BALTIMORE—Oriole fans are probably wondering why their favorite team’s pitchers insist on pitching to Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez. Torres has 12 home runs, 10 against the Orioles, while Sanchez has 15, nine against Baltimore.
Again, home runs were the difference in the Orioles’ 7-5 loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday night.
The loss was the Orioles’ fifth straight, the first time this year they’ve lost that many, and their record is 15-34.
Dan Straily has failed to complete five innings in his last five starts. In four innings, he allowed four home runs — two-run home runs by Thairo Estrada and DJ LaMehieu and solo shots by Torres and Sanchez.
“Those balls were right down the middle,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I don’t know what to say, really. Four homers in four innings.”
Hyde says his pitchers aren’t following instructions.
“There’s definitely a pitching plan,” Hyde said. “It’s definitely not to throw the ball in the middle part of the plate. We just continue to do it. When you don’t do it, you get them out.
“Gleyber has two homers besides facing the Orioles, hitting .220 or something. Major league pitchers are pitching to him. Gleyber’s a good player. He did a really nice piece on [Gabriel] Ynoa, taking that ball the other way. You tip your hat on something like that. But the other stuff, that’s inexcusable at this level.”
In 34 2/3 innings with the Orioles, Straily has allowed 14 home runs and has an ERA of 9.09.
“It’s frustrating, very frustrating,” Straily said. “I feel like the whole thing comes down to a couple of hung sliders, and that’s what’s really frustrating is that’s been my pitch for years and years, being able to command it, being able to manipulate it. It just wasn’t there. I know the issue, and I just need to correct it.”
Entering the game, Torres had just one at-bat against Straily, who struck him out in his first at-bat in the second inning. Then, came the first three pitches of the second at-bat, and then the fourth, which Straily would love to have back.
“It was fastballs everything before that,” Straily said. “I thought for sure he wouldn’t be on it. The slider was up a little bit, and he was on it. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’m trying to bounce that pitch, and I leave it over the plate. That’s not what we’re trying to do. It’s unacceptable to not make that adjustment, pitch-to-pitch as we’re expected to up there.”
Ynoa gave up Torres second home run in the fifth, which gave the Yankees a 7-2 lead.
CC Sabathia, in his 19th and final year in baseball, huffed and puffed through five innings to earn his 249th career win. He’s won 21 of them against the Orioles.
Sabathia barely made it out of the fifth inning. He allowed Richie Martin’s first major league home run and a two-run homer to Renato Nunez. Pedro Severino doubled, and he tried to score on Joey Rickard’s single, but was thrown out at the plate on a perfect throw by centerfielder Brett Gardner, who was playing shallow.
Hyde complained that not only was Severino safe, but Sanchez blocked the plate. Both rulings were confirmed, and Sabathia survived with that tenuous 7-5 lead.
The Orioles had just four baserunners in the last four innings against Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, Chad Green and Aroldis Chapman, and none got past first.
Orioles like Broxton: Hyde saw a lot of outfielder Keon Broxton, who was acquired on Wednesday from the New York Mets, when he was coaching in Chicago and Broxton played for Milwaukee.
“He’s a really athletic guy,” Hyde said “His tools are off the charts. He can really go get it in center field. I’ve seen him make numerous great plays against the team I was with … He’s got some serious raw power and he can really, really run.”
Hyde thinks Broxton will play often, and he expects that Stevie Wilkerson, who has played creditably in center recently, will continue to get chances.
“I’ve been impressed. I think we’ve all been impressed,” Hyde said. “It’s not easy to play a position you’ve never played before in the big leagues. Not only that, but center field, a middle of the field position. He’s done a great job.”
Jonathan Villar, who played with Broxton with the Brewers, was glad to find out that they’d be reunited.
“I love that guy,” Villar said. “He’s played well in the outfield. He’s a happy guy in the dugout … He’s a good teammate.
“We need him in the outfield. We have one infielder playing center field. He can play center field. I think he can help us.”
Cobb to the 60: Starting pitcher Alex Cobb went on the 10-day injured list on April 26 because of a back injury. With the Orioles acquiring Broxton and minor league right-hander Chandler Shephard on waivers from the Cubs, room had to be made on the 40-man roster, and Cobb was moved to the 60-day IL.
