Baltimore Orioles bitten by big innings again

The Baltimore Orioles ended up being swept this afternoon in Pittsburgh behind starter Chris Bassitt. Keep in mind, Bassitt wasn’t stellar in his first outing, but struggled even more this afternoon on an admittedly dreary day at PNC Park. Bassitt’s line: 2.0 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 0 K.

The zero strikeouts sticks out at me. Bassitt seemed to all but be trying NOT to throw the ball in the strike zone. Which is a lot of what we saw from Oriole starters last year. If you recall, the Birds lost by over 20 runs last year on Easter Sunday, an early indication that their pitching strategy wasn’t cutting it. To make matters worse, the game appeared to start well with a Taylor Ward single. He was immediately thrown out attempting to steal.

That set the tone for sure. Bassit hit the first hitter he faced, and later in the inning O’Hearn gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer. Bassitt would load the bases with nobody out in the second. He then induced what should have been a force out at home plate, save for the fact that the ball smacked off his leg. And everyone was safe.

Bassitt was checked out and was okay, despite the third run surrendered. However he would later surrender a sac fly-RBI, and a two-run homer to O’Hearn. And the O’s trailed 6-0 before Bassitt exited.

Granted, the third run is one of those what can you do sort of moments. Obviously you’re happy Bassitt wasn’t seriously hurt, that more than anything else. But plays like that seem to happen when things aren’t going well. O’Hearn had a great series against his former team. Why? Could it be because he was at least familiar with the Orioles’ at times infernal dedication to analytics?

Manager Craig Alberbaz earned his first managerial ejection after Blaze Alexander appeared to be quick pitched. Needless to say, that was more to show the players that he was still fighting, which is good. The Orioles did get on the board in the fourth on Pete Alonso’s RBI-double.

Cade Povich, just called up from Norfolk, followed Bassitt. And make no mistake that despite surrendering a two-run homer to Cruz in the sixth, he was the MVP today. He pitched 5.2 innings and really spared the bullpen any further unnecessary use. The O’s would get an RBI-single by Jeremiah Jackson in the seventh, but fell 8-2.

The Orioles now head to Chicago to open a three-game set with the ChiSox at Rate Field. The Birds are yet to name a starter, but whomever he is will be opposed by Chicago’s Erick Fedde. Game time is set for 7:40 PM.