The Baltimore Orioles in effect played tonight as a bullpen game with Brandon Young on the mound. Young was better than his last outing when he struggled against Miami before the break. But the O’s had to go to the bullpen early, well before they should have. Young’s line: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K.
Young gave up a solo home run to Ramirez in the first, and an RBI-single to Mazardo in the third. Both of those occurred with two outs. That’s of course been a huge problem for the Orioles this year. There’s something that opponents are seeing in their analytics that’s giving them an edge with two outs. And the O’s are unable to figure out what those tendencies are.
The Orioles did load the bases in the fifth, and Jacob Stallings grounded into a double-play, netting the Birds a run. Most people scoff at that. However when you look at how many catchers the Orioles have used this year and at the fact that Stallings as a result might not have otherwise been in the big leagues, you’ll take a run that came at a price of two outs.
But that was all the Birds could push across that inning, and Cleveland pushed the issue by scoring a third run in the bottom of the inning. However the Orioles still had a rally in them. Ramon Laureano hit a no doubter out of the park in the sixth, cutting the lead to 3-2. But Cleveland would push it to 5-2 with two runs in the sixth.
The wheels came off in a sense in the seventh. Not totally, but work with me. Ramon Urias led off the inning with a single, which he inexplicably tried to stretch into a double. And he was thrown out. So as opposed to a runner on first with nobody out, they had nobody on with one out. Not ideal.
Urias was trying to be aggressive. Many people say that wins games. Maybe it does. But what truly wins games is playing snart. Adhering to small details. Trying to stretch a single into a double is far from playing smart. You can’t give away base runners.
Jackson Holliday would add an RBI-single later in the inning, however imagine what could have been had the Orioles not tried to press. And on top of that, Cleveland added a sixth run in the home half of the inning. And the O’s fell 6-3, dropping game two of the series.
The Urias play was one thing. But it shows a lack of attention to detail. Aggressiveness is fine – within reason. You have to take what the defense gives you. Lest you surrender your position entirely.
The series continues tomorrow night at Progressive Field. Zach Eflin comes off the IL to make the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Cleveland’s Slade Cecconi. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 