Baltimore Orioles: Walks and taking extra bases

Dean Kremer pitched well enough to win this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. That isn’t to say that he pitched “well,” but well enough. But end of the day, it wasn’t enough to avoid the Orioles being swept out of Detroit. Kremer’s line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 3 K.

Kremer issued two walks in the second inning. They were sandwiched around two outs, so the inning wasn’t a total disaster. That is until Baez’s two-RBI double gave Detroit a 2-0 lead.

However Kremer did settle in after that. He started recording outs, and he seemed to stabilize. It served as a reminder however that Detroit and these other central division teams often pick you to death by paper cuts. Their attitude is we scored two, and that means you have to score at least three to beat us.

The Orioles once again struggled with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-9. Jorge Mateo stole two bases in the game, getting runners into scoring position. But they couldn’t bring him or anyone else home.

Kremer issued another walk in the fifth to Baez. With one out, Carpenter would fly out innocently to right field. On the pop out, Baez would tag up and go to second base. Something that seemed to catch the Orioles off guard. It certainly caught me off guard.

I thought it was an unnecessary risk to try to take the extra base. With one out, it seemed like a stretch because it was far from a given that he would make it – could have resulted in an inning-ending double-play. Instead, Torres’ RBI-single scored Baez, and the O’s trailed 3-0.

Kremer would surrender an RBI-single to Jung in the sixth before exiting. Jung would later score on an RBI-single by Dingler. Ironically the Orioles got off easy on that play. Detroit’s aggression worked against them at the tail end of the sequence. The trail runner attempted to score after oversliding the bag at third, and was easily thrown out at home plate.

But to show they weren’t kidding, Detroit challenged the play, saying that catcher Gary Sanchez blocked the plate. The call on the field was upheld, however it’s just another example of teams refusing to leave even one run out on the field against the Orioles. Even in falling short (on that play at least), Detroit was aggressive.

Torres’ two-RBI single in the seventh opened the game wide open, as Detroit cruised to a 7-0 win and swept the series. And even up 5-0 in the seventh, they still pressed. The first run got into scoring position on a steal. Detroit wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

The Jung RBI-single early in the game was soft contact. Which fits right into the motif of the Orioles trying to square balls up for solid contact, only to have them find a fielder’s mitt. This while opposing teams almost do less and get more. Needless to say, it’s frustrating.

Adley Rutschman was out of today’s lineup with a sore wrist after getting hit blocking a ball yesterday. Cedric Mullins was out after being under the weather for the better part of a week, and Jordan Westburg was out with a sore hamstring. Brandon Hyde said that all three could have been available off the bench.

The Orioles now return home to open a three-game set against New York at Camden Yards tomorrow. The Birds are yet to announce a starter, but whomever he is he’ll be opposed by New York’s Will Warren. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Matched up to death?

To be clear, I disagree with the concept of an “opener,” used by the Baltimore Orioles tonight. It’s too zaney and against the grain for an old school person such as myself, and I abhor spitting in the face of tradition like that. The Birds sent Keegan Akin to the mound in that capacity tonight, and in fairness it worked – for him, at least. Akin’s line: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

There’s little point in giving the starting pitching line if you’re going to make the starter merely the inverse of a closer. Charlie Morton of course has struggled, so I assume Brandon Hyde was trying to do something different. And again in fairness, Morton only had one bad inning.

However before that the O’s did have a lead. Gunnar Henderson’s RBI-double gave them a 1-0 lead in the third. Rightfully, it should have been 2-0. Cedric Mullins was to be the second run, but he was thrown out at home plate. And that seemed to inspire Detroit.

Morton opened the third with a walk, a single, and an out recorded on a fielder’s choice. That brought Greene to the plate, who smacked a three-run homer to give Detroit a 3-1 lead. In reality, that was the only dust-up that Morton had. The home run hurt, but it came as a result of smaller things – that being a walk, a hit, and the inability to turn two. Or the ball being hit too softly to turn two, that is.

But that’s what teams like Detroit do. It’s fairly predominant in the central – both NL and AL. They paper cut you to death. Make no mistake, they were thrilled at the prospect of a double-play ball ending up a fielder’s choice. It gave them more life, this as opposed to a double-play. And they took advantage.

