Baltimore Orioles: Did Brandon Hyde err with Tomoyuki Sugano?

When the Baltimore Orioles lose, it’s almost cliche that fans blame Brandon Hyde. When you start the season as the Birds have, you have to expect that. Hyde started Tonoyuki Sugano this evening at Camden Yards against Kansas City, in what one might term an odd game. Sugano’s line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K.

Sugano, and Kansas City starter Bubic retired the side in the first. Then the skies opened up. The teams sat through a 57-minute rain delay before play resumed.

And when it did, Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Following a lead off double, Garcia’s RBI-single scored the run. This with two outs. On a softly-hit ball.

Kansas City would smack three additional home runs, all of which were of the solo variety. And tonight we saw one of the frustrating things about Kansas City. They won the game on softly-hit balls and solo home runs. This while the O’s did have guys on base. They just couldn’t plate them.

I would submit that Brandon Hyde made a mistake coming out of the rain delay. This in sending Sugano back into the game. Now granted, Kansas City sent Bubic back in as well. And ironically Sugano pitched to a quality starts. Given that Bubic only threw five innings, he did not.

The fact that Sugano pitched to a quality start says that Hyde didn’t err. Neither did Kansas City for that matter. However, you risk an injury to a pitcher by sending him back out after a rain delay like that. Now with that said, you also have to consider the bullpen going into tomorrow. You don’t want the bullpen having to cover eight innings.

It’s all a tough charade. End of the day in a loss it seems like whatever you did was wrong. Especially when the bats didn’t pick up the slack they needed to pick up in this one. But I think you do have to consider the player, and the last thing you want to risk is putting him in a position where he could injure himself.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Kyle Gibson gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Kansas City’s Michael Lorenzen. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.