Calling the Pen: Orioles cooked by oven mitts

Who knew that oven mitts could cause so many problems? They were involved in two big ones for the Orioles on Saturday and Sunday against the New York Yankees.

Jordan Westburg was wearing an oven mitt — baseball players refer to them as sliding mitts — on Saturday when he stole second with a headfirst slide. Immediately, he knew something didn’t feel right despite the protection the mitt is supposed to provide. He jammed his left index finger, and Coby Mayo pinch-hit for him in the third.

“I went in hard trying to steal a base, didn’t get my hand up,” Westburg said. “Surprised? Yeah. Kind of knew right away that something was weird because the sliding mitt was bent and just got more stiff and stiff as the inning went on. I wanted to stay in there. There’s nothing that pains me more than coming off the field. So it sucks. But like I said, I’m just trying to stay optimistic and hopefully be back very soon.”

On Sunday, after managing all of one hit on Saturday, Jackson Holliday led off with a single and moved to second when Ramón Urías’ was hit by a pitch. With Gunnar Henderson at the plate, Holliday was picked off second by New York starter Will Warren. Actually, Holliday beat the throw but was tagged out when his oven mitt slid off the bag.

Henderson walked, and Ryan O’Hearn hit a single that scored Urías. After Ramón Laureano flied to right, Colton Cowser doubled to score Henderson. O’Hearn stumbled after touching third and had to retreat, costing the Orioles another run.

A potential four-run first ended up being just two in a 4-2 loss that the Yankees pulled out with a three-run eighth. You could sense that it was coming after the Orioles produced just four hits and no runs after the first.

“We had great energy this morning and kind of to start the game, and they came out of the gates pretty good,” interim manager Tony Mansolino siad. “They took advantage of some mistakes and got the ball moving around the field. You’ve got to credit their guy. He did a good job of settling down. But at the end of the day you have a 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning with Bake [Bryan Baker], you feel pretty good about it.”

The Orioles are returning home after a 3-4 road trip against the Rays and Yankees that could have been 5-2. They blew an 8-0 lead and lost, 12-8, to Tampa Bay and made just enough mistakes against the Yankees to end the trip with a losing record. They also lost their catcher, Adley Rutschman, who’s out until after the All-Star break with a left oblique injury, and Westburg, who hopes to be back in a few days after injuring his finger.

In the end, the Orioles needed a crisp game on Sunday and didn’t produce it. Holliday’s mistake was the most egregious because he was already in scoring position and gave up a run and an out.

In the bottom of the third, leftfielder Colton Cowser made a strong throw to the plate in an effort to nab Jazz Chisholm trying to score on a DJ LeMahieu single but it was up the third base line, leading to a spectacular collision between catcher Maverick Handley and Chisholm. Handley couldn’t make the catch and had to leave the game.

In the eighth, Henderson’s relay throw home trying to get Paul Goldschmidt was toward the first base side, and catcher Gary Sánchez had to dive to his left to make the tag, just after Goldschmidt had slid in safely. Finally, Henderson’s throw home with Chisholm running from third on a LeMahieu ground ball was in time, but Sánchez dropped it for the final New York run.

The result was too many mistakes by a team that is 33-44 with 85 games left. The oven mitts didn’t help.