The Birds had their chances in this game. They started the sixth by getting two runners in scoring position with one out. Brandon Hyde then lifted Heston Kjerstad and pinch-hit Ramon Laureano. To be clear, there’s a certain methodology to that, as Laureano hits southpaws better. Detroit’s Hurter (who was in the game at the time) is a southpaw.

To be clear, Laureano did drive a run in on a sac fly-RBI – cutting the Detroit lead to 3-2. And that was a big moment. But it wasn’t enough. Detroit would put three insurance runs on the board in the seventh, again in a death by paper cut sort of manner. And the O’s dropped game two, 6-2. This after losing the first game of the doubleheader this afternoon.

Brandon Hyde matches up a lot. And overall, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But sometimes you wonder if it doesn’t shake things up too much. This to the point to where it’s detrimental.

Laureano was hitting .182 when he was inserted into the game. That isn’t to say that Kjerstad is hitting the world on fire – he’s hitting .210. But you get the point.

Sometimes you wonder if it’s not predictable that the Orioles are going to match up no matter what. Tarik Skubal, last year’s Cy Young winner, starts for Detroit tomorrow. My prediction is that the likes of Cedric Mullins and other lefty hitters are out of the starting lineup.

Now that said, keep in mind that the matchup numbers say that should be the case. But while stats don’t lie, sometimes reverse-locks happen. If you consistently allow a computer to determine your lineup and substitutions, you risk having things such as death by a thousand paper cuts occur.

The series concludes tomorrow afternoon at Comerica Park. Dean Kremer gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Detroit’s aforementioned Tarik Skubal. Game time is set for just after 1:40 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Sixth inning clips the Birds

The Baltimore Orioles played solid ball this afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader in Detroit. Starter Brandon Young had perhaps one tough inning. However end of the day, it was enough for Detroit to sneak their way into a win. Young’s line: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 6 K.

There are two reasons the Orioles lost today, and one plays into the other. One of those reasons is hitting with runners in scoring position – the Orioles were 1-for-8 today. The other was the sixth inning.

Detroit put a couple of runners on in the second, and Baez’s RBI-double gave them a 1-0 lead. Young would later load the bases, and Torres would add a sac fly-RBI. Keep in mind, Detroit picks you to death by 1,000 paper cuts. They look at each base runner as not only a potential run, but the potential for a big inning. To Brandon Young’s credit, he stayed out of that big inning.

The O’s would cut the lead in half on Ryan O’Hearn’s solo homer in the fourth. But that’s all the Orioles would get. And Jung’s RBI-single in the fifth gave Detroit a two-run lead once again at 3-1.

The Orioles got back-to-back bass hits to open the sixth inning, the second of which sent Jordan Westburg from first to third. That brought Heston Kjerstad to the plate, who bounced a ball to the first baseman Torkelson. The Orioles had the contact play on, and Westburg broke for home on the crack of the bat…

…however it was just enough time for Torkelson to throw the ball home and nail Westburg at home plate. Detroit would induce a pop up snd a strikeout in the aftermath, ending the inning. And the Birds ended up with nothing despite getting a runner to third with less than two outs (heck, with nobody out).

That was the game right there. To be clear, it was the right play there to have Westburg running on contact. In that situation, you have to. However if you look at the play in depth, they would have been better off doing it “wrong” and not having the contact play on. It’s easy to say had Westburg held up he would have stayed at third, Kjerstad would have been out at first, and the O’s would have had two runners in scoring position. BUT…

…nobody covered first base. So had Westburg not run on contact, the bases would have been loaded with nobody out. It’s also worth noting that it was a bang-bang play at home plate. Meaning the Orioles forced Torkelson to make a perfect play. And he did.

And that’s one of the many stories of this season thus far. Detroit entirely anticipated the Orioles having the contact play on there. They put all of their eggs into that basket. And it worked. You have to do things by the book. But it doesn’t always work out. That sixth inning was the game.

Jordan Westburg would get on again in the seventh with an RBI-single, cutting the lead to 3-2. But the teams would swap homers again, with Torkelson for Detroit and Ramon Urias for the O’s (in the top of the eighth). And the Birds fell to 10-15 with the loss.

