Aug 7, 2021; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Spenser Watkins (80) throws against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-USA TODAY Sports
BALTIMORE—For the second straight night, the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays were in a close game in the eighth inning, and for the second straight night, the Orioles’ bullpen imploded.
On Friday night, the Orioles and Rays were tied at 5 in the eighth. Paul Fry and Dillon Tate combined to allow five runs in a 10-6 loss.
A night later, Tampa Bay led the Orioles, 5-3, after seven. Dusten Knight and César Valdez combined to allow five runs in the eighth in a 12-3 Rays win before an announced crowd of 18,545 at Oriole Park on Saturday night.
Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam off Valdez, his 24th home run, and Wander Franco hit his fifth.
Valdez replaced Knight with runners on first and second and one out.
Isaac Mattson, who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk before the game, allowed two runs in the ninth.
“I think everybody’s getting an opportunity to pitch,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “That’s all they can really ask for. We’re not throwing the ball well in the ‘pen. We’re inconsistent
“I am looking for guys to pitch. There’s no doubt about it. If you pitch well, you’re going to pitch.”
Tampa Bay Rays starter Shane McClanahan was born and spent the first five years of his life in Baltimore. His first start at Camden Yards was a success. McClanahan pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He allowed just one hit in his last four innings.
It was the Orioles’ fourth straight loss and fourth straight game in which they’ve allowed 10 or more runs for the first time in team history. The Orioles (38-71) have been outscored, 45-13.
“All of our guys have had their moments of good streaks and bad streaks, and that’s really been the theme here for three years.” Hyde said. “We don’t command the ball very well, so we have some good nights, and then we have some bad nights, and that’s just how it’s been … In this division, you have to pitch way better to even compete.”
Yandy Diaz homered to left field against Orioles starter Spenser Watkins to lead off the second. Joey Wendle singled, and Manuel Margot doubled. Wendle scored on Kevin Kiermaier’s grounder to first, and Tampa Bay (67-44) led, 2-0.
The Orioles scored their three runs against McClanahan (6-4) in the bottom of the third. With one out, Jorge Mateo doubled. He stole third and scored on a wild throw by catcher Mike Zunino.
Richie Martin walked, and Cedric Mullins hit his 19th home run of the year. Mullins has hit in 15 straight games.
Nelson Cruz hit a two-run home run in the fifth to put Tampa Bay ahead, 4-3. It was Cruz’s second home run of the series and gave him seven RBIs.
With one out in the sixth, Wendle reached on an error by Martin at shortstop. Wendle moved to second on an infield out by Margot and scored on a double by Brett Phillips.
Watkins (2-3) allowed five runs, four earned, in six innings.
“They’re pesky, they’re phenomenal hitters up and down the lineup,” Watkins said. “There’s really not a spot that you can pick out, and say, ‘OK, I can take a little breath here.’”
Catcher Pedro Severino was removed for the game with a bruised right knee in the fourth inning and replaced by Austin Wynns. Severino will be re-evaluated on Sunday morning.
Hyde said he expected that first baseman Ryan Mountcastle will go on the seven-day concussion injured list on Sunday. Mountcastle was injured on Friday night when he attempted to steal second and was tagged on the head.
Notes: Jorge López (3-12, 5.91 ERA) will face Michael Wacha (2-3, 5.26) on Sunday. … The game started 27 minutes late because of the Orioles’ Hall of Fame induction of J.J. Hardy, Mike Devereaux, broadcaster Joe Angel and superfan Mo Gaba.
Minor League update: Ofelky Peralta pitched six strong innings, allowing two runs on two hits, as Triple-A Norfolk beat Jacksonville, 4-2. Peralta (1-0) walked four and struck out three.
Shortstop Mason McCoy hit his sixth home run, and first baseman J.C. Escarra had two hits.
Cody Sedlock gave up a run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings as Double-A Bowie beat Somerset, 2-1. Sedlock (5-2) struck out five and walked one.
The Baysox had only three hits. One was a first-inning double by leftfielder Yusniel Diaz, which drove in two runs.
Second baseman AJ Graffanino and shortstop Jordan Westburg each drove in two runs as High-A Aberdeen beat Jersey Shore, 5-3. Graffanino had three hits, and Westburg hit his eighth home run of the season.
Zach Watson (2-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief, allowing two hits and striking out three.
Centerfielder Colton Cowser was 2-for-4 with two RBIs as the Orioles’ Florida Complex League Black team beat the FCL Orange team, 7-3. Cowser, the Orioles’ first-round draft choice in 2021, is 6-for-9 in three games with a home run and five RBIs.
Low-A Delmarva’s game with Down East was postponed. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday.
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I've avoided tearing into Elias as much as some others and still admire what he's doing with the talent level at the lower levels(again--lower level) of the Orioles minor league system BUT(yeah you knew there was gonna be a "but") what he's doing pitching-wise between Norfolk and Baltimore is atrocious. There have been bad pitchers come through organizations before but EVERY pitcher? Come on now. Who's NOT doing their homework? This is an embarrassing clown show. Saber-metrics/analyitics whatever the hell you wanna call them are proving to be crap. Hitters swinging at everything,outfielders afraid to communicate,IFers out of position,and of course this vile pitching corp which has been stinking up the downtown area for years. Poor performances are expected- but by everybody all the time? Mr. Elias close your laptop,get on the phone/twitter,etc. gather your boys and rethink what you're doing between Norfolk and Baltimore.
Oh my! My, my, my, my, my...Clown show and vile! Evil clowns are the worst.
