Grayson Rodriguez struggled out of the gate for the Baltimore Orioles this evening against Boston. It wasn’t a total disaster, but Boston hitters were all over him from the first pitch. Rodriguez’s line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 10 K.
The ten strikeouts illustrate that it wasn’t a total washout. Ten strikeouts is impressive . However it also shows how in some capacity perhaps Rodriguez was getting too much of the plate. Sometimes pitch location can be a strange tug of war. The opposite of this is nibbling, and obviously you don’t want to do that either.
A solo homer by Abreu and an RBI-single by Devers gave Boston a 2-0 lead in the first inning. But the O’s bounced right back. Colton Cowser’s RBI-single in the last of the first cut the lead in half. After the Birds put two runners on base as the inning went on, Jordan Westburg’s two-RBI single gave them a 3-2 lead.
And that single was tight down the right field line. Westburg put it exactly where it needed to be in order to get the two runs in. And the Orioles held a brief lead.
However Boston immediately tied the score and retook the lead. Duran’s RBI-double in the second tied the score at three. Devers would add another RBI-single, which was in essence a bloop, later in the inning. That gave them a 4-3 lead. It was softly-hit, but it found daylight.
The key moment in the game however was in the last of the sixth. The Orioles loaded the bases with nobody out. Boston pulled its starter, Bello, and the Birds zero’d in on attempting to tie the game.
But it never came to that. Austin Hays struck out, Jorge Mateo grounded into a force out at home plate, and Gunnar Henderson struck out as well to end the inning. The O’s totally let Boston off the hook.
And you can’t win games when you don’t take advantage of opportunities like that. They say when you get a runner to third with less than two outs you should score. The O’s had that in the sixth inning tonight and then some – they had the bases loaded with nobody down. You have to score there.
Boston would tack on a run in the eighth on an RBI-single by Wong. They would then add four more in the ninth. They picked up what the Orioles left on the field. Which has to be expected in big league baseball.
The series concludes tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Corbin Burnes gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Kutter Crawford. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 