Not an awful game for the O’s, but that sixth inning stung. It was almost as if Detroit anticipated the actual swinging bunt to the first baseman. Needless to say, they anticipated that Westburg was running at third, and Torkelson made a perfect play. 1-for-8 in scoring position across the whole game is the key stat. But if Kjerstad just hits the ball out of the infield in the air as opposed to what happened, a run scores. And all things being equal, the game ends up in extra innings.

The series continues this evening at Comerica Park. Keegan Akin gets the start for the Orioles (presumably as an “opener”), and he’ll be opposed by Detroit’s Keider Montero. Game time is set for just after 6 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Doubleheader tomorrow

The Baltimore Orioles’ game tonight was rained out in Detroit. The weather apparently wasn’t going to let up. The teams will play a split doubleheader tomorrow, with the previously scheduled game starting at 1:10 PM. Brandon Young will get the ball for the Orioles.

Game two will be the makeup of tonight’s game and start at 6:10 PM. The O’s will send Charlie Morton to the mound for that one. For the record, both the Orioles and Detroit will get an extra roster player for tomorrow given the doubleheader.

As I said, it’s a split doubleheader. All that means is it’s two separate admissions. Not that it matters from the perspective of Orioles’ fans, as most of them are at home as opposed to having tickets.

Baltimore Orioles: Cade Povich twirls a District gem

Cade Povich turned in perhaps his best start as a big league pitcher tonight for the Baltimore Orioles in D.C. The beleaguered Orioles limped in trying to salvage one in the Battle of the Beltways. And Povich gave them just the jolt they needed from the mound. Povich’s line: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K.

A couple of games ago I wrote about Dean Kremer being in the strike zone too much. Povich was in the zone tonight just the right amount. And he was hitting his spots. When the ball was put in play, it was usually finding a fielder’s mitt.

The lone run Povich surrendered was an RBI-double by Bell in the second inning. That was the closest to a hiccup that he had, as Washington got back-to-back doubles to take the lead. However Povich quickly righted the ship by retiring the side.

With one out in the fifth Ramon Laureano smacked a double. That gave the Orioles a runner in scoring position, and they eventually cashed in. Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI-single would tie the game at one.

Later in the inning it was Cedric Mullins’ RBI-single that scored O’Hearn, giving the Birds a 2-1 lead. Luckily for the O’s, Povich and the bullpen were strong. Jose Bautista allowed the tying run to get to third in the last of the ninth, but the Orioles walked away 2-1 winners.

Brandon Hyde went to Yennier Cano to retire the last hitter in the seventh, and he retired him on one pitch. He then brought Gregory Soto out for the eighth, and I understand why. Washington’s first two hitters of the inning were lefties. Hyde matches up a lot – and sometimes it bites him. But this time it worked like a charm, to Hyde’s credit.

Again, I would submit that this was Cade Povich’s best start as a major league pitcher. And he picked a heck of a time to do it, as the O’s direly needed a win. And they fight on.

The O’s now head to Comerica Park for a weekend series with Detroit. Brandon Young gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Detroit’s Casey Mize. Game time is set for 6:40 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Tomoyuki Sugano a hard-luck loser

The Baltimore Orioles MAY have righted one or two things tonight in Washington. Another loss for sure, but they didn’t give the same listless performance we saw the last two games. For starters, Tomoyuki Sugano was outstanding. Sugano’s line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 1 K.

Needless to say, it was a quality start. It was also the best Sugano had pitched for the O’s. It didn’t start well; he gave up a solo homer on the first at-bat of the game to Wood. Later in the inning he surrendered a single, and then a two-run homer to Bell.

However after that he buckled down. He only gave up two additional hits in the game. And the fact is that first inning made all the difference. The O’s would finally get on the board in the third with an RBI-single by Adley Rutschman.

And for the record, Rutschman somewhat broke out tonight. He went 2-for-4 with the aforementioned RBI. Overall the Orioles had ducks on the pond in this game. Which is certainly a start, but the Orioles also left 12 men on base. You have to get them in. But getting them on is a start.

The Orioles would get a sac fly-RBI by Tyler O’Neill in the seventh to pull to within 3-2. One inning later they would load the bases and get a second sac fly-RBI by Ramon Urias. Sugano was off the hook for a loss, and the O’s had tied the score.

