Two things have been true about the Orioles this season: their defense is terrible, and they can’t hit lefties. Both of these issues were front and center in tonight’s loss to the Athletics. Starting pitcher Kyle Bradish was as good as he’s looked all year, but the offense managed just four hits against the A’s pitching staff. The end result, a 4-3 loss, is the Orioles’ seventh in their last nine games.
Bradish breezed through the first four innings. Three of those four innings were of the 1-2-3 variety. In the third, he hit a batter and allowed an infield single. Through four, Bradish had struck out six batters.
The only problem through four innings was that the A’s pitcher, Jacob Lopez, was giving the Orioles batters as tough a time as Bradish was giving the A’s. It was frustrating to watch as Lopez came into the game with a 6.60 ERA. The first inning started off in a promising way when Lopez walked Gunnar Henderson and gave up a single to Adley Rutschman. But with runners on the corners, neither Pete Alonso nor Tyler O’Neill could bring in a run.
The Orioles remembered that they do not hit lefties. Starting with the first-inning Alonso pop-out, Lopez retired nine straight. But when Alonso came back up in the fourth, he did not miss. On a first-pitch change up, Alonso went to the opposite field with a 107 mph laser. It just snuck inside the out of town scoreboard for his 8th home run of the year. The Orioles were up, 1-0. The lead did not last very long.
In the fifth, Bradish stumbled a little. And that, combined with the previously mentioned bad defense, was enough to put the Orioles in a hole. Jacob Wilson started the inning with a ground ball hit just 78.8 mph up the first base line. Alonso was playing well off the line and managed to get a glove on it with a diving stop, but couldn’t come up with the ball.
Ok, no big deal. Bradish has been dealing after all. The next batter, Lawrence Butler, hit another soft ball that fell into left field for another single. It was then that the defense decided to rear its ugly head. Manager Craig Albernaz called for the corners to play in to defend against the bunt. But the A’s did not bunt and Zach Gelof grounded a ball past Gunnar Henderson, who had been moving towards third base on the pitch.
That play tied the game and left runners on first and second for Jeff McNeil. McNeil grounded a ball up the middle, right to where Henderson was playing. It looked like an easy double play ball, but the ball kicked off the heel of his glove. Jeremiah Jackson grabbed the deflected ball and got the out at first, but the runners moved up to second and third.
That brought Nick Kurtz to the plate, and finally Bradish gave up a hard hit. Kurtz lined a ball into the right field corner, where it rattled around a bit. Tyler O’Neill chased it down in what I wouldn’t call an efficient manner. Kurtz landed on third base with both runners knocked in. The A’s were up, 3-1.
After the fifth inning, Bradish went right back to dominating. He struck out two more in the sixth inning and worked around a two-out walk. His final inning, the seventh, was 1-2-3. Bradish struck out one more to finish the night with double digits. His final pitching line: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 10 K. I think with better defensive decisions and performance behind him, he would have allowed just one run.
Two runs down wasn’t that many, and Adley Rutschman got one back with a home run into the bullpen. His fifth homer of the year was a beaut, hit 100.9 mph off the bat. It landed 401 feet later in Yennier Cano’s glove. That cut the lead to one and drove Lopez out of the game. The Orioles got to him for just three hits and two walks, though two of those hits were homers. I had hoped for more against this pitcher.
With that, the game was turned over to the bullpens, and once again, the A’s prevailed.
For the Orioles, Trey Gibson came out of the ’pen. Gibson was just called up today when Cade Povich was placed on the injured list. He started the eighth inning and was greeted by Shea Langoliers, who smoked a ball to left field for a single. Gibson then induced a groundout back to himself. But he made a low throw to second base, which kept Henderson from being able to get the ball to first for the double play.
Brent Rooker followed with another hard hit single, then Gibson got a fly ball out and was one out from getting out of it. But Jacob Wilson slapped a ball to the right side that the diving Alonso couldn’t get. That drove in a run to make the score 4-2. Gibson followed with a scoreless ninth.
The A’s bullpen has been below average this year, but just like with Jacob Lopez, you’d never know watching tonight. Justin Sterner, and Scott Barlow followed Lopez with 2.2 perfect innings, which brought us to the bottom of the ninth. Jack Perkins was on to try for the save, scheduled to face Rutschman, Alonso, and O’Neill.
Adley continued to do Adley things. He worked a five-pitch walk. Unfortunately, Alonso did not do Alonso things. He struck out swinging. Dylan Beavers came on to pinch-hit for O’Neill and also struck out, with Rutschman moving up to second base on defensive indifference.
The Orioles were down to their final out with Samuel Basallo coming to the plate. Basallo hadn’t started the game, but pinch-hit for DH Coby Mayo in the seventh. He had a great at-bat, battling some before sending a ball back up the middle for an RBI single. Leody Taveras walked to put the winning run on base, but Jeremiah Jackson couldn’t come through.
It was an exciting ending, but a loss all the same. Orioles lose, 4-3. These two teams are back in action tomorrow at 4 p.m. with Shane Baz facing off against Aaron Civale.
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