Author Archives: Domenic Vadala

Welcome to Birdland Crush! Yes folks, for the record it's a spin off of the popular summer beverage native to the Mid-Atlantic Region - "orange crush." Nevertheless, I've been covering Orioles' baseball since 2009 in some capacity, and it's basically the greatest gig of all time so far as I'm concerned! But for those who aren't familiar with my work or bio, I'm familiar with pretty much every sport out there. But baseball is king - we all know that. So my hope is that you come back and check in after every Orioles' game, and throughout the off-season. I'm always on duty!

Baltimore Orioles rained out vs. Toronto

The Baltimore Orioles were rained out this evening in what was to be the second of a three-game set at home against division rival Toronto. The game will be made up on Monday, July 29th as part of a traditional doubleheader. The first game will begin at 3 PM.

Tomorrow’s forecast looks foreboding as well. This is a footnote, but if tomorrow’s game is rained out and postponed to a later date (other than Thursday), then technically the Orioles’ streak of not being swept would come to an end. Even though the “series” would have then only been one game, it would still count as a technical “sweep.” That said, both teams are idle on Thursday, so a makeup game could occur that day. Which as I understand it, would actually count as part of the same series. But who really knows what the weather brings?!

Nevertheless the series with Toronto is scheduled to end tomorrow at Camden Yards. Kyle Bradish moves back a day to make the start for the O’s, and Toronto’s starter is still TBD. Game time is set for just after 12:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Adley Rutschman homers twice in extra-inning loss

Corbin Burnes put the Baltimore Orioles in a position to win tonight against Toronto at Camden Yards. I found it interesting that Burnes was lifted when he was, as my personal opinion was he still had something left in the tank. But he pitched six solid innings, again putting the Birds in a spot to win the game. Burnes’ line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K.

This was a game between two solid starters, Burnes, and Toronto’s Berrios. The Orioles struck first against Berrios, as Adley Rutschman smacked a solo homer in the last of the fourth. However Toronto would draw even in the sixth on an RBI-single by Vogelbach.

However Rutschman wasn’t done yet. He ended up turning in the first two-homer game of his career, putting the Orioles back in the lead in the last of the sixth with a second solo home run. Unfortunately however, Rutschman was only a footnote in this game. Varsho’s solo home run in the eighth tied the game at two.

The game went to extra innings, and it was Toronto who struck first. Clement led off the tenth inning with a sacrifice bunt, moving the ghost runner to third base. Varsho would later ground out, scoring the runner and giving Toronto a 3-2 lead. The O’s threatened in the bottom of the inning, but couldn’t put anything across, going down to defeat 3-2.

End of the day, tough game between two tough AL East rivals. However that’s a game that stings the Orioles to lose. You always want to win every game under any circumstance. But especially in the division.

The series continues tomorrow at Camden Yards. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Chris Bassitt. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Six-run sixth sinks the Birds

It was kind of a struggle for Dean Kremer and the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon. Kremer’s stat line looks worse than he pitched. It’s fair to mention that only half of the runs he surrendered were earned runs. Kremer’s line: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R (3 earned), 4 BB, 10 K.

Towards the end of Kremer’s outing manager Brandon Hyde and the training staff came out to check on Kremer, who had a blister on his pitching hand. Kremer stayed in the game, however that’s something to watch as we go on. The hope of course is that it clears before Kremer’s next start. But again, it’s something to watch.

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a sac fly-RBI. One inning later Carroll would reach on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, allowing a run to score as Ramon Urias made an errant throw to try and nail a runner at the plate. The Orioles challenged the call, but it was upheld. The throw beat the runner, but it appeared the ruling was that catcher James McCann came off of home plate. Tough call, and a bang-bang play.

Arizona would extend the lead later in the inning to 3-0 on a sac fly-RBI by Marte. But the O’s would attempt to get back into the ballgame. Jordan Westburg’s RBI-double in the last of the fifth cut the Arizona lead to 3-1. However unfortunate as it may have been, that was false hope for the O’s.

McCarthy smacked a two-run homer in the top of the sixth. Marte would follow later in the inning with a two-RBI single, and Grichuk a two-RBI double. When the smoke cleared, Arizona had batted around in the sixth, and the O’s trailed 9-1.

The Birds would get one back in the last of the sixth on Adley Rutschman’s solo homer. The teams would also sit through a brief rain delay in the top of the eighth when the rain got too hard. But in the end, the Birds fell 9-2 on this Mother’s Day. But the O’s did take the series by winning two-of-three.