But just when you think you’ve maybe broken out of a funk, old demons pop up. Gregory Soto allowed two runners on, and the Orioles couldn’t turn a double-play later in the inning. To be clear, the base runner still would have been at third base. However Garcia would have been the final out in the inning; instead, his sac fly-RBI gave Washington a 4-3 lead. And a 4-3 win.

Again, we saw maybe the beginnings of the Orioles snapping out of their funk tonight. Losses are piling up, but you can stomach one like this to a degree as a stand-alone. It’s the games like last night which make this tough to accept.

You have to get guys in. But again, unlike the last two games they got guys on. And again that’s a start.

I can’t stress enough how good Sugano was. A 3-0 deficit after the first is tough to dig out of. But he put the Orioles in a spot to win the game. That bodes well going forward.

The series concludes tomorrow night at Nationals Park. Cade Povich gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s MacKenzie Gore. Game time is set for 6:45 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Too much in the strike zone

Dean Kremer was slightly better than the numbers indicate tonight for the Baltimore Orioles. Slightly. Not by much. Kremer’s line: 5.1 IP, 11 H, 6 R (5 earned), 0 BB, 4 K.

Kremer gave up a two-run homer to Lowe in the second inning. This after a tight grounder down the left field line right where Jordan Westburg had shifted away from. One inning later with a runner on third, Kremer uncorked a wild pitch, and the Orioles trailed 3-0.

You noticed on the line score that Kremer didn’t walk anyone. In theory that’s a good thing. But it also shows that Kremer was in the strike zone a lot. Too much of a good thing is often a bad thing.

You have to mix your pitches and you have to locate them with late movement. Kremer was serving them up. And Washington hitters took advantage.

Garcia’s RBI-single in the fifth extended the lead to 4-0. Garcia also advanced to second on a Cedric Mullins throwing error. He would score on Ruiz’s run-scoring single.

Kremer would also surrender a solo homer to Cruz in the sixth, before he was pulled. Ruiz would add an RBI-double in the seventh, and the O’s dropped game one in Washington, 7-0. But make no mistake, Kremer being in the strike zone early and often wasn’t the sole issue.

The Orioles mustered one hit. Offensively, it was a fairly listless effort. It’s fair to say that the bats didn’t give Kremer the chance to win. So…where do we go from here?

I would say this; Brandon Hyde should probably figure out a lineup and stick to it. When guys are hitting above or behind different people every game it makes things tougher to get in a groove. I get that you have to look at numbers, matchups, and the opposing starter. That all makes a difference.

However it’s almost as if opposing managers are a step ahead of the Orioles’ lineup, and they’re getting the opportunity to dictate games before they even start. Only thing we can say for sure is they managed one hit tonight.

Oh the flip side, I also wonder if somehow pitches aren’t being tipped. Small things like that make a difference. The coaches need to take a hard look at several games’ worth of film, and figure out if someone’s doing something slightly off or mundane that’s telling teams what’s coming.

Look no further than the first hitter of the game tonight, who masterfully hit against the Orioles’ partial shift. A shift that was designed to protect against a guy getting on base. Instead, it actively assisted in it. Teams are using the Orioles against them. And it’s working.

The series continues tomorrow night at Nationals Park. Tomoyuki Sugano 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: Friendly neighborhood baseball game

The Baltimore Orioles go down the pike this evening to open the DC leg of the Battle of the Beltways. On a side note, and to show that these two cities are one region, Gunnar Henderson and Ryan Mountcastle apparently were in attendance at last night’s Washington Capitals playoff game.

The Orioles of course come in reeling given the fact that they fell to Cincinnati on Sunday, 24-2. That’s a tough score to see. However it’s also fair to mention that the final nine runs of the game were surrendered by position players as pitchers. Many will say that’s irrelevant because they still scored. And that’s true. Others will say the real pitching staff still surrendered 13 runs! Also true.

End of the day, you can also look at the game and say that the only pitcher (aside from Charlie Morton) to appear with any sort of regularity who was used was Cionel Perez. The likes of Cano, Bautista, among others weren’t torched in this game. If you want a positive spin, there it is.

However the way you forget about a game like that in baseball is…simply to forget about it. You play 162 games. If you let this one game magnify in your mind, it’s going to stay there. The off day yesterday helps. So does going out on the road immediately, despite still technically being local.

