BALTIMORE—Chris Davis didn’t start Friday night’s game, and it wasn’t because he was punished for his altercation with manger Brandon Hyde during Wednesday night’s game.
Davis was sitting because the Houston Astros started a former Oriole teammate, left-hander Wade Miley.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, and the Orioles trailing 3-2, Hyde sent Davis up to pinch-hit
Davis received a mostly positive reaction but when he struck out, there were some boos. He remained in the game to play first base and made the final out as Houston beat the Orioles, 3-2.
With two outs, Jace Peterson singled against Roberto Osuna, and Davis lined out to second in the shift to end the game.
The Orioles are in the midst of a brutal stretch in which they play the New York Yankees, Astros and Boston Red Sox in 13 consecutive games. They’ve lost the first four.
Houston pitched Miley, who was 10-20 with a 5.75 ERA in 2016 and 2017, his two seasons with the Orioles. Miley is now 11-4 with a 2.99 ERA.
The Orioles did break one nagging streak. After yielding 16 home runs in three games to the Yankees, Houston didn’t hit a home run. The Orioles had allowed multiple home runs in 12 straight games, a major league record.
It was the first time since July 23 that the Orioles did not allow a home run.
“That was nice to see,” Hyde said. “I thought we really pitched well. We had our opportunities to tie it or take the lead late in the game and just didn’t get the big hit. But I thought we played well.”
The Orioles’ two runs came on home runs. Peterson hit his second against Miley in the fifth, and Stevie Wilkerson hit his ninth against Joe Smith in the seventh.
Peterson is hitting .216 in 14 games since he returned to the major leagues on July 25.
“That’s how Jace swung the bat on the road when he first got here and then he hit a few tough games,” Hyde said. “I think you saw his power the other night against New York and then tonight also to left-center field. He’s obviously a real strong guy, and a big hit in the ninth inning also. He took really good at-bats.”
With Dwight Smith Jr. and DJ Stewart on the 10-day injured list and seven-day concussion injured list, the Orioles are in need of outfielders, and Peterson has been getting some time in left
“That’s kind of what you’ve got to do,” Peterson said. “You’ve got to put up good numbers no matter where you’re at, so it definitely feels good. It was a good game tonight, and we just came up a little short.”
Hanser Alberto got three more hits and moved his average up to .318 and was relieved to see the Orioles stay competitive with the team that has the best record in the American League.
“We don’t want to [see] long balls,” he said. “We want to keep the ball in the field. I think [Dylan] Bundy did a really good job tonight. He commanded the pitches really good … [Pedro] Severino behind the plate, making good calls. That’s what we need to do.”
This weekend, the Orioles get two more difficult assignments. Aaron Sanchez, who was the starting pitcher in a combined four-pitcher no-hitter on August 3, starts against Aaron Brooks on Saturday, and Justin Verlander matches up with Asher Wojciechowski on Sunday.
Verlander is 8-1 with a 2.42 ERA in 11 starts at Oriole Park.
The loss was the Orioles’ fourth straight, and their record is 38-77.
Bundy’s night: Dylan Bundy allowed two runs on three hits in the first inning. After that Bundy, pitched five scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, but it wasn’t enough.
“I think they were just starting to put it in play earlier in the count and great defense,” Bundy said. “Couple diving plays, couple balls caught in foul territory. So defense was a factor in the low pitch count after the second inning.”
Bundy struck out six and walked one. It was the Orioles’ first quality start since July 26, when Asher Wojciechowski pitched seven innings and gave up two runs against Los Angeles.
It was Bundy’s seventh quality start and the seventh time he didn’t allow a home run. He played down the home run streak.
“I didn’t know that much about it,” Bundy said. “I heard a little something about homers every game, but ,yeah, it’s nice anytime we don’t give up a homer. So that was big.”
Ruiz returns: Third baseman Rio Ruiz was recalled by the Orioles on Friday. Ruiz was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk on July 24 just before the birth of his first son.
He batted .227 with a home run and seven RBIs in five games with Norfolk and Double-A Bowie, where he was closer to his family.
Ruiz replaces David Hess, who was optioned after Wednesday’s game to the Tides. Hess is 1-10 with a 7.44 ERA.
Nick Markakis, the durable outfielder who won two Gold Glove awards in his nine seasons…
Every weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit…
In a strong first month of the season for the Orioles, they received two of…
BALTIMORE—What happened? The Orioles took three of four games in their first series with the…
BALTIMORE—After enduring their first shutout of the season the night before, the Orioles hit three…
Terry Crowley played 12 seasons with the Orioles, and though he wasn't a regular, he…
View Comments
Put Davis on third
In Delmarva...go O’s...
Good to see them playing better, but this may have been their best chance at a win. Hope the analytics guys are putting together some books on our opponents. I mean, Wade Miley must have some weakness.
He does, pitching for the O’s...lol...go O’s...
August is preseason football time. The outcomes of the games don't matter, it's all about passing the eye test. That's the way I'm approaching the remainder of the Orioles' season. For the Birds, we ALMOST need a new stat. Instead of wins and losses, was it an IG (In the Game) or OG(Out of the Game)? Last night's game was an IG. It's about the best we can hope for until the callups.
A brief note on remote posterity: 17 year old Elio Prado, an outfielder obtained in the Cashner deal, has seen his AVG go from .301 to .310(.378 in the last 10 games), OBP from .401 to .430, and OPS from .816 to .825 since joining the Orioles in the DSL.
Keep playing Davis! This helps increase the chances of again earning the number one draft pick. When Mountcastle is ready, then you can release Davis (next spring).
Agree. Keep playing Martin too! His poor offensive output has been overlooked thanks to Davis. I never like to see either one of them up when the O’s have men on base. They are rally killers’.
You mean Richie Martin? The guy who has been batting about .350 over the last month?
They just celebrated the “Why Not ?” season... I wonder if, in 30 years, they’ll celebrate the “Why Bother?” season? Just saying...
All in all, the tortured positivism in Rich's article and the gallows humor in the comments section left me depressed. When I saw (last week) that the mighty, mighty Yankees had three, yes three, O's castoffs on their roster, I became convinced that the baseball gods were angry at the Orioles' ownership. Meanwhile, the surest way to resurrect Davis's career is to release him and have him sign with the Yankee organization for a makeover. Sigh.
How about the fact that the O’s dumped Yastrzemski for a wanna-be pitcher and is now hitting .267 with 11 homers and 37 RBI’s and an ops of .811 with only 221 ab’s. And, for Davis... .181... 9 hr’s... 31 rbi’s with 249 ab’s. Such a deal! NOT!!! The guy we got (Herb) had 4 wins, 8 losses and a 7.16 ERA at and Norfolk before being demoted to Bowie. He’s been better there with a 4.83 ERA and 2 wins and two losses. Just saying...
In fairness to Yaz, he only hit
.265 at Norfolk last year. .250 the year before. He was exposed in the Rule 5 draft 3 years in a row and was never taken. He got a new start with the Giants and has played well. Perhaps a late bloomer. Good for him.
Txbirdfan
Martin’s hitting has improved dramatically since the break. There are reasons to be optimistic about him.
Not really fair to Martin who should be in either AA or maybe AAA.
Agreed. There should be a HUGE difference in expectations for Richie Martin and Chris Davis. Martin is a AA player forced to develop at the MLB level due to the rule 5 draft. Davis is a veteran who had a few years of extraordinary success that got him a ridiculous contract, and has since declined dramatically to the point where he is an embarrassment to himself and the team.