Orioles started yesterday – for the record, it was Jorge Lopez. They looked beaten before the game even got underway. Boston started scoring, and basically didn’t really stop until the game itself ended. Lopez’s line: 3.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 1 K.
Boston scored on a wild pitch in the first, followed by a three-run homer by Devers. Verdugo added an RBI-single in the second, followed by an RBI/l-double by Bogaerts. At that point it was 6-0, and while Boston still had a ways to go the game appeared already over.
Austin Hays and Trey Mancini did offer up back-to-back homers in the third. However that was only a brief respite from the onslaught Boston was bringing. They cut the O’s a break and only posted one in the fourth, but if the game wasn’t already out of hand, a seven-run Boston fifth made it so. When the dust settled, the O’s fell 16-2.
Now you can’t blame Boston, for the record. At a certain point they stopped trying to manufacture runs. But the hits kept on coming, and they kept scoring. It’s the Orioles’ job to put a stop to that. And they couldn’t do it.
Manager Brandon Hyde said after the game that the team just needs to get better across the board:
We really have no choice, except to come out and play hard and do our best to try to stay in games and try to compete and try to win as many games as we can. That’s been the mindset here. We haven’t pitched very well of late. We’re not scoring a ton of runs, either. We’ve just got to get better in all areas. We’re a long ways away.
Quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports
The series concludes this afternoon at Fenway Park. Keegan Akin gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Eduardo Rodriguez. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 