After 46 years of watching Orioles baseball, I thought I had seen every ending to a baseball game possible. Walk-off home runs, balks, errors, singles, wild pitches, you name it. But a walk-off pop-up that was almost caught, called foul, then overturned on review? With the opposing team walking off the field before the call was even made? That’s a new one for me.
After a lackluster game from the Orioles’ offense, they did just enough in the end. It took 11 innings, but thanks to the weirdo walk-off,
it was a 3-2 victory.
Starter Kyle Bradish allowed a run in the top of the first inning when he allowed three baserunners, ending with an RBI single through the 5.5 hole by veteran Andrew McCutchen. Even with the baserunners, it didn’t feel like too bad of an inning. Only one hit, a Spencer Horowitz double, was hit hard. He walked one, but two of the pitches were borderline.
And after those first-inning speed bumps, Bradish went on cruise control. He retired the side in order in both the second and third innings, with three strikeouts.
There was a little trouble in the fourth inning, when Bradish issued a leadoff walk, followed by a two-out single from Oneil Cruz. But Bradish was right back at it after those two baserunners. He got a groundout to end the inning, then had two more 1-2-3 innings. He came back out for the seventh inning and, after a leadoff single, struck out the next two batters. An easy fly out by Cam Devanny ended the inning and Bradish’s night.
It’s great to see Bradish pick up right back where he was before his injury. You can poo poo the quality of the Pirates’ lineup if you like, but it’s still a major-league lineup. Bradish’s final pitching line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K. He threw 81 pitches. In three starts this year, Bradish has pitched 17 innings with five runs allowed. He has 21 strikeouts and four walks.
Less inspiring in this game was the Orioles’ offense. Starter Mike Burrows lasted just four innings, but they were effective innings. The Orioles looked good early as they tied the game in the bottom of the first. Jackson Holliday and Jeremiah Jackson started the game with back-to-back singles, then Holliday came in to score on a sac fly from Ryan Mountcastle. After that, the zeroes began to pile up.
Over Burrows’s final three innings, just one Oriole reached when Gunnar Henderson took a fourth-inning walk. Burrows threw just 56 pitches and looked to me like he could keep going. But his last few games have been relief appearances so they probably didn’t want him pitching too long. His final line: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K.
Braxton Ashcraft replaced Burrows and the Orioles didn’t do a whole lot against him either. In three innings, Ashcraft gave up two hits and two walks. Luckily for the Orioles, one of those hits was Jeremiah Jackson’s 5th home run of the season. It gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead. One run isn’t much of a lead. Would it be enough? No, it would not. (Both walks were to Dylan Beavers. That kid can walk)
Rico Garcia pitched an excellent top of the eighth. In the bottom half, they blew the chance to get insurance runs. They shouldn’t have done that. Holliday singled, then Jeremiah Jackson got hit by a pitch. It nailed his back elbow and looked pretty painful. He came out of the game; however, he would have been lifted for Daniel Johnson at that point anyway.
Gunnar Henderson took the count to 3-0, then ultimately struck out. He thought strike one should have been ball four, but he was wrong. It was right on the edge of the zone. Mountcastle threw cold water on the rally with an inning-ending double play.
For the ninth inning, Tony Mansolino turned to the recently improved Yennier Cano for the save. His improvement was not on display tonight. The first batter he faced was Tommy Pham, who homered. Johnson made a great attempt at the wall in left field, but it wasn’t enough. It was just the start of shaky bullpen pitching.
Cano did get two outs, then Keegan Akin came in to face Oneil Cruz. Cruz is batting .105 against lefties this year, .173 in his career. Naturally, Akin walked him. He walked the next guy, too. Get it together, Keegan! He did, with a Devanney strikeout to end the inning.
The Orioles went quietly in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings. They went embarrassingly in the 10th. Former Oriole Isaac Mattson came into the game in the 10th and the Orioles looked poised to walk things off. Beavers bunted the extra runner, Jorge Mateo, to third base, then pinch-hitter Dylan Carlson and Holliday both walked, Holliday intentionally.
Daniel Johnson, who replaced Jeremiah Jackson after he was hit by a pitch, was not up to the task of the Mattson fastball. He struck out. That brought Henderson to the plate. He did not have a great at-bat. His groundout ended the inning.
A hero of this game was relief pitcher Dietrich Enns. Enns walked the first batter he faced in the top of the 10th, but induced a ground ball double play. The free runner moved up to third base, but Enns struck out Bryan Reynolds swinging to strand him.
Enns was back at it in the 11th and he made it look easy. He got all three batters quickly, ending with another strikeout. He sent it back to the bottom of the inning and finally, the offense came through.
Henderson started the inning as the free runner and moved to third on a hard hit single by Mountcastle. The Pirate elected to walk Colton Cowser intentionally to set up a force at any base. That brought Big Samuel Basallo to the plate, looking for his second walk-off hit in five days. Last Friday, he sent everyone home happy with a monster home run. Today, it looked a little different.
On a 1-2 count with the bases loaded, Basallo hit a pop-up to shallow left. It faded towards the foul line and Pham raced over. He slid in his attempt to catch the ball and couldn’t make the play. The ball was called a foul, but it was very, very close. The Orioles had lost their challenge earlier in the game, but the umpires opted for a crew chief review.
As the replay was shown on the big screen, everyone saw the chalk spray up. Henderson grinned from third base. Pham and the other Pirates walked off the field. Finally, the umpire came on mic to tell everyone that the ball was fair and he was placing Henderson, the winning run, at home. The delayed celebration began, and the Orioles put one in the win column.
