Kyle Gibson had a better outing for the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon. This as opposed to his first outing this past week against New York. He didn’t last long into the game, but he didn’t give up nine runs either. Gibson’s line: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K.
Gibson gave up a solo homer to Garcia in the second inning. But the Birds didn’t trail for long, as Jackson Holliday knotted it up in the home half of the inning with a solo shot of his own. One inning later following a walk, Gunnar Henderson scored on Adley Rutschman’s RBI-double.
However Kansas City mounted a two-out rally in the fourth. They put two runners in scoring position, and an RBI-single by Waters gave them a 3-2 lead. But Jackson Holliday picked that fourth inning to reacquaint himself with Kansas City pitching, and he smacked his second solo home run of the game, tying it at three.
Solo homers were the rule of the day it seemed. India in the top of the fifth for Kansas City. Then Cedric Mullins and later Ryan O’Hearn in the last of the fifth to put the O‘s back on top. However Garcia led off the sixth with a seventh solo home run of the game, tying the game at five.
However to me, the key moment of the ballgame came in the last of the sixth. Despite quite a few runs being on the board, keep in mind that base runners were at a premium in this game. And this series. With a runner on first and one down, Heston Kjerstad grounded into an inning-ending double-play.
That would have given the Orioles two outs and a man on first. Hardly a spot that one would say is prime to start a rally. But it’s better than the inning being over. Needless to say.
Kjerstad appeared to hesitate coming out of the box, and he slowed up as he approached first base. To be clear, turning the double-play required an outstanding play by Witt. And Kansas City got that. However it was also a bang-bang play at first. Would Kjerstad had been safe had he hustled the whole way down the line?
In games like these you have to take advantage of every base runner you can. Lord knows Kansas City did. They got back-to-back solo homers in the seventh by Witt and Pasquantino, and another by Maile in the eighth. They also got an RBI-triple by Witt in the eighth which all but sealed the deal. Ryan Mountcastle did smack an RBI-single in the eighth as well, running the score to 9-6.
It’s tough to say exactly what’s going on with Oriole bats. It’s either feast or famine. And someone potentially leaving a base runner on the table doesn’t help matters. I maintain as well that there’s a chance that either Orioles pitchers or someone else is tipping pitches. Inadvertently for sure, but Kansas City had the fewest home runs in the league coming in. They certainly hit off the Orioles today.
It’s worth pointing out that maybe teams play the numbers and the odds a little too often. The go-ahead sixth inning solo homer by Garcia; Bryan Baker was left in to pitch to him given the righty/righty matchup. This with Keegan Akin warming in the bullpen.
Garcia homered. Did Brandon Hyde match up or play the numbers a little too much? Maybe. But mind you, stats don’t lie. Kansas City was just hellbent on hitting whatever the Orioles threw out there – including a final two-run homer by Massey in the ninth.
Which again, would indicate that perhaps there’s something about the Orioles’ approach which is speaking too loudly about what they’re doing. That’s a diplomatic way of saying what I said above – about tipping pitches. Whether it’s the actual pitchers or the way the game’s being called; are hitters sitting on specific pitches and ultimately knowing when they’re coming? That needs to be figured out.
It’s a shame that the overall game overshadowed Jackson Holliday. This was his first multi-home run game. Granted nobody was on base, but it happened. They say solo homers don’t hurt you. They certainly didn’t hurt Kansas City. They did hurt the Orioles. One positive spin, the O’s finished the home stand at .500 – there are worse places to be.
Birdland Crush 