The Orioles will now stay at home and open up a three-game set with AL East rival Toronto tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Corbin Burnes gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Jose Berrios. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Craig Kimbrel with the win as Westy walks if off

A bit of a shorter outing for John Means this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. Shorter than anyone would have thought, at least. But perhaps this game was always destined to be decided by the bullpens. That at times seems to be where the game is going. Means’ line: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 K.

This game began and ended with Jordan Westburg. His RBI-double in the second inning gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. However one inning later Arizona’s Marte sent a two-run homer around the foul pole in left field. And suddenly the Birds trailed 2-1.

But they didn’t trail for long. In the last of the third Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI-single tied the game at two. However Arizona would put two across in the fifth. That left the Orioles trailing, 4-2. Which at the time seemed like a large lead.

But is two runs a decent lead against this lineup? Not so much, if you think about it. Gunnar Henderson cut the lead to one in the last of the fifth with a solo homer. The crowd had to wait a couple of innings later, but Anthony Santander would eventually tie it with a solo shot of his own in the last of the eighth. And tied it remained through the ninth.

The Birds loaded the bases in the tenth before going down, and Brandon Hyde summoned Craig Kimbrel from the bullpen for the eleventh – yes, in a high leverage situation. Keep in mind that Arizona had a ghost runner, so Kimbrel started out with a ghost runner on second (through no fault of his own). He did hit a batter, but masterfully retired the side after that.

But that also means that the Orioles get a ghost runner. And Jordan Westburg led off the last of the eleventh, and promptly sent a soft liner tightly down the right field line, which bounced fair. That scored the ghost runner, giving the O’s a 5-4 victory. It also clinched a series win.

Odd game in a sense. It was a slow slog to some degree, and under threatening skies at that. Jordan Westburg was outstanding, and the Orioles have to continually be thanking themselves for breaking camp with him on the roster.

However as the season goes on it’ll be interesting to look back on this point in the schedule and whether or not it’ll be a story of this series helping Craig Kimbrel get right. Granted he was the winning pitcher by default. Almost by chance. But he earned the win. Is he “right” now? We’ll find out.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Dean Kremer gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Arizona’s Zac Gallen. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles open home stand with a win

Cole Irvin put the Baltimore Orioles in a spot to win tonight. That’s all you can ask out of a starter. And that’s what the Orioles taxed him with doing tonight in the series opener with Arizona. Irvin’s line: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K.

In a game that was played in a perpetual misting rain, perhaps it was fitting that new Orioles’ owner David Rubenstein was the guest “Mr. Splash” at this evening’s game. However if the weather is “the great equalizer,” the Orioles proved to be the better team on the field tonight as a whole. This despite the fact that Arizona was a World Series team last year.

Jordan Westburg’s RBI-double in the second inning gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. Cedric Mullins would later add a run with an RBI-groundout. However Arizona would remind the Orioles that they were in the World Series last year, as Marte cut the lead in half with a solo homer in the third.

But the Orioles kept the pressure on. The teams would swap runs in the fifth and sixth, with the Orioles’ coming on an RBI-single by Ryan O’Hearn. Gunnar Henderson would add an RBI-double in the seventh, and the Oriole bullpen would close out a 4-2 victory,

Craig Kimbrel was used out of the bullpen in the seventh, and to his credit he sent down Arizona 1-2-3. That included a loud out on a line drive to Ryan Mountcastle, but he still sent them down 1-2-3. You have to hope that gives him some confidence.

The series continues tomorrow at Camden Yards. John Means gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Arizona’s Ryne Nelson, game time is set for just after 4 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Coming home

The Baltimore Orioles return to Oriole Park at Camden Yards this evening as Arizona comes to town for three. Overall, it was a short road trip, but a good one. The Birds went 5-1 in Cincinnati and Washington.

The biggest question for the O’s right now appears to be closer Craig Kimbrel, who’s blown several saves over the past week-and-a-half. Will we see Kimbrel head to the IL with an injury? I suppose it’s possible. Needless to say, he doesn’t look comfortable on the mound when he’s out there.

To be clear, Kimbrel won’t cease to be on the roster. The Orioles won’t DFA him, allowing another team to pick him up on their dime. So that isn’t an option. Trading for another closer also isn’t an option, as nobody’s looking to trade a bona fide closer in May. And on top of that, could you imagine what the Orioles would have to give up to get someone like that? They don’t come free.

Here’s something else to watch; Jorge Mateo appeared to injure himself late in Wednesday’s game in Washington. He stayed in the game, but didn’t appear to be too comfortable. You have to hope he’s rested up on the off day and is ready to play.

The series with Arizona begins tonight at Camden Yards. Cole Irvin gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: It wasn’t enough until it was enough

The Baltimore Orioles learned a valuable lesson tonight, that being it’s never enough in Washington DC. That may or may not be a slight tip of hand towards the political climate. I’ll let you be the judge of that. Kyle Bradish pitched well, and left with the lead. But it wasn’t enough. Bradish’s line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K.

