Orioles bats mount a ninth-inning comeback, but fall, 6-5, in a ridiculous extra-innings loss
· Yahoo Sports
Over a two-week stretch from May 22 to June 5, the Orioles won ten of fourteen games, and looked to be edging their way back into a playoff position. Well, just a few days later, those good vibes seem pretty distant. It’s not that, numerically, the Orioles have dug themselves into an impossible hole, but that the on-field play looks so uneven that even if they did play themselves into a Wild Card, you doubt they’d do much with it.
Tonight’s 6-5, ten-inning loss was ridiculous in a couple of ways. Start with the offense making Seattle’s Logan Gilbert look like a sitting duck in the first inning (he had to throw 31 pitches and gave up a run to break his 17.2-inning scoreless streak), then disappearing for six innings, during which Gilbert retired fourteen in a row. Equally ridiculous: the Birds mounted a two-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth (against a lefty!), but they had to do it after Leody Taveras struck out by automatic violation after losing track of the count. Likewise ridiculous: after tying it, 4-4, to go to extras, the game-winning home run was a two-run bomb hit off Rico Garcia by Randy Arozarena on a slider that was half a foot off the plate. Finally, really ridiculous: the Birds were thrown out at the plate three times tonight. Tyler O’Neill accounted for two of them, including in the bottom of the ninth, with the game tied, 4-4. Blaze Alexander was the other one, in the bottom of the tenth, with his team down, 6-5, a run that would have staved off a loss.
Visit mchezo.co.za for more information.
I’m still processing through my feelings on this one. It felt, first and foremost, like offensive opportunities were wasted, both at the plate and on the basepaths. As I said, if you watched just the first inning, you’d have thought the O’s were on their way to an easy win. Five of the first nine O’s hitters reached off Gilbert, who, true to his scouting report, looked like his fastballs are a weakness.
That run, which feels like it was ages ago, came on two singles by Taylor Ward (solid as DH tonight) and Pete Alonso, who lost his bat in the stands before hitting a single the other way, a great walk by Colton Cowser, and a sac fly by Leody Taveras that would have been a hit but for M’s centerfielder Julio Rodríguez running to gobble it up.
At that point, I would have been stunned to hear that the O’s would rack up one hit and no more runs against Seattle’s starter, or that the latter would go six. But that’s exactly what we got. Stupid baserunning “helped,” as it has with the Orioles of late, when O’Neill, standing at third with two on and one out in the second, tried to score on a grounder. He failed, and the Orioles’ best chance for the first six innings evaporated.
After that: bupkis. After third-string catcher Sam Huff hit a one-out double in the second, Gilbert kept the O’s hitless between the second and seventh innings.
As for Trevor Rogers, he feels like an afterthought today. This start was [shrug]. His line—three runs in 5 2/3 innings—isn’t terrible, and he had just one bad inning, the fourth, when he gave up an Earl Weaver Special to Mitch Garver.
But more concerningly, this makes his third straight start in a row with obvious stamina problems. And he had just three strikeouts, none before the fourth inning. This might be the most concerning thing about Rogers this season (although I’d be open to other suggestions): his strikeout rate, which was a ludicrous 12.54 per game in a brief rookie debut in 2020 and an admirable 10.62 in his All-Star 2021, is down to 6.60 this year.
Back to the blow-by-blow. Andrew Kittredge was summoned to help Rogers close out the sixth inning, which he did nicely, but then he allowed a fourth run in the seventh, all on two outs, when with one on, Julio Rodríguez murdered a Kittredge sinker—I mean it, that thing left his bat at 115 mph—and Arozarena dumped a run-scoring single into left, making it 4-1. This felt insurmountable, and ultimately, it was, but not in the way you expected.
The Orioles got the run back in the bottom of the seventh, though I can’t say they made impressive contact doing it. Coby Mayo reached on an error and Jackson Holliday just legged out a bunt (it was fun to see him flaunt the speed). But then, whomp whomp, Tyler O’Neill hit into a double play. A buzzkill, but not a total rally-killer. Mariners reliever Alex Hoppe uncorked a dreadful curveball, and Mayo trotted home.
Keegan Akin and Tyler Wells pitched competent innings each of them, Wells, especially, with a pickoff of Victor Robles at first. Nice to see for the big guy.
Then came the fireworks. The Orioles had one more chance at a comeback in the ninth, although the odds felt long against a lefty in José Ferrer. Longer, even, when Leody Taveras led off the ninth by striking out in the stupidest way imaginable, losing track of the count with two strikes, and stepping outside of the box so long he got rung up for an automatic third strike.
The Birds weren’t deterred, though, and Coby Mayo, next man up, worked a great at-bat, fouling off a bunch of outside fastballs until he got a meatball down the middle. It was a beaut, the O’s’ biggest big blast of the game, and here is a link to balance out the bad with some good:
View LinkNow 4-3, the M’s probably still weren’t breaking a sweat, but maybe they started to when Jeremiah Jackson legged out a swinging bunt. Nothing seemed likely to happen with Tyler O’Neill up next, but O’Neill got a fastball from a lefty and did what we hoped he’d do all year: smack it. The ball went for a ground-rule double, but Jackson scored when pinch-hitter Samuel Basallo bounced a grounder to the right side of the infield. The game was tied, 4-4. There was a chance for more, as Taylor Ward walked (of course) to load the bases, but unfortunately, Gunnar (bad game for him today), hit a quick grounder, and lead runner O’Neill was thrown out at the plate for the second time tonight. We went to extras.
With a man on and reliable Rico Garcia on the mound, Randy Arozarena got this pitch and still managed to send it, oppo-style, to the flag court. Garcia looked amazed. So, if you’d seen me on my couch, did I.
Could the O’s counter?? Almost, is the answer. More shenanigans sunk them. Their ghost runner was Pete Alonso, exactly the last person you’d want. But he was actually fine. Blaze Alexander, who’s already done everything humanly possible for this team, took an HBP and then, with two on, no out, Leody Taveras made up for his boneheaded strikeout in the ninth, serving a single to right to score the Polar Bear. The lead was down to one. But Mayo hit a weird pop-out that Seattle second baseman Ryan Bliss fully laid out for. A stupid first out. More stupidity next: Jeremiah Jackson hit a grounder, and the speedy Blaze took off from third. Blaze wasn’t fast enough, and became the third Oriole to get cut down at home plate tonight. The comeback stalled, and the score stayed right there, 6-5 Seattle.
What a weird game. Give the Birds credit for rallying, down two in the ninth, against a lefty. So there’s some gumption here. But my sense, with three runs left at home plate, is that their baserunning game stinks. Just a thought. They’ll try to salvage what they can of this series tomorrow with Brandon Young facing George Kirby at 6:35 Eastern. Sheesh.