“Even when everything feels like it’s going against you,” said MASN’s Kevin Brown, “there’s still the potential for magic.” As usual, our brilliant home announcer is right.
There were plenty of things about
this game that were just not good enough: insufficient length from the starter, men left on base all game.
But on any given day, this team is capable of flashing greatness. And so they did today, rewarding a brave Baltimore faithful with a four-run comeback win, 6-5, giving them a season series win against Tampa Bay, also 6-5, for the third year in a row. Coby Mayo hit a two-run bomb to tie it in the eighth, and Dylan Beavers walked it off with a ninth-inning flag court homer. Kudos to the rookies; and what a season for Beavers!
Cut to the eighth inning, with the Orioles buried in a 5-2 hole. This felt like it’d be a slow trudge to the finish. But everything changed in a second. Against journeyman Jesse Scholtens, Ryan Mountcastle reached for his third time in three tries with a walk. Jeremiah Jackson singled to move Mounty to third. After a day of failures with RISP, it felt typical and ironic when Mounty scored on Colton Cowser strikeout, the lefty swinging over a breaking pitch that rolled to the backstop (no RBI for the Milkman there).
Out came Scholtens, and in came Kevin Kelly, a 27-year-old righty with a 4.78 ERA. There was nothing fluky about what happened next. Kelly’s first pitch to Coby Mayo was a fastball. Kelly’s first pitch was demolished. Mayo blasted the ball into the left-field seats, tying us up, 5-5.
And while a great bit of drama was wasted when pinch-hitter Adley Rutschman tripled and was stranded, there was still more coming in the ninth.
The Rays stayed with Kelly (why not? Their season is also over), who greeted leadoff hitter Dylan Beavers with an 88-mph cutter. Whatever the right pitch was, this was the wrong pitch.
The Orioles had a walkoff win in their season finale at home.
I don’t want to dwell on the negatives, but let me just say this about Cade Povich. Maybe a great outing wouldn’t have changed a thing for him heading into next year, but as far as season finales go, this one doesn’t leave the 25-year-old lefty in great stead for a future rotation spot.
Povich threw 5 1/3 innings, allowing twelve baserunners, including ten hits, and five runs to finish the year with a 5.12 ERA. It’s not enough. And it keeps looking like the same flawed start.
As for the offense, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a revamped coaching staff on offense. Hitless days were had by Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Alex Jackson and Jorge Mateo, who went a combined 0-for-13. Mateo and Jackson don’t figure to be gigantic parts of the lineup next season, but Westburg and Cowser need a bounceback.
A few kudos in the direction of Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen, who deserves all the flowers for making it back to the mound after three elbow surgeries. Rasmussen was not on top of his game today, and disappointingly, over 2 1/3 short innings the Orioles could not push across a run against him. But it’s been a huge bounceback year for Rasmussen, who finishes the season 10-5 with a 2.76 ERA and should get some votes for AL Comeback Player of the Year.
One other Oriole who is still fighting is Ryan Mountcastle, who plated the Orioles’ only two runs before the eighth inning. After Rasmussen had exited, Mounty took Scholtens deep in the third, fouling off two heaters, then a slider, then cranking a heater the opposite way for a flag-court home. 3-1, Tampa.
Mounty drove in the O’s’ second run in the fifth, too. Beavers walked, Gunnar hit a two-out single, and Ryan Mountcastle’s second opposite-way hit scored Beavers.
I don’t know what next season will bring for Ryan Mountcastle. But this was as fine a valedictory game as you could ask for.
As for other folks on tryouts for next year, relievers Yaramil Hiraldo, Rico García, Kade Strowd and Keegan Akin were fine today, with a combined 3.1 scoreless innings (although García had to do a Houdini, cleaning up his own mess after allowing three hits).
For all the messes we’ve seen this year, this was a high note to end on. There’s lots of promise from this offensive core yet, especially from a promising Dylan Beavers. Maybe next year we can see it all come together.
