The Baltimore Orioles got a quality start out of ace Corbin Burnes tonight. It was a “grind it out” sort of outing, but it was still a quality start. Burnes’ line: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 5 K.
Again, Burnes had to grind out his outing. It was far from perfect. He surrendered a solo homer to Morel in the second inning, followed by an RBI-single by Hoener. He also allowed an RBI-single to Suzuki in the fifth inning.
Chicago had guys on base on several softly-hit singles. This game reminded me a lot of the 2014 ALCS, where the O’s tried to tear the cover off the baseball, while the opponent (Kansas City in that case) got on base however they could. Softly hit balls, broken bat base hits, and infield singles.
The other thing is that Chicago pitching was outstanding. They did something I wouldn’t recommend doing; they nibbled. A lot of times when you nibble you eventually have a tough time throwing it over, and when you do you end up missing.
However their pitching just painted the corners. And whereas a lot of times umpires will recognize a nibbler and not give pitchers the benefit of the doubt, Chicago pitchers got anything close called a strike. Gunnar Henderson got rung up on a pitch that was clearly outside the zone, but the umpire ruled he swung. It was borderline at best.
Busch would add an RBI-single in the ninth. Another softly-hit ball. Sometimes it’s not how far you hit it, but where.
Despite anything else, neither Corbin Burnes nor anyone else on the pitching staff had any control over the Orioles’ offense going 0-for-12 with RISP. You can’t blame pitching when you have a stat like that.
The series concludes tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Al Suarez gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Chicago’s Justin Steele. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 