Here’s one thing that should start happening. The pitching woes are due in large part to injuries. When you lose your top rotation guys, it’s tough to make ends meet. However we’ve seen a lot of frustration from the Oriole dugout regarding revolving strike zones. Brandon Hyde even said over the weekend that guys need to take up for themselves.

Ironically, I disagree there to a point. You don’t want the reputation of a complainer as a player. Gunnar Henderson on Sunday looked like he was about to say something to the home plate umpire about the zone, and while it was warranted I applaud the control.

Having said that, I think the pressure needs to come from Brandon Hyde. Am I saying he should go and get kicked out of a game at some point arguing balls and strikes? I suppose I am. As Earl Weaver said once, it’s better for the manager to get thrown out than players. And I would submit that if he does it, he should get his money’s worth. The one game he was thrown out of this year it happened while he was in the dugout (and quite frankly it was a very quick hook). Go out there and make a spectacle of it.

One way or the other, the Orioles will take on the Washington Nationals in DC starting tonight. DC’s famous for its Half Smokes, but…aren’t we all really just Crab Cake people?! And I say that as the grandson of a former Washington Senators farmhand who made a heck of a Crab Cake every Christmas Eve!

The series will begin tonight at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Dean Kremer gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Washington’s Mitchell Parker. Game time is set for 6:45 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: What to do with Charlie Morton?

The Baltimore Orioles signed starter Charlie Morton in the offseason as a stopgap in a sense. For one reason or the other, it’s not working out. Morton took it on the chin this afternoon, as did the Orioles. Morton’s line: 2.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 2 K.

Mind you, Morton’s 41 years old. Would he have played this year had he known at least how it started? Tough to say. But would you walk away from a guaranteed paycheck? I can’t say I would.

Morton surrendered an RBI-single in the second. But the O’s did tie the score in the bottom of the inning when Ramon Urias scored on an errant throw. But that was false hope for the Birds.

De La Cruz would give Cincinnati the lead back right away, taking Morton deep in the third. But in typical AL/NL central style, Cincinnati cut the Orioles by paper cut to death. A base hit here and a double there…

…Frayley’s RBI-single and a subsequent throwing error by Morton allowed two additional runs, running the lead to 5-1 for Cincinnati. When the smoke cleared, the O’s trailed 8-1 after the third. An RBI-double and an RBI-single in the fourth (off of reliever Cody Poteet made it 10-1.

Cincinnati continued the onslaught in the fifth. Wynns’ RBI-single and Hays’ RBI-double extended their lead to 12-1. Against, a base hit and a walk there – Cincinnati tacked on a few others down the stretch. The O’s brought Jorge Mateo in for the eighth and he gave up a grand slam running it to 20-1.

You almost question how it was possible that the bottom of the order was able to do so much damage, while Oriole bats couldn’t get anything going against a beleaguered pitching staff. Sometimes baseball gives results like this. Cincinnati was in essence going with a bullpen game today. But their bullpen also nitpicked the Orioles to death. It was supposed to have been the other way around.

It begins and ends with Morton – today, that is. But Morton hasn’t been stellar thus far this season. Today there were a few pitches in his short outing that were borderline and called balls. But when you’re regularly outside of the strike zone, odds are you aren’t getting the close calls. It’s easy to say that a strike is a strike and a ball is a ball. But when you miss time and again and you “train” the umpires to see the ball off the plate, they get used to it.

But if the Orioles can get a starter via trade who’s bona fide, it would go a long way towards righting the ship. And maybe you send Morton out on a phantom IL stint. That’s the best option I can give you.

To be clear, the answer isn’t to simply DFA Morton. That’s far too easy to say, and as a society we try far too much to oversimplify things. Morton’s a veteran, and he’s been around for too long to have that sort of fate.

It’s worth mentioning that there’s a good chance Kyle Gibson makes his debut in the next week or so. One has to hope that solidifies the rotation. My solution would be that the O’s need to trade for a starter sooner rather than later. You don’t know when Grayson Rodriguez is going to return, or Kyle Bradish for that manner. Zach Eflin appears to be close to either returning or going out on a rehab start.

