Shane Baz became only the latest Baltimore Orioles pitcher to throw a quality start in a losing effort last night. The Birds are starting to get decent starting pitching, and at times those outings are wasted because the bats can’t get anything going. Baz’s line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K.
The real villain of last night’s loss to the Chicago Cubs is the fact that the Birds haven’t been able to hit left handed pitching all year. Chicago starter Boyd is a southpaw. Which all but doomed the Orioles before the game even started. The sad thing is that the O’s have improved against lefties. In the beginning of the season they were at risk of getting no hit by them at first.
Last night’s game began in a 56-minute weather delay. The rain never quite came, and the field was never covered. Yet the game was delayed. Mercifully when it did Gunnar Henderson recorded a base hit in the first inning, meaning that the Chicago southpaw wasn’t going to no-hit the Birds.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the third on an RBI-single by Bregman. However Baz limited the damage and got out of the inning. Crow-Armstrong’s RBI-single in the fifth extended the lead, as did Bregman’s fielder’s choice-RBI. And the O’s trailed 3-0.
The Orioles had chances in this game. They put two runners on in the fourth without recording an out. However what looked at first like a promising inning quickly faded. Boyd struck out the next three Orioles to get out of the inning.
A lack of situational hitting is as much to blame with the Orioles’ struggles (with pitchers from both sides) as anything. Granted, Samuel Basallo was the first hitter to come up in the fourth with two on. But a well-placed bunt would push both runners into scoring position. A sacrifice fly would then scratch across a run.
Instead, the O’s are swinging away. And opposing teams are taking advantage. It’s almost as if the Birds are surrendering the advantage when in theory they have it. But you have to push those runners into scoring position in that situation. Many will say that’s giving away outs; but isn’t that better than three strikeouts? Incidentally, you can’t even totally blame the players for that. You can blame them for not executing, but the decision to put on a bunt play or not isn’t theirs.
Chicago would push a fourth run across in the seventh with Busch’s sac fly-RBI. The Orioles finally did put two up in the bottom of the inning with a two-RBI single by Adley Rutschman. However Chicago would tack an insurance run across in the eighth on an RBI-single by Swanson, to lead them to a 5-2 win.
The Orioles are one-dimensional. The lineup which came down last night was intended to beat a lefty. First off, that lineup didn’t do that. However whichever program that is used from above the field to decipher the lineup day in and day out only take the matchups and potential into account. It doesn’t pay any attention to things such as situational hitting. Rendering results such as this.
The series continues this evening at Camden Yards. Dean Kremer gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Chicago’s Colin Rea. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 