The Baltimore Orioles sent Cade Povich to the mound this afternoon in the series finale in Kansas City. Jorge Mateo was sent to center field, a position which he’s played very sparingly in his career. To the tune of 20 games in his career (11 of which were starts). Povich wasn’t lights out, but he probably pitched well enough to win. Povich’s line: 6.0 IP, 13 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 4 K.
Povich was pitching-to-contact slightly too much. The zero walks and 13 hits speaks to that. And Kansas City’s a contact team in that they’re aggressive. After recording the first out of the game, Povich induced a routine fly ball to center field by Witt. It appeared to be a quick second out.
That is until Jorge Mateo misjudged the ball, and it sailed on him. It slightly ticked off the very tip of his glove and Witt ended up on third base. What should have been the second out, ended up a triple (surprisingly the ball was ruled a hit instead of an error). Witt would score a moment later on a sac fly-RBI by Pasquantino.
Following two singles, Kansas City would plate two on a two-RBI double by Massey. Kansas City would extend their lead an inning later on an RBI-single by Fermin. Now the good news for the O’s is that they held Kansas City off the scoreboard the rest of the way. And Kansas City had a few other opportunities to score. The O’s and Povich just pitched out of it.
The bad news is that they ran into a buzzsaw in Kansas City starter Bubic. He stymied Oriole bats at every step of the way. The lone Oriole run came when Ryan Mountcastle scored on a wild pitch in the seventh. This after he led the inning off with a triple, but just when it looked like the Birds might rally, Kansas City shut them down again and that’s the only run they scored.
The key to the game was that Witt triple in the first inning. It appeared to be a routine play. Mateo appeared to lose the ball in the sun, which happens. But does it happen as often to a regular outfielder such as Heston Kjerstad?
This game was very typical of matchups with teams such as Kansas City. One small thing magnified into three runs. If Mateo makes that play, there are two outs and nobody on. For all we know, Kansas City goes on to have a bigger inning than they did. But end of the day that was the key play of the game.
This isn’t to knock Jorge Mateo. He’s an asset to this team, especially with his speed. He’s just not a natural outfielder. And it may have cost the Birds royally today.
The O’s now head to Phoenix tomorrow to open a three-game set at Chase Field against Arizona. Zach Eflin gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Arizona’s Zac Gallen. Game time is set for just after 9:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 