This may have been Charlie Morton’s best start for the Baltimore Orioles tonight. And I don’t say that facetiously. He didn’t leave with the lead and he didn’t pitch long enough to qualify for it. But he put the O’s in a position to win. Morton’s line: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K.
It’s not a starting pitcher’s fault that he doesn’t get run support. Morton got some, but not much. He did have the lead at 1-0 after Ramon Leureano smacked a solo homer in the third.
Morton began the last of the third by surrendering a base hit, and then hitting the nine hole hitter – on a pitch that would have been ball four anyways, but that appeared to graze him slightly.
They say nothing good ever comes after a walk. A base hit and a HBP in effect serve the same purpose in that the batter reached first base. Morton then surrendered a three-run homer to Buxton, and the Orioles trailed 5-2.
However Morton steadied himself. In short, he threw one bad pitch. Unfortunately when your offense isn’t putting up runs, that costs you the game.
The Orioles would close however. Heston Kjerstad’s RBI-single in the fifth cut the lead to 3-2. Needless to say, the Orioles were in the game. However Minnesota would get a two-run homer by Bader – a pinch-hit two-run homer at that. And again, when your offense can’t muster much, that’s your ballgame.
Save for the one bad pitch and the dour look on his face in the dugout after being informed he was being lifted, Morton was decent. He kept the team in the game and put them in a spot to lose. I mention his demeanor because while you never want to be lifted early, he has to understand why he was lifted. It was as much about how he’s pitched to this point as anything else.
Interestingly there were two unsung moments in this game which may have changed it – both of which went against the Orioles. Jackson Holliday appeared to steal second base in the second inning. He was called safe on the field, and replays appeared to back that up. Or at least to be inconclusive, which would have meant the call on the field stood.
I’m not going to lie, I thought Minnesota was crazy to challenge that play. Especially that early in the game. There was no way it could have been overturned…
…yet it was. That ended the inning, and took away a runner in scoring position for the O’s. Fast forward to the fifth when Jackson Holliday closed the inning by grounding out. In a bang-bang play at first base, Holliday was ruled out.
Holliday himself seemed miffed at the fact that Brandon Hyde didn’t challenge that call. My thought was that if the call in the second inning was inexplicably reversed, that one certainly had a shot to be as well. Yet Hyde held onto the challenge.
However assistance is on the way. Zach Eflin, Jordan Westburg, Andrew Kittredge, and Tyler O’Neill are at various stages of rehab assignments in Norfolk. Westburg and Eflin at the very least are potentially going to join the team this weekend in Anaheim. Will that help? One hopes.
The series concludes tomorrow at Target Field. Dean Kremer gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Minnesota’s Joe Ryan. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 