Pitching has been bad the past four games but the Os are 10-9 since the All Star Break. Not every pitcher is bad, not every pitcher currently struggling will continue to struggle indefinitely. The "by everybody all the time?" is worthy of a Snickers recommendation obviously. Means, T Wells, Sulser, and even DiPlan all say "Howdy Orial!"
If the special sauce plan of Elias and Holt isn't working/not being executed to expectations, pretty sure they will reevaluate and modify their approach. The approach might be solid, but execution of the approach not working currently. My personal opinion is the Elias/Holt pitching strategy doesn't work too well if the pitcher doesn't have 95+ mph FB.
I must say I do admire your patience when it comes to witnessing this ongoing conveyor belt of atrocious,vile,disgusting, embarrassing pitching that has a plagued this organization. Sure we have a few promising moments but they always get washed away with the very next outing. Again power to you and your stead-fastness.
Joey, I hate to call your bluff, but we have more than a couple of failing pitchers that bring a 95+ mph FB to the table.
BTW .... I'm still waiting to hear what you thought of my minimum wager list of decent-enough-pitchers that were for the taking this past offseason that Elias ignored? Still calling my bluff? Why the silence?
How he rolls...go O’s...
Chickenspit. Likes to punch you in the back of the head and run like hell.
How do you get a concussion when tagged on the head wearing a helmet. I guess it wasn’t a tag but a hammer. You gotta feel sorry for Hyde having to put on a brave face every night. That’s why Elias got him no experienced manager would be willing to go thru this. Will he be here when Adley, Rodriguez and Cowser arrive. He deserves it putting up with all this crap
Sissy kids?
Nah ..it's a different world from when we were young. What we called a headache, is now called a concussion.
We were ignorant of the danger. All you have to do is look at so many retired NFL players that are having problems to know that being a tough guy and sucking it up, may not be the smartest way to react to that "headache".
Cal is laughing at the thought of missing time for that!
Was Cal laughing at Brian Roberts when he missed what I recall as the better half of a season with a concussion issue? (I think it was Roberts...please anyone...correct me if I'm wrong)
Totally agree, head injuries aren’t what they were in the day, scared to think how concussions I’ve had, seeing stars, concussed...from what I’ve seen of Mountcastle he’d be out there if he could, the other infielders for the Rays actually stuck around to see if Ryan was ok, Franco was the only one to run off the field...go O’s...
Actually, Rich corrected me in the past when I expressed a similar opinion about who in the world would want the O’s manager job. He said MLB manager positions are few, and therefore highly coveted. Apparently there would be many applicants for the job.
I could do it! My Strat-O-Matic resume speaks for itself!
I think Hyde is part of the problem, as is Elias and Holt.
Watkins didn’t pitch that bad. Cruz got him but other than that. Looked pretty good. Why is Valdez still on the team? Get rid of him. Teams have a book on him. Game could’ve been somewhat close without him coming in and putting gas on a fire.
Pretty small book, he really throws two pitches, don’t care what they have on him, he’s not good, someone else could be trying to pitch, at this point the brass doesn’t care...go O’s...
Look everything at triple a Diaz,Kramer, Akin are all DD in fact most of the Prospects at AAA are Duquette in the army we had a saying you can’t shine s..t well I think at triple a and indeed for at least a third of the major league roster that applies which just goes to show the absolute dearth of talent in the upper system
Here’s the problem. If we’d have kept Nellie, we possibly could be going for a sweep today.
Just kidding. Sort of.
As much as Cruz has hurt us with the bat, I was most impressed when I saw this 41 year old, that the O’s thought was at the end of the line in 2014, stretch a single into a head first sliding double. And it wasn’t DJ in left field either. Hays made a great play on the ball and Nellie was hustling from the crack of the bat to beat it out. He’s a pro’s pro.
When are we getting those “top tier free agents”? Just kidding.
We’re all going to wait for things to turn around. I’ll still watch and listen to as many games I can. I’ll still expect 2022 to be bumpy and hope competitive ball will surface in 2023.
This sucks and I am terribly frustrated at the level of play, basement dwelling status and seeming lack of quality players. We are all suffering through this tragedy together.
Something so systemically broken, deeply flawed and myopically under managed will take a correspondingly long period of time to correct.
Yes, some will provide examples of other teams who competed well during a rebuild. Statistics will be cited to prove that “the plan” isn’t working. Good, rewarding things are difficult but worthwhile.
I’m not pollyanna nor a kool aid drinking cultist who believes Elias is a messianic prophet, but I do think there’s a ton of good stuff happening behind the curtain.
Just some thoughts. Y’all will correct them, I’m sure.
Sunday afternoon observation:
If you can’t throw strikes you shouldn’t be in the pros....
Are you reading this, Fry and Tate?
Sorry to say but “ O’s bullpen unravels again…” is becoming sort of a mantra! Rich, you might as well just use that as an opening for any post that describes Oriole game action. Case in point… Lopez does a good job (6 ip, 2 runs. ), Sulser comes in and promptly gives up a HR. He gets replaced by Fry who gives up a hit and walks 3 (walking in a run in the process). Tate comes in gets a fly out but a run scores but follows that up with (take guess) a walk… bases loaded again and the Phillips hits a grand slam! Admit it… it’s become a hopeless situation.
Cut & paste the headline for tomorrow....nothing else to say...go O’s...
Slow pitch softball pitchers have better ERA's than some of these guys....until we get good pitching or move the fences back 60 feet we will continue to endure this.