BALTIMORE—Before Saturday night’s game began, the Orioles celebrated the life of Frank Robinson. One of baseball’s all-time greats, Robinson led the Orioles to their first World Series championship in 1966. He died on February 7 at age 83.
Robinson was saluted by Jim Palmer, Boog Powell and Brooks Robinson while Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. watched. Seated near Murray and Ripken was general manager Mike Elias, 36, who was a toddler when the team last won a World Series in 1983.
Elias is trying to put together a championship team of his own, but there will be more losses like the one to the Yankees that followed the tribute to Frank Robinson that will test the patience of those watching the rebuilding process.
Manager Brandon Hyde, who grew up in Santa Rosa, Calif, about 90 minutes north of San Francisco, was a huge Giants fan as a boy. He recalled getting a ball autographed by Robinson when he managed the Giants in the early 1980s.
Hyde and the rest of the Orioles watched the ceremony from the dugout.
“It’s special to be a part of that and just to be here in those guys’ presence, and have those guys come through the dugout and high-five guys and shake guys’ hands. It’s very, very meaningful,” Hyde said.
Then he watched Dylan Bundy again struggle against New York Yankees, the Orioles recover for 4-3 lead and Miguel Castro allow a three-run home run to Clint Frazier in the eighth for a 6-4 loss, the team’s third in a row.
The Orioles are 4-4, and while there were positives, there were many negatives.
After Thursday’s Opening Day loss, which included the Orioles allowing seven unanswered runs, loud booing of Chris Davis and sarcastic cheering of his pinch-hitter, the Orioles played aggressive ball, and it paid off in the seventh.
Cedric Mullins was hit by a pitch, and moved to third on Jonathan Villar’s single.
Davis, who didn’t start against left-hander J.A. Happ, pinch-hit for the first time in more than a year and extended his hitless streak to 18 at-bats this season, but his grounder to first scored Mullins, and Villar’s steal of third allowed him to score on Rio Ruiz’s fly ball to center.
Paul Fry was credited with 2 1/3 innings, and escaped a bases-loaded, none-out jam, thanks in part to catcher Pedro Severino’s heady pickoff of Gary Sanchez at third.
John Means continued to pitch well. He struck out two of the three batters he faced and has fanned nine in 5 2/3 innings.
“Paul Fry, John Means, both of those guys have been amazing,” Hyde said. “[Richard] Bleier, we are being patient with him a little bit as he’s coming off a tough injury last year, but Fry and Means have both pitched huge innings for us, putting up zeroes — just done a great jobs, both of those guys.”
Trey Mancini had a home run and double, and Dwight Smith Jr. had a hit in his eight consecutive game with the Orioles.
However, there were worrisome signs. For the second straight game against the Yankees, Dylan Bundy lasted just 3 2/3 innings and has a 7.36 ERA after giving up two home runs to Aaron Judge, a solo shot and a two-run homer.
“Got to get deeper in the game,” Bundy said. “I think that’s the first thing. A lot of foul balls. I couldn’t quite get them to bite on some two-strike pitches that I was really trying to get them to bite on, so just kind of ran the pitch count up again like I did last time.”
Richie Martin was hitless again, striking out in three of his four at-bats. Martin is just 2-for-22 (.091) with 11 strikeouts, tying him with Davis for the club lead.
Davis’ hitless streak is at 19 this season and 40 dating back to last September after the RBI fielder’s choice and his sharp groundout to first with the bases loaded in the eighth.
“CD, what a really good at-bat and hits the ball right on the screws, just didn’t work out,” Hyde said. “Really good at-bats up and down the lineup, grind-type at-bats, not giving in against tough pitching…just really happy with how our at-bats have been the first week of the season.”
Castro has surrendered home runs in his last three outings, and three-run home runs in his last two.
“I think the pitches have been up, been missing,” Castro said through a translator. “Commanding my pitches has been the main reason.”
After losing their opener, the Orioles won four straight, winning series at New York and Toronto. They’ve now lost three in a row.
“You take a blow, you deliver a blow,” Hyde said. “That’s what this week has been, a lot of back and forth. Sometimes, we’ve given up some home runs in tough spots and we’ve responded the next inning offensively. That shows the character of the club. I hope we take that over the next six months.”
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Odd choice of pitches to Frazier, can't hit 97 mph fastball, so he speeds up his bat with a slider. Learning process.
