It was a different story this afternoon at Camden Yards for Trevor Rogers and the Baltimore Orioles. This after last night’s game against Boston. And in a three-game series, that can often happen. But Rogers had an especially rough go of things. Rogers’ line: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K.
I suspect that Craig Alberbaz had Rogers penciled in for more than 1.2 innings today. Admittedly I was a little surprised that he pulled Rogers when he did. But it was obvious that Rogers didn’t have it. Although he did send Boston down 1-2-3 innings the first.
Boston made a point of going into deep counts. Rogers gave up a double in the second, and later an RBI-double by Durbin – who immediately stole third base. Kiner-Falefa’s RBI-single extended the lead to 2-0. Rafaela would tack on an RBI-single of his own before Rogers exited and the inning ended.
All of those various hits and RBI came with two outs. On pitches that were well out of the strike zone. We saw a lot of that last year if you recall. Opposing teams hitting pitches they shouldn’t, and to spots they shouldn’t. On counts they shouldn’t. All with either two strikes or two outs. Sometimes both.
Boston, behind their starter, Crochet, was very deliberate. Crochet seemed to find himself in a sense on the mound, and Boston attacked anything and everything. They also ran early and often. It was a Kiner-Falefa stolen base that led to Boston extending the lead to 4-0 in the fourth on a sac fly-RBI by Rafaela.
Boston would load the bases in the fifth, and Wong’s first pitch swinging bases-clearing double extended the lead to 7-0. The O’s would put one on the board with a run-scoring groundout in the seventh by Leody Taveras. Keegan Akin pitched a successful eighth, but the ninth was another story…
…he surrendered five runs. Including a grand slam by Monsaaterio. Before the inning ended, Boston would tack on five more on two different home runs. That’s ten runs for Boston in the ninth alone. The last five were against Weston Wilson, a position player. The runs still count. But that does make a difference. It also saved a bullpen reliever.
As I said, Crochet seemed to find himself. For one day at least. You have to hope that Boston as a team didn’t do that also.
The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Boston’s Connelly Early. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 