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BALTIMORE—A handful of Orioles remained in their dugout to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate their seventh consecutive National League West title.
Manager Brandon Hyde wasn’t one of them. He’s been part of many celebrations with the Chicago Cubs, and as he entered the auxiliary clubhouse for his postgame media session, Hyde could hear the Dodgers yelling in the adjacent visiting clubhouse.
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A crowd of 12,356, which included 233 dogs on Bark at Oriole Park Night, watched the Dodgers gather on the field after the game and change into their NL West champion T-shirts.
Most of those here were wearing Dodger blue, including 91-year-old patriarch Tommy Lasorda.
Hyde considered the Los Angeles 7-3 clinching win over the Orioles to be a teaching moment.
Walker Buehler seemed to be toying with the Orioles. He allowed just four singles in seven innings, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 11.
“I think I might have said in the third or fourth inning, I’m glad our guys are watching this because this is what it looks like in October,” Hyde said.
“That’s what it looks like on the mound in October. Those are the types of guys you face on a nightly basis and then the bullpens are loaded up, also.
“So it just shows you how good you have to be. And you look at the athleticism on the field with those guys and [Max Muncy and Justin] Turner aren’t even in there. But they have so many moveable pieces. They put together a really good roster the last handful of years.”
The Dodgers scored four runs against Orioles starter Ty Blach in the first, highlighted by a three-run home run by Corey Seager, who hit a two-run homer in the third.
Blach allowed six runs on nine hits in 2 1/3 innings. The last three Orioles starters have failed to complete three innings.
“I felt like I was making a lot of good pitches,” Blach said. “They just kept battling, kept fouling pitches off, got me deep in the counts. They didn’t chase anything out of the zone. They just leveraged a couple of pitches.”
Blach, who pitched against the Dodgers when he was with the San Francisco Giants for the past four seasons, had a 4-2 record with a 2.82 ERA against them entering the game.
“It’s been one of those years,” Blach said. “Just leaving a few pitches over the plate maybe. They’re just taking advantage of some pitches they can leverage. They’re a good hitting team. They always have been. They swing the bats. Every guy in the lineup can hurt you so you have to be on top of your game when you face them.”
Hyde used six relievers to complete the game. The only one to allow a run was Tanner Scott, who gave up Gavin Lux’s first major league home run in the sixth. Lux was named Baseball America’s Minor League Baseball Player of the Year.
Only in the second, when Hanser Alberto and Mason Williams got consecutive two-out singles, did the Orioles get a runner to second against Buehler.
“That was just a clinic from first inning through the seventh for him,” Hyde said. “Four pitches for strikes, locating everything. I haven’t seen the video, but it didn’t seem like he missed a spot the whole night. He’s able to elevate when he wants to, he’s able to throw a two-seamer, cutter and a really good curveball. Seen it before. And he’s not going to walk you, so you’ve got to get hits off him. That was just a straight pitching clinic tonight.”
DJ Stewart’s first home run of the season against Casey Sadler in the eighth prevented the Orioles’ ninth shutout of the season. Renato Nunez’s RBI single scored Chance Sisco, and Trey Mancini scored on A.J. Pollock’s throwing error.
The Orioles’ loss was their sixth straight, and they’ve dropped nine of 10. They’re 46-98.
Bowie down, 1-0: The Trenton Thunder defeated the Bowie Baysox, 6-2, to win the first game of the Eastern League championship series.
Michael Baumann allowed two runs on five hits, walking five and striking out six in 3 2/3 innings. Zack Muckenhirn gave up four runs, three earned in 2 1/3.
The Baysox scored two runs in three innings against Jordan Montgomery, who had Tommy John surgery and is on minor league rehab. Two other rehabbing New York Yankees relievers, Dellin Betances and Stephen Tarpley, threw scoreless innings for Trenton.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Trenton. Cody Sedlock pitches against another rehabbing Yankees starter, Luis Severino.
Harvey waiting: Hunter Harvey hasn’t pitched since he faced a batter at Tampa Bay on September 2. Hyde says he’s being careful with him. “He just had a little bit of soreness and we wanted to stay away for him for a while,” he said.
Hyde wasn’t specific about Harvey’s soreness but said he should be available to pitch this series.
Hyde on Orioles’ changes: Hyde has been through a rebuild with the Chicago Cubs, and he’s involved in another one with the Orioles. General manager Mike Elias has dismissed 25 people in the organization in the last few weeks, with more departures likely to come.
“I think change is hard, and we’ve gone through it before,” Hyde said. “I knew a few of those guys, and they are great guys and wonderful to me. So, it’s never easy when these days happen for anybody.
“Our primary focus … is our club here. But organizationally we keep tabs on what’s going on. I haven’t talked to any of the players about some of the guys that got let go but, yeah, it’s just never a good feeling. But these are the things that happen when there is a shift in the organization and a shift in philosophy and starting fresh and getting new people in here.”
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