Jack Flaherty made his home debut tonight for the Baltimore Orioles, and bulldogged his way through five innings. It may not have been what he would have wanted as his first time pitching in an Oriole uniform at Camden Yards, but he put the team in a spot to win. All you can ask of a starter. Flaherty’s line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 6 K.
Flaherty started out shaky. He surrendered a two-run homer to Tucker in the top of the first. The same Tucker who hit the grand slam last night. Altuve’s RBI-single in the second extended the lead to 3-0. However Flaherty settled down after that. And again, he pitched to a fairly decent stat line.
Austin Hays would get the Birds on the board in the fourth with a two-run homer. That cut the lead to 3-2, but the O’s couldn’t muster more than two runs. They did however rob Houston of one. Austin Hays would rob them of a home run, climbing the wall in left field to Peale a catch. Heck of an effort.
The O’s remained within striking distance through two outs in the eighth inning. The O’s recorded two quick outs, and brought in Shintaro Fuginami – who proceeded to give up a two-RBI single to Altuve. Altuve would later steal second base, and then score on Bregman’s two-RBI single. But damage done. Bregman would add an additional RBI-single in the ninth as well.
The O’s would also load the bases themselves in the eighth, but they let Houston off the hook. Fact is that you can’t walk the opponent’s 7, 8, & 9 hitter. The Orioles have consistently had issues this year with the bottom of the order, and/or with two outs or two strikes. Much of that might be situational or coincidental. But it’s been a problem.
One thing though, you can’t point at the situation with Kevin Brown and John Angelo’s as a catalyst for two losses. You can’t. These players are all professionals; nothing going on in the broadcast booth trickles onto the field. It’s an unfortunate circumstance, however it’s unrelated. They lost to the defending World Series champions; it happens.
The O’s will close out the home stand and try to salvage a win in this series tomorrow at Camden Yards. Dean Kremer gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Houston’s Hunter Brown. Game time is set for just after 12:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 