Another crazy aspect of this season is how the bottom of teams’ orders are hitting against Oriole pitching. Several backup catchers, including Cincinnati’s Wynns today, have hammered them. Not to mention how good opposing teams are hitting with two strikes. Meanwhile, when the Orioles hit the ball as hard as they can, it finds someone’s mitt. Such can at times be the ebb and flow of the season.

Incidentally, the onslaught continued well after Charlie Morton left the game. Cincinnati might have just been dialed in this afternoon (especially the bottom of the order). Or…it could mean that the Orioles are tipping pitches.

And none of that, least of all the Charlie Morton discussion, explains why the bats are so streaky. They did get a solo homer by Adley Rutschman in the eighth. But this should have been a day when Oriole bats stood out. Cincinnati was all but punting the game with the bullpen handling it. But again often times games are reverse-locks. Needless to say, this one was across the board.

For the record, the line score says the O’s gave up 24 runs. Unequivocally, they did. But the last nine were off of Jorge Mateo and Gary Sanchez – position players. The score was still lopsided, but the official Oriole pitching staff didn’t surrender 24 runs.

Baltimore Orioles: It’s always the guy it shouldn’t have been

It’s always tough when a pitcher makes his big league debut, which is what Brandon Young did this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. Today’s game had been circled since Zach Eflin had gone down, as it was the date the Birds were going to need a fifth starter. And Young was the guy who got the call. Young’s line: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K.

The Orioles obviously would have preferred that Young pitched deep into the ballgame, but you have to remember it was his first major league start. Early in his outing he was probably in the strike zone too often. And in fact, the O’s fell behind 1-0 on Lux’s RBI-single in the first.

But Young adjusted. So did the Orioles. When they came to bat in the first, Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson went back-to-back with solo homers, giving the O’s a 2-1 lead.

However a solo homer by Fraley and an RBI-double by Friedl put Cincinnati back in the lead at 3-2. But this was shaping up to be one of those wild sorts of games, so it only made sense that the Orioles would immediately tie it back up. This on a second inning RBI-double by Gunnar Henderson.

Adding to that motif was the fact that Cincinnati’s starter Greene is one of the best starters in the league. But the O’s chased him after three innings. And in doing so, the Birds obviously made him work. And thus sent a guy who at times looks unhittable to the bench.

But before that happened, Ramon Laureano smacked a two-run homer, giving the Orioles a 5-3 lead. The only problem was that Laureano was only in the game because Heston Kjerstad had to exit after getting hit on the elbow with a 100 MPH fastball.

Things would tighten in the sixth when Cincinnati squeezed in a run on a bunt RBI-single by Friedl. He was also safe at first base, with Keegan Akin not being able to handle the bunt. Akin was replaced with Seranthony Dominguez, who immediately induced an inning-ending 5-4-3 double-play, ending the threat.

I mentioned above that Heston Kjerstad left the game early after a HBP. Luckily, X-Rays were negative. This for a guy with a lot of talent, who’s already had amazingly putrid luck with injuries in his career. Presumably he’s day-to-day.

Ramon Laureano had already made an impact with a two-run homer earlier in the game. But with the team leading by one and looking slightly shaken, he came through again in the last of the seventh. The guy who wasn’t supposed to play today hit a solo home run, giving the Orioles a slight bit of breathing room.

For good measure, Jordan Westburg added an immediate solo shot of his own, giving the O’s a 7-4 lead. That busted Westburg out of an 0-for-30 slump.

Interestingly, Cincinnati manager Terry Francona used tomorrow’s scheduled starter, Carson Spiers, in relief. And to show he wasn’t kidding, he pitched Spiers for the final four innings. Needless to say, Francona’s a hall of fame manager (or he will be). Obviously he has a plan for tomorrow, and he knows what he’s going to do. It was just curious to me.

The O’s would post two insurance runs in the eighth on RBI-singles by Tyler O’Neill and Ryan O’Hearn. And it’s a good thing they did – Cincinnati wasn’t going away. They got a solo homer from Hays in the ninth.

They also put two runners on base. And they forced Brandon Hyde to go to closer Felix Bautista, who closed out the game and the Orioles’ win. The bullpen is now taxed going into tomorrow – but so is Cincinnati’s.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Charlie Morton gets the start for the O’s, and Cincinnati is yet to announce a starter. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.