Baltimore Orioles: Did Brandon Hyde err in judgement?

The Baltimore Orioles fell late last night in Anaheim. Interpret as you wish; being a west coast game it was obviously late at night (or early in the morning). But it was also in walk off fashion. Keegan Akin got the start for the O’s, and while he only pitched three innings, he left with the lead. Akin’s line: 3.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K.

Trey Mancini’s solo homer in the first was followed by one by rookie Domingo Leyba in the second. That gave the Birds an early 2-0 lead. Leyba’s homer was also the first of his career.

Anaheim would even the score on a two-run homer by Iglesias in the last of the second. But the Orioles pounced in the third. They loaded the bases up, only to have them cleared by Anthony Santander’s double. Pedro Severino would add an RBI-double of his own, and the Orioles led 6-4.

But Anaheim chipped away. Ohtani smacked a solo homer in the last of the third. One inning later Stassi’s RBI-double and Fletcher’s RBI-single brought them to within one. That brought Ohtani up again, and this time he smacked a two-run homer, giving Anaheim a 7-6 lead.

Austin Hays tied the score back up in the sixth with an RBI-double. Ohtani got aboard in the last of the ninth, and stole second base. He would later score, giving Anaheim a walk off 8-7 win, on Walsh’s RBI-single. The Orioles challenged the tag at home plate, but it was upheld.

My question is why were they even pitching to Walsh? First base was open, and a would-be runner at first was meaningless. The winning run was already at second.

Had I been Brandon Hyde, I would have put Walsh on base. Especially with a .153 hitter in Rengifo up behind him. As I’ve said before, managing a big league team isn’t easy. So you do have to at times cut guys some slack. But my personal opinion is that Hyde pitched to the wrong guy. There was one out, but it wouldn’t have been hard to see a .153 hitter ending up recording a ground ball double-play.

The series continues this evening at Angel Stadium. Jorge Lopez gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Anaheim’s Alex Cobb (also a former Oriole). Game time is set for just after 10 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Cedric Mullins waits on

Cedric Mullins of the Baltimore Orioles has been the best outfielder in the American League thus far during the first half of the season. He’s potentially been the best across Major League Baseball. He’s hitting .322 with 14 HR’s, 99 H, and a WAR of 4.0. He’s also made numerous incredible plays in the field, which vouch for his greatness.

Yet the fans didn’t see fit to vote him as a starter on the AL All-Star squad. He’ll be there, don’t worry about that. But he wasn’t voted as a starter. Instead, Teoscar Hernandez, Aaron Judge, and Mike Trout were voted starters.

Judge has been average at best thus far. Hernandez is good – but is he starter good? And Mike Trout is Mike Trout. He speaks for himself, but he’s also been injured for the past month. So should he really be starting?

And a lot of analysts think that’s where Mullins will have his wrong righted. They’ll replace him on the roster with Mullins. But the fact remains that he should have been there to begin with.

Is that the fault of the fans, or is it due to the fact that the Orioles aren’t a contender? Well keep in mind that the Orioles struggled to get players voted onto the team even when they were a contender. They’ve always been a small market team. Casual fans aren’t jumping on their bandwagon. Unfortunately that’s just a fact. So the Trout’s and the Judge’s of the world will always be put forth for the ASG.

Again, Mullins will get his day in the sun. He will be on the team. Hopefully as a starter.

The Birds find themselves out on the West Coast this Fourth of July weekend, and they open up a series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this evening at Angel Stadium. Keegan Akin gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Los Angeles’ Griffin Canning. Game time is set for just after 9:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Sweep revenge

If you had put money on the Baltimore Orioles earning their first series sweep over Houston ever at Minute Maid Park this week, you’d be a rich man today. Houston of course swept the O’s last week in Baltimore, and while the Birds looked incredibly poor that entire series, that was to be expected. Nobody saw this coming. Matt Harvey got the ball in the finale, and set the tone for the game. Harvey’s line: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K.

The Birds struck immediately in the game. Don’t tell these guys what their record was; they were hellbent on winning and sweeping last night. Ryan Mountcastle’s two-RBI double in the first gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead.

Mountcastle would score later in the inning on Maikel Franco’s RBI-single. Pedro Severino would also add a sac fly-RBI. Before the crowd had even settled in, the O’s led 4-0. A total about-face from last week’s series at Camden Yards.

Houston would piecemeal together two RBI-singles in the fourth, but they couldn’t muster more than those two runs. Austin Hays would give the O’s an insurance run in the eighth. This in the form of a solo homer.

Maikel Franco appeared to injure his ankle on the final play of the game, sliding to catch the ball and record the final out. He had to limp off the field. Manager Brandon Hyde is taking the “wait and see” approach:

We’ll see the severity of it. I was encouraged how he walked off. I think it scared him at first. I haven’t seen the video but it sounds like he rolled it pretty good, and we’ll know more tomorrow.

Quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports

Hunter Harvey also got up in the bullpen to get warm during the game, but had to stop due to shoulder soreness. Definitely something to watch.

Baltimore Orioles, Austin Hays win a Donnybrook in slam-bam manner

If there’s one drawback to the Baltimore Orioles’ victory over Houston last night it’s that spot starter Travis Lakins Sr. had to leave the game early with shoulder soreness. Ironically, Houston’s starter had the same fate. In a game that was already a bullpen game, that’s a problem. Lakins’ line: 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K.

Cedric Mullins homering on the first pitch of the game however was a harbinger of things to come. Houston would even the score in the second on Toro’s sac fly-RBI. This after a phantom balk call on Lakins, advancing the runner to third.

The teams would trade two-RBI singles in the fifth, tying the game at three. Austin Hays struck for the O’s. The good news at that point was that the Orioles (who had won the previous night) were going to the brink against one of the best teams in baseball. And a team that utterly dominated them last week at that.

And the Orioles’ resilience was rewarded. Cedric Mullins’ RBI-double in the seventh gave them the lead back in the seventh. And 4-3 was the closest Houston would get to the lead. What ensued after that was pure theater. This in the sense of how many runs the Birds were actually going to put on the board.

The eighth inning brought a barrage of runs. Anthony Santander smacked a solo homer, Maikel Franco a bases-clearing double, and Austin Hays an RBI-single. That brought us to 9-0, but the Birds weren’t done yet. In the ninth Ramon Urias and Austin Wynns added on two-run homers.

When the smoke cleared (translated: when the game ended), the Orioles had defeated perennial contender Houston 13-3 at their place. Most people probably didn’t have the Birds winning this series, but this is why you play the games. This is why players put on opposite uniforms and compete.

Again the one point of concern was Lakins. I would bet that he’s on his way to the IL with the injury last night. Now that said, it wouldn’t have shocked me to have seen him optioned after the game anyways to get a fresh arm in the bullpen. So I suspect that the someone from the “taxi squad” will be called up for tonight’s game. The O’s are off on Thursday prior to heading out to Los Angeles for the Fourth of July weekend, so hopefully some form of regrouping the bullpen will occur then.

The O’s will go for the series sweep this evening against Minute Maid Park. Matt Harvey gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Houston’s Luis Garcia. Game time is set for just after 8 PM.

Baltimore Orioles, Austin Hays blast off and hold on in Houston

Thomas Eshelman got the start last night for the Baltimore Orioles…”deep in the heart of Texas.” Starting in Houston is a tough task, but Eshelman pitched really well – aside from being squeezed several times. And given that his opposite number was Houston’s Greinke, the O’s themselves had a tall task. Eshelman’s line: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 0 K.

The Birds took a 1-0 lead in the third on Ryan Mountcastle’s RBI-single. Tucker’s sac fly-RBI one inning later would tie the game, and Altuve would later walk with the bases loaded to give Houston a 2-1 lead. However the inning should have been over. Eshelman walked Maldonado to load the bases prior to being pulled. But what was called ball four looked an awful lot like strike three. As I said above, Eshelman got squeezed.

At that point if you’re Houston (a contender), you’re thinking that all’s right with the world. They took an early lead, but now you have the lead and things are as they should be. But Ryan Mountcastle put them on notice not to get too comfortable. His two-run homer in the fifth have the Orioles the lead back at 3-2.

The teams would trade runs in the seventh, but Houston would also put an additional run on the board that inning on a walk with the bases loaded. Tying the game at four, again Houston had to be feeling that things were put back the right way. But the Orioles were poised to pounce, much in the manner that team such as Houston normally do to them.

Austin Hays had already earned his keep for the day when he brought an apparent home run back (recording an out) early in the game in right field. But his two-run homer in the ninth gave the Orioles a 6-4 lead. Pedro Severino would add a two-RBI double, and Ramon Urias would add an RBI-double of his own. This appeared to end the game, blasting Houston into space when it counted.

But as I said above regarding Houston, you never want to get too comfortable. Houston put three runs back on the board in the last of the ninth. Ultimately they weren’t able to come all the way back, but would anyone have put it past them to have done so? Either way, the O’s took the series opener, 9-7. A well-earned victory over a championship-caliber opponent at their place – “deep in the heart of Texas.”

The series continues this evening at Minute Maid Park. The O’s have yet to announce a starter, but whomever he is he’ll be opposed by Houston’s Jose Urquidy. Game time is set for just after 8 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Frustrating day and weekend in Buffalo

Jorge Lopez did what he could to put the Baltimore Orioles in a position to win this after noon at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. He didn’t go five, but he battled both himself, and an inconsistent strike zone throughout his outing. Lopez’s line: 4.2 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 K.

