The Baltimore Orioles got a great start this afternoon out of Kyle Gibson. A quality start, to be exact, both on paper and in practice. Obviously he still surrendered more runs than his team put up, however he put the O’s in a spot to win. Gibson’s line: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 7 K.
These sorts of games are always tough, especially on the road. You’re almost on edge the entire game because there isn’t much scoring, and it feels like every pitch means something. But that’s also part of the theatre of baseball. You take it or leave it.
Despite his outstanding effort today, Gibson and the Orioles fell behind in the last of the third on Hoerner’s two-run double. But the Birds bounced back in the fifth. Adley Rutschman’s two-run homer tied the game at five.
Unfortunately however, the Orioles didn’t okY the game tied for too long. Tauchman’s sac fly-RBI in the last of the fifth gave Chicago the lead back. And at that score the game would stay, and the O’s dropped the second straight game at Wrigley Field.
This game wasn’t without it’s controversies, however. Home plate umpire CB Bucknor had a wide abs revolving strike zone all afternoon, Now to be clear and unequivocal, that isn’t why the game finished the way it did. Teams have scouting reports on umpires in terms of how they call home plate and so forth. Chicago adapted to Buck or better than the Orioles did.
The Birds had two on with two outs in the seventh with Anthony Santander at the plate. On a two strike count, Bucknor rang him up on a pitch that looked like it could have ended up in the third base dugout. Santander didn’t look amused as he walked back to the dugout. And the fact that Bucknor allowed it says that he knows he made the wrong call.
Ironically, the O’s did get the tying run on base in the ninth. Austin Hays walked with two outs, on a pitch that indubitably WAS a ball. However it had been called a strike for much of the game. That caused complaining in the Chicago dugout – also prompted the umpires to review the count because there was confusion over whether that was actually ball four.
And it was evident to me that players on both sides were swinging (and missing) at balls out of the strike zone as the game wore on. In a way that’s good, because it shows guys are trying to adapt to the game situation. But it also means that the home plate umpire is interjecting himself into the flow of the game. And Major League Baseball needs to put a stop to that.
The series concludes tomorrow at Wrigley Field. Dean Kremer gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Chicago’s Jameson Taillon. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 