Bradish got himself into a jam or two early. In the first inning he pitched out of it. In the second he got out of it yielding just one run, that being an RBI-single by Lipscomb. Other than that, he “mowed ‘em down.” I actually thought Brandon Hyde should have left him in, but it was only his second start of the season. Let him ease into things.

However as I said, Bradish had the lead when he left the ballgame. Anthony Santander’s solo homer in the fourth tied the game at one. And Gunnar Henderson added one of his own in the sixth, giving the Birds the lead. Did Hyde partially pull Bradish because he was winning? Possible. But unlikely. As I said, it was his second start.

One inning later Colton Cowser’s sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh gave the O’s some padding at 3-1. But make no mistake that Jorge Mateo gets an assist on that run. Jordan Westburg had led off the inning with a double. Mateo bunted him over to third on the first pitch he saw, setting up the sacrifice fly. In the scorebook it goes as an out. But it’s small things like that which win you games. And it’s one of the reasons Jorge Mateo played a huge role in tonight’s game.

The Orioles brought closer Craig Kimbrel in to pitch the ninth. Obviously, we know the struggles of Kimbrel of late. And a serious discussion of what to do with the closer role needs to occur in the Orioles’ clubhouse. But it’s also worth mentioning twilight zone baseball started in that ninth inning across the board.

With two outs Kimbrel gave up a solo homer to Rosario, and down to his final strike Abrams’ RBI-single tied the game at three. Hyde lifted Kimbrel in favor of Clay Akin, who got the Birds out of the inning.

After a scoreless tenth the O’s seemed to strike gold in the eleventh. Ryan Mountcastle smacked a two-run homer, and the Orioles led 5-3. But Washington wasn’t going down. Just when the O’s thought they had enough again, they didn’t.

Vargas’ RBI-double in the last of the eleventh cut the lead to 5-4. And the O’s got lucky; that was a ground rule double, stranding the tying run at third. It could have scored two runs. However Young would follow with a sacrifice fly-RBI, and we played on (tied at five).

But it was Jorge Mateo in the middle of things again to ensure that it was finally enough. With a ghost runner on second, his run-scoring double gave the Orioles a 6-5 lead. Mateo slid into second head first, and the pitcher Weems’ errant throw gave him the chance to get to third.

Mateo however pulled up lame. It was unclear what the issue was, but he stayed in the game and later scored on a wild pitch. And it’s a darned good thing he did, because Washington threatened again in the last of the twelfth. Garcia’s run-scoring double cut the Oriole lead to 7-6. But that’s finally where it ended, and the O’s earned a series split in the Battle of the Beltways.

Needless to say, it was one heck of a game. Both teams are probably thankful for an off day tomorrow, as their respective bullpens are spent. But that’s part of the theater of baseball.

The question for the Orioles is what can they do with Craig Kimbrel. They need a closer one way or the other – and he has Hall of Fane credentials. Is he injured? Or is he just going through ineffectiveness? Is it mental? Those are questions that need to be answered quickly – like during the off day. Jorge Mateo’s health coming out of this game is something to watch also. One way or the other, in the here and now of today Mateo was undoubtedly the player of the game.

Baltimore Orioles stumble in DC

You can’t blame Baltimore Orioles’ starter Corbin Burnes for tonight’s game. Burnes took the L, but pitched to a quality start. If you don’t put up any runs you can’t win. It’s that simple. Burnes’ lone: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 6 K.

Burnes gave up an RBI-single in the second, giving Washington a 1-0 lead. However Washington starter Williams stymied the Orioles’ high powered offense. Everytime something on base, he would stay there.

RBI-so goes from Rosario and Lipscomb would extend Washington’s lead in the last of the seventh. And their bullpen closed down the Orioles down the stretch. Did they leave their bats in Cincinnati? Tough to say. But whatever they did tonight didn’t work – needless to say.

The O’s did show some fire in the ninth inning, however. Perhaps the wrong kind of fire though. Ryan O’Hearn was rung up on a close pitch in the ninth inning, and was ejected by home plate umpire Alex Tosi. It was all but a moot issue at that point, as was the fact that manager Brandon Hyde was ejected in trying to protect O’Hearn, who gave one heck of a quote after the game (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

I just lost my cool. There were a few strikes called on me that I really didn’t like going back to the first inning, going back to the first pitch, actually. And then I sat in the dugout and watched it happen to our guys all night. (Colton) Cowser had a really bad one 3-2. Multiple. And it’s hard to tell as players because we don’t get the K zone anymore on the iPads, but it got to the point where it was just bad. He was calling balls outside the K zone strikes and I got pissed off and decided to say something about it. First career ejection, I’m not proud of it, but it is what it is.

