The Baltimore Orioles played solid ball this afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader in Detroit. Starter Brandon Young had perhaps one tough inning. However end of the day, it was enough for Detroit to sneak their way into a win. Young’s line: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 6 K.
There are two reasons the Orioles lost today, and one plays into the other. One of those reasons is hitting with runners in scoring position – the Orioles were 1-for-8 today. The other was the sixth inning.
Detroit put a couple of runners on in the second, and Baez’s RBI-double gave them a 1-0 lead. Young would later load the bases, and Torres would add a sac fly-RBI. Keep in mind, Detroit picks you to death by 1,000 paper cuts. They look at each base runner as not only a potential run, but the potential for a big inning. To Brandon Young’s credit, he stayed out of that big inning.
The O’s would cut the lead in half on Ryan O’Hearn’s solo homer in the fourth. But that’s all the Orioles would get. And Jung’s RBI-single in the fifth gave Detroit a two-run lead once again at 3-1.
The Orioles got back-to-back bass hits to open the sixth inning, the second of which sent Jordan Westburg from first to third. That brought Heston Kjerstad to the plate, who bounced a ball to the first baseman Torkelson. The Orioles had the contact play on, and Westburg broke for home on the crack of the bat…
…however it was just enough time for Torkelson to throw the ball home and nail Westburg at home plate. Detroit would induce a pop up snd a strikeout in the aftermath, ending the inning. And the Birds ended up with nothing despite getting a runner to third with less than two outs (heck, with nobody out).
That was the game right there. To be clear, it was the right play there to have Westburg running on contact. In that situation, you have to. However if you look at the play in depth, they would have been better off doing it “wrong” and not having the contact play on. It’s easy to say had Westburg held up he would have stayed at third, Kjerstad would have been out at first, and the O’s would have had two runners in scoring position. BUT…
…nobody covered first base. So had Westburg not run on contact, the bases would have been loaded with nobody out. It’s also worth noting that it was a bang-bang play at home plate. Meaning the Orioles forced Torkelson to make a perfect play. And he did.
And that’s one of the many stories of this season thus far. Detroit entirely anticipated the Orioles having the contact play on there. They put all of their eggs into that basket. And it worked. You have to do things by the book. But it doesn’t always work out. That sixth inning was the game.
Jordan Westburg would get on again in the seventh with an RBI-single, cutting the lead to 3-2. But the teams would swap homers again, with Torkelson for Detroit and Ramon Urias for the O’s (in the top of the eighth). And the Birds fell to 10-15 with the loss.
Not an awful game for the O’s, but that sixth inning stung. It was almost as if Detroit anticipated the actual swinging bunt to the first baseman. Needless to say, they anticipated that Westburg was running at third, and Torkelson made a perfect play. 1-for-8 in scoring position across the whole game is the key stat. But if Kjerstad just hits the ball out of the infield in the air as opposed to what happened, a run scores. And all things being equal, the game ends up in extra innings.
The series continues this evening at Comerica Park. Keegan Akin gets the start for the Orioles (presumably as an “opener”), and he’ll be opposed by Detroit’s Keider Montero. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.
Birdland Crush 