Tough loss in a real good game that would have been greater if we won.I know everyone wants to bitch and moan a lot (myself included) but I doubt many people would have believed the Birds would be hanging in there as much as they have so far this year.They have been getting a few breaks but vice versa also but the pitching is suspect so far.Bundy got two quick strikes on guys but couldn't finish them off which has been a problem with a lot of Orioles pitchers.He did throw some great pitches though that them GD Yankees just laid off of.They are certainly a disciplined hitting team that "obviously" is aware of how our guys pitch.Thus maybe they should be mixing up their routines more,I just don't know.I did not like the back of the Oriole lineup though Hanser Alberto surprised me a bit,Mullins got on superficiously (slang) and became a threat and contributor in the game with his speed which is how you want that to play out.He has to start making more contact though as you can't always cont on walks or HBP to get on.base..As far as Martin is concerned he does look very outmatched offensively.You have to say Davis did have a couple of decent at bats with the last one hit hard almost made him a hero.That would have been nice.I think Hyde trying to keep everything positive and I like that about him but I believe when decisions have to be made he will make them.Means and Fry are looking like they are progressing and to be honest Bundy and Castro not that bad but like I say after getting two strikes on the batters they start throwing all over the place and when they get in a hitters count or 3-2 they have to keep the ball off the misddle of the plate.Maybe easier said than done but the successful guys in the league have been doing just that.Hyde seems a little leary of using Bleier right now from what he stated but you will probably will see him today.Would love to get a win today but all things said the Orioles are probably playing a lot better than expected and now we will probably expect more.That is just the nature of us fans.
I agree Tony. If I look at this game from an overall standpoint and the season long expectations this was a very good game. Moving the runners along the base paths, ground outs bringing in the man on third, good defense, and the middle relief holding down the opponent. It just hurts that they were so close to victory only to lose it in the end.
As far as Castro is concerned, why oh why would you throw an 0-2 slider, which isn't your best pitch to a batter who through the first 2 pitches couldn't catch up to your 97 mph fastball? Palmer predicted it and there it was, a cement mixer slider that most of us could have hit. The wrong pitch, in the wrong location and we get bitten by this one mistake. I surely hope we will learn from this mistake.
Bingo
Wrong location is the problem. A slider off the plate would’ve been great.
The problem with the pitch wasn't so much that it was the wrong pitch (which it was), but that it was thrown by a veteran, not a rookie. It's ultimately the pitcher's decision, but some of this is on Severino as well for calling for a slider when it was apparent he couldn't hit a fastball. Often it seems that players think themselves into trouble-throw a pitch until someone shows they can hit it; there's no need to go through the entire repertoire until you find one he can hit. That's high school mentality--I have all of these pitches so I am going to throw each and every one every AB rather than just using one or two to each hitter based on their strengths and weaknesses.
That being said, at least the Os are interesting to watch. Stealing bases, diving for balls, hustling...a far cry from the Machado days of dogging every other play. There is now an upside to the team so even though they are losing it isn't hard to see that with just a few tweaks this might be a competitive team again soon.
If you’re gonna get beat, beat my best, slider not even close to his best pitch, maybe we really could use Crash Davis as our catcher, as he said, we’re dealing with a lotta “stuff” out here....thx for the coverage....
Interested to see when Hyde starts tinkering with the rotation. Taking a look at Bundy in a 7th inning bullpen role, when he can just let it rip seems like an idea. He has to be Chris Davis biggest fan, as the Davis situation has all but obscured the fact that Bundy is a draft bust. Maybe Bundy in a one inning role could be an interesting trade piece, who knows.
All told, the offense has been pretty entertaining to watch.
Am I the only one who has had enough of the stupid pitch limits? In 1963, Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn both threw over 200 pitches in a 16 inning game. How is it that they could throw 200+ pitches and be considered some of the best pitchers in MLB history and the O's starters can't get past 80-85 pitches. I understand the arm injury argument, but at 80-85 pitches per start it is ridiculous.
As long as Mike Wright is on this team they will never get my money to see them play. As for Chris Davis yes he won’t retire and he will get his 122 mil but he is so pathetic I just wonder how he sleeps at night.
With both a Martin and Mullins both batting 091 Mr genius doesn’t look so smart now by sending his best hitters to triple and double A ball and not giving Jackson a chance to play
Strailey looked like he was a great pickup, if were gonna lose like this, might as well do it with your young better guys, still gonna have the first pick next year as well, but at least the youngens get some experience....