Happy Tuesday, Camden Chatters! Did you watch last night’s baseball game between the Orioles and the Red Sox? It was pretty dumb. It’s not that the Orioles lost, which was disappointing but not that surprising. It was the way in which they lost. They made four errors!
A Jeremiah Jackson throwing error allowed a baserunner in the third inning, who later came around to score. Gunnar Henderson also made an error in the inning and didn’t catch a line drive that he probably should have gotten. Shane Baz
pitched pretty well, but in the sixth inning, his throwing error allowed a runner to reach second. That runner ended up scoring. Taylor Ward made an error in the seventh inning that didn’t result in a run, but did cause Jim Palmer to exclaim disgustingly that they were playing terrible baseball.
The sloppy play aided in the loss, which actually saw some pretty good offense from the Orioles. They outhit the Red Sox, 11-10. Henderson doubled thrice. Tyler O’Neill had two hits and two RBI. The new guy, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, had a home run and an RBI single. The biggest disappointment on offense was so-called lefty killer Coby Mayo. Mayo managed to strike out three times against lefty starter Payton Tolle. Come on, Coby! That’s supposed to be the one thing you can do!
Probably the dumbest thing on the basepaths was when Pete Alonso was hit by a pitch and immediately got thrown out trying to steal second base with Henderson on deck. Henderson has his troubles, but he’s already doubled twice against Tolle in the game.
It’s a credit to the lineup that they were able to score five runs without Blaze Alexander, Adley Rutschman, or Samuel Basallo. But since the defense didn’t do its job and the relief pitching wasn’t perfect, it just wasn’t quite enough.
One thing I’ll say is that over the last year I had forgotten what it was like to care so much about baseball game. I like caring, even if it backfired on account of the Orioles playing dumb baseball. I will care again tonight, when the Red Sox try to win their 15th game in a row and the Orioles try to start a new streak.
The newly extended Kyle Bradish is pitching tomorrow for the Orioles. For the Red Sox, it’ll be another tough lefty in Ranger Suarez. Gulp. Game time is 7:10
Links
Orioles battle against red-hot Red Sox, but their 4 errors prove costly – The Baltimore Banner
This is what I’m saying!
Jon Meoli: Kyle Bradish’s extension adds to the good vibes around the Orioles – The Baltimore Banner
I sure hope Bradish brings those good vibes to the ballpark tomorrow.
Orioles place Rutschman on injured list with wrist injury, Basallo day-to-day – Baltimore Baseball
Rutschman is on his third trip to the IL and Basallo is day-to-day with a sore shoulder. Not great, Bob!
AL East Notes: Bassitt, Rodon, Scherzer, Santander – MLB Trade Rumors
I’ll be honest, I forgot Chris Bassitt was on the team. He could be back in mid-August. Great?
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have five Orioles birthday buddies, including Wei-Yin Chen, who turns 41. Chen was signed to a four-year contract after pitching in seven seasons with the Chunichi Dragons in Japan. He made 117 regular-season starts with the Orioles from 2012-2015 and got a very memorable win against the Yankees in game two of the 2012 ALDS.
Also born on this day in history are former Orioles Willie Eyre (48), Mike Bordick (61), Mark Williamson (67), and Moe Drabowsky (b. 1935, d. 2006).
On this day in 1990, Ben McDonald made his first major league start, and did so in style. Big Ben pitched a complete-game shutout against the Chicago White Sox. He allowed just four hits and struck out five. The Orioles won 2-0. It wasn’t his Major League debut; McDonald started his career with 12 games in the bullpen.
On this day in 1996, the Orioles traded Kent Mercker to Cleveland in exchange for Eddie Murray. Murray returned to Baltimore with 491 career home runs. He hit #500 on September 6th. It would have been cool if he ended his career in Baltimore, but he played in 55 games in 1997 for the Angels and Dodgers.
In 2000, the Orioles beat the Blue Jays, 8-5, in Toronto. Per Baseball Reference, this ended a 20-game Canadian losing streak for the Orioles in games against both the Blue Jays and Expos. Their last win in Canada came in June 1998.
One year ago today, the Orioles lost to the Guardians 10-5. Tomoyuki Sugano got knocked out in the fourth inning after allowing four runs, and relief pitcher Grant Wolfram later let things get out of hand. He gave up four runs in the seventh to make it a blowout. Ramón Laureano had two hits, including a home run, and four RBI.