“I just don’t think we know,” Hyde said about Cobb’s return. “We’re still waiting to see how he’s responding, seeing how he feels off the mound. He’s just playing catch. Can’t put a timetable … Don’t know if there are going to be setbacks or what’s going to happen. Right now, he wasn’t going to come back before those 60 days.”
Cobb will be eligible to return on June 26.
“Give him the opportunity to get right and go through a full rehab and go from there,” Hyde said. “Obviously, I’d love to have Alex Cobb here, so we’ll see when he gets here. I have no idea.”
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View Comments
"Hyde says his pitchers aren’t following instructions."
Well I would certainly hope they haven't been. Throwing the ball down the middle of the strike zone is probably not a sound strategy.
Not following directions, kids, I’m telling ya, he needs to go Bull Durham on them & through bats in the shower, lollygagers....lol
But the pitchers are following instructions. Hyde should listen to himself. He wants his pitchers to "challenge" hitters. Well, they do. But their stuff isn't good enough to challenge these hitters. So, they either nibble and walk guys or challenge and star gaze. As for Broxton, we already have Mullins if we want. Too bad for the talented Wilkerson, who aroused interest, and even some enthusiasm, with his play. Elias is just making moves to distract people from checking the box scores and the standings. Why is he always smiling?
He's always smiling because the season is going exactly as he has planned. The O's are now down 2 & 3 games in the loss column respectively, to the Marlins & Royals.
I loved how Kline "challenged" Voigt. These are just bad pitchers that have no clue where their pitch will go once it leaves their hands. Let's see what these hopefully "good" young pitchers in,AA/A will throw when the ball leaves their hands.
Goofy Dan really needs to go. The whole flyball pitcher in OPACY was a bad call from the get go. This guy is going to tanked all year long. There is someone we could find on the wire or in AAA that won’t get lit up to the tune of a 9 ERA. I just don’t buy there isn’t someone better. Eat the 800K and send him on his way.
I actually like what Elias said about Sisco that he doing great and he is a big part of our future and DJ we have to find a place for him to play and both can be here sooner then later. He wants to improve Mountcastle defense and I hope he gives him more time at 3rd base. The Broxton move I feel is a good one. Atleast he is a centerfielder not a infielder playing the outfield. Mullins offers nothing but speed weak bat and arm. He has no future I feel. Hays hit a few homers but that stupid injury set him back and we probably won’t see him till September. Who knows what happened to Diaz. Apparently a mild strain and he’s been out for a month with no talk of return as far as anyone has mentioned. You know who is the logjam on this team. Well it’s back to Mr. 22 million. After a few decent weeks he’s back to mediocrity. How can a big powerful man not stleast
Back to medocrity? Mr. Hoffman ... seriously... Define mediocre. Don't you at least need to be north of the Mendoza line to be considered mediocre?
BTW ... give Mullins some time. He's a kid. He may yet prove to be mediocre or even better than that.
Boog I was being kind by describing Mr 22 mil as mediocre.
You were indeed.
Atleash hit home runs in a pitchers park when Torres hits two every game
I know it's frustrating but, this is what a full rebuild looks like. You're not going to find many major league ready pitchers who can throw strikes and keep the ball in Camden Yards in the bargain basement free agent bin.
I'm curious, when do the Orioles own Richie Martin for good? I'd like to see him in the minors a la Santander and Wilkerson back in the left side of the infield where he belongs. Like I said, it's frustrating but, at this point, probably the best place to start is to concentrate on defense. Broxton could be a good start.
As for Elias, we'll see what happens on draft day. That's when his era truly begins. Duquette's last effort included defense-friendly picks like Caydn Grenier. I hope that continues.
As for Hyde, I still feel better this year than last year when we had a roster full of players, a manager, and a GM as lame ducks. Hyde is a rookie manager and part of that "full rebuild". I know, it's tough, but, patience is warranted!!!
Martin has to stay on the active major league roster for 90 days this season in order to fulfill Rule 5 requirements. He can't be sent to the minors until next season.