Lopez had the lead before he even got on the field. Ryan Mountcastle smacked a solo homer in the first inning to give the Orioles a 1-0. And that right there might be something to consider. We’ve seen a lot of solo homers off Oriole bats; teams know that solo home runs don’t hurt you. So they’ll throw pitches in the middle of the plate with nobody on base, because they know that if worst comes to worst, they can overcome it. And they’re generally right.

Toronto would tie the game in the second on a run that scored on a GIDP. They would later take the lead in the third on Guererro’s two-RBI double. Later in the inning Toronto thought they had a fourth run. DJ Stewart appeared to mail a runner at the plate for the final out of the inning. However the runner was ruled safe, but later called out after the Orioles challenged the play and it was overturned.

Ramon Urias attempted to get the O’s back into the game in the fifth with an RBI-double. That cut the lead to 3-2, however Biggio’s two-RBI double in the bottom of the inning ran it to 5-2. Toronto shut down the Orioles’ lineup for the rest of the game, and took the game and the series.

Players on multiple sides took issue with the strike zone this afternoon. However the O’s didn’t seem to handle it as well as Toronto. Whereas the Orioles kept wanting to say this was a strike or that was a ball, Toronto pitchers pitched to the umpire’s zone.

Toronto frustrates the heck out of the Orioles in general. Save for Friday night’s game, every bounce seems to go their way. And they aren’t shy in celebrating even a standard base hit. They had a shot at winning this game, but couldn’t come up with a clutch hit, especially with runners in scoring position.

The O’s now head to Houston to open up at three-game set at Minute Maid Park tomorrow night. Thomas Eshelman gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Houston’s Zack Greinke. Game time is set for just after 8 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Toronto cut deep by the O’s

The Baltimore Orioles hasn’t won a game since last Friday night against Toronto. And Toronto, who’s had just about every bounce for their way in every game since then, hadn’t lost since that time. The Birds were sending a struggling Matt Harvey to the mound in Buffalo last night. But sometimes people and events surprise you. Harvey’s line: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K.

Harvey pitched a great game. He also put innings in and helped save an over-taxed bullpen. He gave up a solo homer to Springer in the second which gave Toronto a 1-0 lead. However the Orioles immediately tied the game an inning later when Freddy Galvis grounded into a run-scoring double-play.

That sounds like a cheap way to score a run, and in a way it is. But when you’re struggling like the Orioles are you take runs however you can get them. That also perhaps put Toronto on notice that the O’s had about had it with watching them celebrate.

But Toronto would end up taking the lead back, and extending it. Guerrero smacked a solo homer in the last of the third, and Gurriel an RBI-double in the fourth. Semien’s two-RBI double in the seventh in theory should have been the fatal blow. That should have had the O’s simply playing out a string in the end of the game. Giving Harvey an undeserved loss, and extending the losing streak.

And Toronto seemed to sense that. Did they take their foot off the gas? Tough to say. But what we can say for sure is that the Birds had other ideas of how this game was going to end.

Ryan Mountcastle’s RBI-single in the eighth cut the lead to 5-2. After Toronto changed pitchers, Anthony Santander smacked an RBI-single, cutting the lead to 5-3. Notice that Toronto changed pitchers; remember how I said above how they had just about every bounce go their way of late? They probably figured that changing pitchers would work simply because they were lucky and the Orioles weren’t. Not on this day.

Austin Hays would smack a two-RBI double, which brought the O’s all the way back and tied the game. A game that eventually went to extra innings, and that the Orioles won in the tenth inning when Pat Valaika walked with the bases loaded. The O’s held onto win 6-5.

As I said, the Orioles had to have been tired of watching Toronto celebrate inning after inning. And it started last Saturday when they savagely came back on the O’s with a six-run ninth inning. They’ve now kind of been paid back for that. Turnabout is fair play.

The series continues this afternoon at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. Keegan Akin gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Hyun Jin Ryu. Game time is set for just after 3 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Are the Birds tipping their pitches?

Dean Kremer had perhaps the worst start of his career last night for the Baltimore Orioles in Buffalo against Toronto. It might be the worst start of anyone’s career. That’s not as much a conviction of Kremer as it sounds. These sorts of outings happen. And they aren’t easy to stomach for anyone. Kremer’s line: .1 IP, 2 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 0 K.

Toronto put two runs on the board right away. Kremer loaded the bases by way of walks, and Hernandez’s RBI-single gave Toronto a 1-0 lead. Grichuk would also add an RBI-groundout.

At that point you felt good that the Birds had recorded an out, and you thought maybe Kremer would pitch out of the jam allowing only two runs. But that wasn’t to be; Biggio walked as well, and Gurriel’s grand slam lit Toronto ahead 6-0.

Toronto would put three more runs on the board in the early innings, but the Orioles’ pen held them at bay for the rest of the game. Which was good. But the damage was done.

