Kyle Gibson pitched to a quality start for the Baltimore Orioles tonight. Left with the lead and everything – problem was that not only did he get the win, but neither did the O’s. Through no fault of his, of course. Gibson’s line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K.
The O’s took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Austin Hays’ RBI-double. More on that down the line. However one inning later it was Adam Frazier’s RBI-double that doubled the lead and put the O’s ahead by a 2-0 margin.
Gibson struggled one inning, and it was in the last of the third. Rojas’ RBI-single cut the lead in half. Other than that, Harper smacked a solo homer in the sixth off of a Gibson changeup, and the game was tied.
However the O’s got the lead back in the eighth. Ryan O’Hearn smacked a solo homer, giving the Birds a 3-2 lead. That prompted the Orioles to use Yennier Cano in the last of the ninth in the closer’s role. The assumption was that Felix Bautista was unavailable tonight. And that cost the Orioles.
Stott’s RBI-double scored Harper from first, tying the game. Later in the inning Bohm came to the plate, and his RBI-single gave Philadelphia a 4-3 walk-off win over the Orioles. Those last two runs scored with two out, for the record. Which is always tough to stomach.
Going back to the second inning, the O’s loaded the bases following Hays’ RBI-double. This with nobody out. And they allowed Philadelphia starter Walker to pitch out of it, settling for the one run. That was a golden opportunity for a big inning, and the Orioles let Philadelphia off the hook.
As manager Brandon Hyde said after the game, you can’t continue playing one-run games and expect to win all of them. That’s why you can’t allow a team to pitch out of a bases loaded with nobody out situation early in the ballgame. What happens in the second inning counts just as much as what happens in the ninth.
On top of that, Gunnar Henderson left the game early with lower back soreness. Hyde said they expect him to be fine, but it’s something to watch. Newly-acquired reliever Shintaro Fuginami also pitched two perfect innings, striking out three. Which was good to see.
The series concludes tomorrow evening at Citizens Bank Park. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.
Birdland Crush 