The stat line doesn’t indicate that Corbin Burnes pitched well for the Baltimore Orioles tonight. I’ll put it this way; he wasn’t awful. He came unraveled at the end, but make no mistake that he pitched well enough to win. Burnes’ line: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R (5 earned), 2 BB, 2 K.
One of those two walks came to Houston’s Altuve in the fourth. This after Altuve took multiple close pitches, and multiple close calls that were ruled to be out of the strike zone. Altuve, much like Houston overall, loves to push the envelope. He knew Burbes struggled to keep runners on…
…Burnes threw over twice, which of course is all that’s allowed under the new rules. That is unless you pick the guy off, which Burnes didn’t when he immediately threw over again. So Altuve went to second on a balk.
And Altuve scored on Alvarez’s RBI-single later in the inning. Mind you, in theory Altuve might not have been in scoring position if not for the balk/disengagement violation. Granted he may well have swiped second – because he always pushes the issue. But you get the point. Gamel would add an RBI-single (his first hit as a member of the Houston Astros), and the Birds trailed 2-0.
Gamel would record his second Houston hit in the sixth with an RBI-single. Meyers would come up with runners at the corners later in the inning. And with two outs…
…and Meyers would lay down a bunt. It raised my eyebrows as it happened. A two out bunt? Given the number of outs, you’re all but taking the bat out of someone else’s hands, as you’re obviously bunting for a base hit.
But…it worked. Corbin Burnes ran off the mound to the third base side infield the ball, and uncorked an errant throw to first. Whitcomb’s two-run single later in the inning extended the Houston lead to 6-0.
End of the day, the fact that the Orioles only mustered three hits mattered as much as anything else. However again, Houston does anything and everything. Burnes got deeked into wasting his pickoff attempts on Altuve, as Altuve knew that Burnes knew that he (Burnes) struggled to hold runners on. And perhaps Burnes (among others – including myself) was so shocked that Meyers threw down a bunt, that he hurried the throw. This printing the error, and the run.
Houston takes a lot of risks in their games. They’re almost ill-afraid of losing or failing. And somehow they’re rewarded for it. They push the envelope, and it works.
The series continues tomorrow at Camden Yards. Cade Povich gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Houston’s Hunter Brown. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.
Birdland Crush 