With Dean Kremer freshly placed on the IL (retroactive to May 21st), the Baltimore Orioles swung the bullpen door open from the beginning today and tabbed Al Suarez as a starter once again. “Big Al, your ‘starting pitcher’ pal.” Despite having been a starter as recently as this season, it would have been tough to expect Suarez to give much more than he did – this as a starter, after having been a reliever. Suarez’s line: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K.
The best part about Suarez’s outing today in my view was that he was still locating his fastball in the strike zone circa 95 MPH in his last inning of work. Locating it for strikes. Whether Suarez was a spot starter today or a full time replacement for Kremer during his injury rehab remains to be seen. But he was good today.
Unfortunately for Suarez and the Birds, Oriole bats were just as quiet as those of the ChiSox early on. But it was Chicago who got things going first. Keegan Akin gave up a walk, a base hit, and another walk in the fifth. And nothing good ever happens after a walk…
…a phrase that was quickly proven once again. Sheets’ bases-clearing triple, putting the Birds in a 3-0 hole. Akin had almost worked his way out of the jam with two outs, but then that happened. The saving grace is that Sheets, a Maryland native, is the son of former Oriole Larry Sheets. At the very least if the O’s were going to play from behind, it came as a result of someone in the family in a sense. (For the record, Larry Sheets is a Virginia native; so very much a mid-Atlantic flavor in the family.)
The good news about quiet bats is that you really only need one thing to act as a catalyst. And often times, that catalyst will be followed by a barrage of good things. Today it was a one out walk by Adley Rutschman in the top of the eighth. When things aren’t going well, at the very least you can take pitches and draw a walk.
That brought Ryan O’Hearn to the plate, and he sent a deep two-run homer over the Birds’ bullpen in right field. That got the Orioles back into the game, as they only trailed 3-2. Following a pitching change, Ryan Mountcastle came to the plate and sent a bouncing ball right down the first base line and into right field for a base hit…
…which was noteworthy, as the first baseman was off the line. Chicago played the spray charts, and Mountcastle went the other way. And that was a problem for Chicago, because Anthony Santander was on his way to home plate in the form of the go-ahead run.
And Santander lived up to his nickname (“Tony Taters”) very quickly. He smacked a mammoth two-run homer to right, and before we knew it the O’s had the lead. If you were a fan at the game today on Chicago’s South Side, you would have missed all of that had you gotten up after the seventh to get a soda or a hot dog. It was quick and swift.
And that wasn’t the end of it. Jordan Westburg gave the O’s an insurance run with a solo homer later in the inning. However that wasn’t even necessary, as Chicago went quietly in the ninth. And the Orioles have taken the first three of the four game set.
Make no mistake, that’s a huge win. They pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. And that’s what good teams can do. As bad and screwy as that St. Louis series was, the O’s have now won three straight. And they have a shot tomorrow for a sweep.
The series concludes tomorrow at Guaranteed Rate Field. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Chicago’s Garrett Crochet. Game time is set for just after 2 PM.
Birdland Crush 