The O’s have really taken it on the chin the past few days. Against Houston I wrote that it was as if the Houston players knew what Oriole pitchers were throwing before they (the pitchers) did. I had that same feeling last night as well.

Which makes me wonder if the Orioles aren’t somehow tipping their pitches. Obviously it would be unintentional if being done, however some of the swings and mammoth home runs we’ve seen appear a bit over/m-the-top. As in you’d have to know the pitch and the location in order to be able to hit the ball like that.

The most incriminating thing about that possibility is that if opposing teams are picking up on something that’s telling them what’s coming, obviously nobody in the Orioles’ dugout is picking up on it. That would be a huge problem.

Another interesting moment came in the fourth inning with Grichuk on first base. The ball was tagged deep to center field, but not deep enough as it was caught. The Orioles proceeded to easily throw Grichuk out at second base trying to rage up and advance.

First off, it was a stupid idea to try to advance on what amounted to a routine fly ball. But…Toronto was leading 9-0 at the time. I won’t say anything further about it, but it seems like poor form.

The series continues tonight at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field. Matt Harvey gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Alex Manoah. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Latest team to suffer on Houston’s revenge tour

Thomas Eshelman became only the most recent Baltimore Orioles’ pitcher to have issues with two outs. In the first couple of innings tonight against Houston, he seemed to record two outs with relative ease. Then the problems began. Eshelman’s line: 4-0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

Houston put three runs on the board in the first inning. All with two outs. The same thing happened in the second inning, but the O’s held them to only one. And while there were walks sprinkled into that mix, the hits were all softly hit. As in, the outfielders were positioned way too far back in order to make the play.

Those are tough to stomach in my opinion. You aren’t expecting a big league team to get fat on balls that look like they were hit by T-Ball players. But they all count. And they sure as heck counted against Oriole pitching tonight.

Houston would put two up in the fourth, one in the sixth, four in the seventh, and two in the eighth. They seemed to know what was coming before the Orioles knew what they were going to throw. And no matter what, they seemed to put the ball in play.

So the O’s get swept at home by Houston. They aren’t the first to get beaten around, and they won’t be the last. One thing that was constant in the series was Orioles fans giving some pretty harsh treatment to the Houston players.

We all know why they were being mercilessly boo’d, and Camden Yards isn’t the first visiting ballpark in which it’s happened. However the Houston players have made all of those fan bases eat their words. Their attitude is sure, go ahead and boo us. But we’re going to not only beat your team, but make them look foolish in the process.

These players seem to resent the way that their franchise was handled in the wake of the cheating scandal in 2018. Now for the record, Inwould argue that they’re lucky. The players in effect snitched on their coaches and front office, all of those personnel were fired, suspended, etc. – “held accountable.” Not only did the players not face any discipline, but they got to keep their World Series trophy.

Yet in their mind the league’s done them wrong. I can’t imagine being shameless enough to where I’d get angry over the perception that I was a cheater, when in fact…I WAS a cheater! That’s been their story all season. The more viciously they’ve been boo’d, the more determined they’d become.

And you can almost see the players laughing at opposing fans in the dugout. Obviously the players don’t see it as shameless given that it’s being used as fodder. I think that playing the victim when in fact you were the aggressor is a really hard sell. But…it’s working for them. And the Orioles were only their most recent victim.

The Orioles now hit the road, starting with four games in Buffalo, NY against Toronto at Sahlen Field. Dean Kremer gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto‘s Anthony Kay. Game time is set for just after 7 PM tomorrow night.

Baltimore Orioles fall despite Jorge Lopez’s valiant effort

The Baltimore Orioles played a much more complete game tonight against Houston than we saw last night. Granted it came in a losing effort still, however starter Jorge Lopez put them in a spot to win. And then some. Lopez’s line: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K.

If you’re keeping track at home, that’s a quality start for Lopez. It’s always a shame to waste a quality start on a loss, but I also think it’s worth pointing out that maybe the Orioles’ coaching staff is learning how to better handle Lopez. Maybe they know what to look for better in terms of when Lopez is tiring, and/or of opposing teams are seeing his stuff better.

Houston took a 1-0 lead in the second when Straw smacked a solo homer to left. The ball appeared to hit off the top of the left field wall and bounce back into play. However that’s a home run under Camden Yards’ ground rules, and the call was rules as such upon review.

Cedric Mullins’ sac fly-RBI would tie the game at one an inning later in the third. And that tie would last for much of the remedy of the game. But it didn’t last long enough, as Straw’s RBI-single on the seventh have Houston a 2-1 lead. One inning later McCormick’s sac fly-RBI would give Houston a 3-1 lead. And that would be your final.

The series concludes tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Thomas Eshelman gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Houston’s Jose Urquidy. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.