Baltimore Orioles fans should remind themselves that the Birds took two-of-three in this weekend series in Tampa. If perfection is the goal, you’re always going to fall short. Having said that, starter Albert Suarez was pretty darned close to it this afternoon. Suarez’s line: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
I rarely allow myself the simplicity of bluntness, but to be blunt…Suarez mowed Tampa hitters down from the beginning. Some of the innings were over before they even got cranking. It was perhaps the most dominant start of his Orioles’ career. You only wish that he had been given more to work with on the offensive side of the coin.
Anthony Santander hit a solo homer in the fourth inning. And that was the only run support that Suarez got. However again, I can’t downplay how stellar he was today. There’s no world in which he could have lost the game today with how he pitched.
Suarez was at 95 pitches after recording the second out in the seventh. And manager Brandon Hyde opted to lift him in favor of Cionel Perez. Caballero immediately doubled, which was followed by an RBI-single by Carlson. In a flash, Suarez was non-decisioned.
Hyde then went to Craig Kimbrel in the eighth, who promptly walked the leadoff hitter. Following a strikeout, he issued another walk. Keep in mind, Tampa already had the go-ahead run in scoring position in scoring position. Almost inexplicably, they opted to attempt a double-steal. Which is risky in that situation. But they did, and it worked.
If you’re going to do something like that, which is indubitably against the grain, it had better work. In Tampa’s case today, it did. Kimbrel intentionally walked the hitter at the plate with first base open, and Mead’s sac fly-RBI gave them a 2-1 lead.
To add insult to injury, Tampa’s closer, Fairbanks struck out Jackson Holliday in the ninth inning (for the second out) on a 1-2 changeup. Again, against the grain. Granted he had thrown three straight fastballs at that point, you would expect something in the dirt. Or a fastball high. Instead we got a changeup in the outer part of the strike zone, which is probably the last thing one would expect in that situation.
Again, you have to stand on the fact that the Orioles won this series. If you’re winning series’ you’re doing okay. And again, if you’re expecting perfection, you’re going to be let down. They took two-of-three; that’s not shabby. Yes they now move back into a tie with New York in the standings (with the Orioles in theory ahead by percentage points). But given that’s how they entered the series, in short they sustained.
People will point to Brandon Hyde relieving Suarez when he did. Obviously that’s the glaring thing in this game. However Suarez had never thrown that deep into a game. He was also at 95 pitches. All of that makes a difference. I tend to think that he possibly could have gone one more hitter. However had the result been the same (or worse), keep in mind that people’s reactions would be that Hyde should have pulled him.
So Hyde did what he did. And it’s a shame that it worked out the way that it did. Many will say that Tampa won today off of Hyde’s management. Maybe they did. Again, I would have left him in. But you also have to go with conventional wisdom, that being that the guy pitched deeper than he ever had before already.
In short, you can’t press your luck. And it’s that same point that I would make about the series overall. They won the series. That’s the goal in every series, and they did it. You can’t press your luck.
Birdland Crush 