The Orioles coughed up two different leads on Tuesday night as starter Shane Baz was, yet again, inconsistent, and the team’s bullpen had a rare stumble. All of it led to a frustrating 6-5 loss to the Royals, evening up the series at one game apiece.
The Orioles’ half of the second inning felt like a game-changer in the moment. They made Royals starter Kris Bubic throw a ton of pitches. Jeremiah Jackson saw five pitches before singling, Weston Wilson walked after nine pitches, and Leody Taveras lined out on the seventh pitch of his at-bat.
That all happened before Coby Mayo gave the O’s an early lead with his first home run of the season, a 114-mph bomb that went 439 feet down the left field line. Swings like that are why the organization continues to believe in Mayo.
Normally, when someone throws 38 pitches in one inning, they aren’t in for a long night at the office. Bubic would prove otherwise. The southpaw rebounded from the nightmarish second frame and then delivered four consecutive scoreless innings to protect the Royals bullpen for as long as possible. That is both an indictment of the Orioles’ offensive showing for much of this game, but also an impressive bit of veteran moxie from the 28-year-old Bubic.
Orioles starter Shane Baz had himself yet another uneven outing in the black and orange. Over 6.1 innings, the righty allowed four runs on eight hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.
Kansas City’s first run of the day came in the bottom of the second. Carter Jensen doubled with one out, moved to third base on a wild pitch, and then trotted home on a Michael Massey sac fly to right field. That made it a 3-1 Orioles advantage.
Baz worked out of trouble in both the third and fourth inning. The third saw him get a big groundout of Vinnie Pasquantino with two outs and two runners in scoring position. In the fourth, he again stranded runners at second and third by getting a strikeout followed by a pop out.
That luck would run out in the fifth inning, when the Royals would tie the score up at 3-3. Kyle Isbel opened the frame with a double, and then moseyed home on a single by Maikel Garcia. The speedy Garcia then scooted to second base on a ground out before stealing third base. That then put him in position to cross the plate on a Pasquantino sac fly to knot things back up.
It seemed like O’s manager Craig Albernaz was testing Baz from there. The righty worked a shutout sixth inning, which included two big strikeouts on what felt like a finale to his day. But he had only thrown 85 pitches, and the bullpen was thin after going to extra innings on Monday. So, Albernaz brought the starter back for the seventh. That would prove to be a poor decision.
Isbel doubled yet again to begin the inning. This came right after he had taken a pitch that was called ball two but should have been strike three. The Orioles had a challenge to use, but Rutschman decided against it. After the double, Isbel advanced to third on a wild pitch and was then joined on base by a Garcia walk. Albernaz followed that with a visit to the mound, where it seemed like he was prepared to yank Baz from the game. Instead, they had a quick chat, and he stuck with him for one more batter. That batter was Bobby Witt Jr. It worked out fine, relatively. Witt did drive in Isbel with a sac fly, and Baz was then removed. But Grant Wolfram came in and limited the damage from there, leaving his one inherited runner stranded and keep the game at 4-3 after seven innings.
The Orioles would go back ahead in the eighth inning. Gunnar Henderson led off with a double down the left field line. Then Adley Rutschman, fresh off of his brief IL stint, came up clutch with a two-run homer to left field off of reliever Matt Strahm.
Despite a really rough patch in the game’s middle innings, somhow the Orioles found themselves ahead 5-4 going into the late frames. Considering how good their bullpen has been to this point, it felt like a win was incoming.
Rico Garcia was called on for the eighth inning. Prior to today’s game, the righty had basically been perfect this season. He had yet to allow a hit or run on the year. That streak ended with the first batter he faced on Tuesday. Michael Massey led off the eighth inning with a solo homer to give us yet another deadlock, this one at 5-5. Garcia did look really good outside of that at-bat, but the damage had been done.
The Orioles failed to score in their half of the ninth inning, and then they brought on closer Ryan Helsley for the bottom of the frame. He had not control in this one, as he issued walks to both Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. to begin the inning. A strikeout of Pasquantino didn’t help much because it came on a pitch in the dirt that allowed the two runners to advance anyway. Then, with Salvador Perez at the plate, Helsley spiked another pitch in the dirt. Rutschman blocked it, but it bounced too far away from him in front of the plate, leaving plenty of time for Garcia to sprint home from third as the winning run.
This was one of the rare Orioles losses that can mostly be pinned on the bullpen. That’s not to say that Baz was great, because he wasn’t. But he provided 6.1 innings. And that’s not to say the offense had some incredible performance, because they didn’t. But they scored five runs and produced a lead late. The Orioles need to count of the duo of Garcia and Helsley to lock down those wins. It didn’t happen tonight.
There was good news buried within the loss.
Rutschman’s return was a welcome one. He instantly adds depth and credibility to the lineup. It also freed up Samuel Basallo to be a pinch-hit option late in the game. It turns out that when your best players are healthy, your team is more dangerous. Very interesting discovery, that is.
Mayo’s homer was awesome too. The young slugger still has some runway here while Jackson Holliday is out to figure things out at the plate. Could that dong be the first step? We sure have to hope so. The Orioles, as a team, need to be hitting more home runs. Mayo should be a reliable source of them.
Outside of that, it was just a tough loss to the take. Can’t dwell on it. Just go get the series win tomorow.
Speaking of which, he Orioles will wrap up this series, this roadtrip, and the 13-day run without a day off on Wednesday afternoon in Kansas City. Chris Bassitt (0-2, 6.19 ERA) will be on the bump to face Michael Wacha (2-0, 1.00 ERA). First pitch is set for 2:10 from Kauffman Stadium.
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