If you look at it, where the pitches came in, we’ll just take that at-bat for an example, the pitch before it he called a ball was less inside. It was more toward the plate than that one. So when I see where a pitch is and I go, ‘OK, that’s ball there,’ and then he throws one a little bit further inside and he bangs me on that one, that’s pretty irritating.

That’s saying a lot. My personal opinion is that O’Hearn had a point. The strike zone did seem to move around slightly. But you rarely hear players get that candid about umpiring, as the league office is always listening. Don’t be surprised to see O’Hearn get fined for those comments.

The series concludes tomorrow at Nationals Park. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s Mitchell Parker. Game time is set for 6:45 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Cities and beltways connected

The Baltimore Orioles head down the pike to Nationals Park this evening to open the Battle of the Beltways at Nationals Park. We do this every year, right? The “friendly neighborhood baseball game?” And of course in August, Washington will pay a visit to Oriole Park at Camden Yards for a return engagement.

However this year there’s a twist. Call it a marketing ploy if you will, but it’s caught the gaze of Major League Baseball. Tonight for the first time in history, two teams will wear their City Connect uniforms in the same game – against one another.

Major League Baseball’s been hyping this since late last week on its social media accounts, as have both teams. It was probably a matter of time before two teams decided to do something like this. And in fact, at least one team (Tampa) had announced that they would be wearing their City Connects in road games later this year. The Orioles and Nationals said nevermind that, let’s do it now.

In the Battle of the Beltways, the league found the perfect series by which to do this and market it. Maybe it would have resonated strangely had it been a ‘cross town rivalry’ such as the NY or Chicago teams. And maybe the “connection” between the Florida or Texas teams wouldn’t have been strong enough.

But featuring Baltimore and Washington doing this is the perfect balance. Both cities have unique personalities and unique cultures. Yet there can be no doubt that they’re “connected.” From a baseball standpoint, there’s a portion of fans who regularly attend games in both parks. And many of those people will be on display at Nationals Park tonight and tomorrow, and at Camden Yards in August. (And don’t be shocked if one of those Baltimore games is a dual City Connect game also.)

And both teams have cool and unique features in their City Connect uniforms. The Orioles have the multi-colored design on the inside that represents the different neighborhoods of the city. And Washington has the pinkish “hue” and blossom design, which symbolizes the cherry trees. Yes, which refers back to the namesake of the city, who also happens to be the greatest General in history – and the father of our country at that.

As time goes on we’ll see other dual City Connect games and series’. But never forget who the first one was. The graphic the league released was pretty poignant also, Baltimore row houses on one side of a street, and cherry trees on the other. Again, this is the perfect series to do this. Is it a marketing scheme? Yeah, sort of. Both sides are probably hoping to see shirts and caps. But again someone was always going to do this; may as well be the Battle of the Beltways, as these two cities are most definitely connected.

The series begins tonight at Nationals Park. Corbin Burnes gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s Trevor Williams. Game time is set for 6:45 PM.

Baltimore Orioles break out, sweep in the Queen City

The Baltimore Orioles never gave Cincinnati a chance today in a rare late Sunday afternoon matinee. The Birds led before Dean Kremer even took the mound. And for his part, Kremer was outstanding. Kremer’s line: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K.

Yes folks you read that correctly; one hit. However Kremer could have allowed more than that and still won. This game was a rout from the beginning.

Again, Kremer had the lead before he even threw a pitch. Anthony Santander’s RBI-single in the first gave the O’s an early 1-0 lead. Santander would score almost immediately when Jordan Westburg ran into the first pitch he saw, and sent a two-run homer over the wall.

With Kremer dealing, Oriole bats took a slight break – for a few innings. But Adley Rutschman picked things back up in the fifth with an RBI-double. Two innings later they opened the game up with Ryan McKenna’s solo homer. Tack on an RBI-single by Adley Rutschman, and the Orioles led 6-0.

And mind you, that would have been enough. But there was still an exclamation point to be put on this game and on this series. Anthony Santander added a ninth inning grand slam, giving the O’s an 11-0 lead. Cincinnati would push a nominal run across in the last of the ninth, but it was a meaningless one. And the Orioles cruised to an 11-1 victory.

For what it’s worth, this was the seventh consecutive game in which Oriole pitching has allowed two runs or less. In some of those games runs were tough to come by, but the Birds still won most of them. That wasn’t the case today.

The O’s will have an off day tomorrow, and Tuesday they open up the Battle of the Beltways at Nationals Park in DC.