Baltimore bats once again baffled by left-handed pitcher in 4-0 loss to Royals

The Orioles wasted a quality start from Tomoyuki Sugano as the Royals silence the O’s offense in their Game 2 victory

The Baltimore bats were once again completely stymied by left-handed pitching, as the Orioles’ offense couldn’t pick up starter Tomoyuki Sugano in a 4-0 loss to the Royals.

The O’s had their best scoring chance in the bottom of the 1st against Kansas City lefty Kris Bubic. The Royals starter walked Adley Rutschman on six pitches and Gunnar Henderson followed it up by slapping a single down the third base line and away from KC’s shift.

Ryan Mountcastle would then strike out looking on a fastball at the knees, putting the pressure on DH Ryan O’Hearn. The former Royal got a slider over the plate, but could only launch it as far as the right field warning track, leaving Rutschman stranded at second.

From there on, the claps of thunder during the 57-minute rain delay in the 2nd were the loudest thing Baltimore could generate. The 1st inning proved to be the last time the Orioles had two runners on in the same frame, as they continued to show why they’re baseball’s worst offense against southpaws.

Ramón Laureano reached on a high-hopping single up the middle to lead off the 2nd, only to be erased on a Heston Kjerstad double play ball. O’Hearn got on thanks to a two-out, broken-bat roller to third in the 4th and Emmanuel Rivera lofted a softly-hit single to CF in the 5th—only for both to end up stranded. Soft contact was the theme of the night against Bubic, as the O’s only averaged an 82.5mph exit velocity against the crafty lefty.

The only real offensive “standout” for Baltimore Saturday was Henderson, with the star shortstop putting up his second three-hit game of the season. After the slapped single in the 1st, he reached on two rocket ground balls in the 6th and 8th. After going a measly 9-for-42 (.214) in his first 10 games, Gunnar is hitting .276 since with an eight-game hitting streak.

Sugano only made two mistakes all night, but ended up [wearing the loss/taking the no-decision] despite another overall strong performance. The 35-year-old looked well on his way to a Maddux as he cruised through the first three innings. He set down the Royals’ top of the order on nine pitches in the 1st, including punching out All-Star Bobby Witt Jr. on a great sweeper away.

The rain delay created some doubt as to whether Sugano would come back and build on that excellent first, but he came back out without issue and continued to control the KC bats. Maikel Garcia led off the 2nd with a single to left off the end of his bat. Sugano then rolled a pitcher’s best friend, getting Michael Massey to hit a sharp grounder right to Jorge Mateo at second, who turned a 4-6-3 double play.

Sugano started off the 3rd with a punch out of Cavan Biggio, getting the veteran utility man to swing over a sinker down and away. After inducing back-to-back groundouts from the Royals’ 8 and 9 hitters, the Orioles’ de facto ace was through three innings on just 24 pitches.

The rookie finally ran into trouble in the 4th. He made his first real mistake of the night to Jonathan India, giving up a lead-off double on a sweeper that caught too much of the plate. Sugano almost got out of the inning after getting Witt to ground to the pitcher before K’ing Vinny Pasquantino on a nasty splitter. However, Garcia got the better of him once again, taking a well-executed Sugano curveball and flipping it into center to drive home India.

Tommy Sugar made his second mistake an inning later. With one out, he tried to sneak a first-pitch fastball past Biggio. Instead, the son of a Hall of Famer jumped on the heater and snuck it over the right-center fence for a solo blast.

The Biggio bomb would be the last hit Sugano allowed, though he had to work around a pair of walks in the 6th to keep the score at 2-0. He finished with a final line of 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB and 4 Ks. It was Sugano’s third quality start in his last four outings, but ended up being his second loss of the season.

The bullpen couldn’t match Sugano’s quality, further deepening the deficit and making the offense’s task all the more difficult. Bryan Baker worked a scoreless 7th, but things got messy in the 8th with Seranthony Dominguez on the mound. The flamethrowing righty ended up throwing gas on the Orioles’ funeral pyre, allowing solo HRs to 9 hitter Kyle Isbel and Pasquantino. The solo shots saw the Royals double their lead to 4-0.

Cionel Pérez relieved Dominguez and got the last out in the 8th. The volatile lefty came back out for the 9th and worked around a walk to put up a scoreless inning. After posting a 10.80 ERA over his first nine appearances, Pérez now has three consecutive scoreless outings.

The loss Saturday felt all too similar to the losses the Orioles suffered against the Royals last postseason. Much of the talk this year has been about the failures of the pitching staff, but the pitching staff was more than good enough tonight. Instead, it was the bats whose horrendous showing doomed the O’s in this one.

In the two playoff games last year, the O’s managed one run on 11 hits. Through two games in this series, they’ve managed three runs on 15 hits, but have often looked just as meek at the plate. To end the game, the recently recalled Coby Mayo provided the perfect metaphor for this offense’s outlook, with the Orioles’ most major-league-ready prospect flailing at strike three for the final out.