OK. Thank you.
We could perhaps find an “injury” for Martin at some point this year once he has amassed the service time requirement. But not playing baseball at all probably isn’t any more helpful than struggling in the bigs.
New theme song for Oriole fans would have to be "We gotta get out of this place" I'm a long suffering fan but I admit its beginning to get to me, possibly some yelling and screaming instead of visual aids and metrics would yield better results. I realize this kind of thinking dates me but it worked in the past, maybe worth a try in 2019.
Throw the bats in the shower....again
On a side note about the BB app... when we try to correct a typo, it’s too easy to accidentally hit . Could you maybe move that button to the left side of the screen?
to accidentally hit POST COMMENT...
Thanks for the feedback, Raymo. I’ll look into getting this changed.
I have a feeling that Davis will be released after the all star break. Let him enjoy his 100 million back in Texas. Maybe he will give some away to charity since he is a charity case
Does anyone else think Cobb was injured when he signed with the orioles? In this era of failure, it seems like they can't even get medical reports right!
I could see that, no one else seemed interested in him but the O’s.....I’d rather watch Ubaldo pitch than him... excuses all the time, honestly, if they’re gonna release anyone after the break, I’d keep crush & release corn Cobb....
Cobb signed late last spring because he was holding out for a 4 year deal. Much like Kuechel this year. The Orioles were still in win now mode and thought he could make a difference. He was healthy last year except late in the year when he had blisters. Having back issues this year and tried to come back too quickly and made it worse. Don’t think they release Cobb or Davis. Too much money to absorb (92 mil for Davis 40 for Cobb). I believe the record for money absorbed was Pablo Sandoval whom the Red Sox ate ( no pun intended) 50 million. I could see Trumbo being released when healthy. Not much trade value and in last year of contract
You would keep crush. Ok but please give him a new nick name like crash because he is anything but crush. I put Cobb in the same class as Ubo. Two totally incompetent signings by a guy named DD who himself was totally incompetent.
Didn’t say I would keep him, just saying it is a lot of money for Mr Angelos to eat. Don’t forget they let Ubaldo finish his contract. The Davis contract was all Peter Angelos and he will have to approve. No way that a first time GM is going to release him without ownership approval. I don’t care what John and Lou said at the press conference, it’s still Peters team and his money.
Reference to the Davis contract good op-Ed on April 9 this year in the Baltimore Sun by Loyola University Economic Professor Stephen Walters who was advising Dan Duquette on contracts. Duquette was ready to move on from Davis ( Trumbo trade) but Peter Angelos took over the negotiating. Dan had his flaws but he had restrictions from ownership. Ownership is the reason that the Orioles were not involved in international signings. Duquette would have loved to have pursued talent in Latin America. Ownership also mandated the sell off at the trade deadline last year. That is why Schoop and Gausman were dealt even though they were under team control and they could have gotten a better return if they waited. Remember the Golden Rule-he who has the Gold Rules
Interesting claydal I’m sure a lot of the blame is on Angelos with the Davis contract but DD and maybe even Bucky we’re responsible for the late signings of Ubo and Cobb when no other teams were touching them. As far as no international signings I blame the owner, the GM and Buck a collective blunder
Cobb had a good year in 2017 with Tampa. A lot of the negotiations with Cobb involved Brady Anderson. It looks bad now, but Orioles needed starting pitching and they still thought the windows to contend was open. People complain when the Orioles don’t spend money and then complain when they do. Can’t please everybody. To repeat, Mr Angelos was responsible for the Orioles non involvement in Latin America. If the Orioles have no scouts in Latin America and Peter won’t write a check nothing Dan can do. No reason to blame Buck. He didn’t negotiate contracts, make trades or make roster decisions. However he was responsible for Scott Coolbaugh and Roger McDowell. I concede that point. One last point-Peter Angelos still is in charge of the team. His sons are handling the day to day while he is ill, but there has been no formal transfer to the sons. A bone of contention with MLB-per Ken Rosenthal
Joey just optioned to Norfolk where he belonged all along. Givens quickly losing his trade value and crush back to crash.