The Orioles finally took one at Progressive Field behind a solid Morton, a two-run Ramón Laureano homer, and a clutch hit by Gunnar Henderson.
This was a very efficient ballgame. That’s not the sexiest word to use about a baseball game, but here it’s true. The starters gave up three runs each, the O’s went up 4-3 on a Gunnar Henderson seventh-inning single (off a lefty!), and the lead held! The Birds avoided a sweep and ended the season series with Cleveland, all in a tidy two hours and thirty-seven minutes.
Today, I confess that I was watching to see if I could detect signs that veteran starter Charlie Morton is trying to pitch himself off the team and get flipped to a contender, but the evidence is mixed. Morton allowed three runs over 6 2/3 innings, which isn’t wow in the box score, but two were on solo home runs by lefty Steven Kwan, the other on a pair of singles, a walk, and a sac fly to the top of the order. When it came to Cleveland’s No. 4-9 hitters, Morton held them 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts. He also threw a season-high 107 pitches. What a pro.
As for the Orioles, facing more of their Kryptonite—an unremarkable lefty starter—in Cleveland’s Logan Allen, they kicked off the scoring early, then settled into a deep slumber for six innings.
The good part—a three-run rally in the first inning—goes like this: Jordan Westburg, getting a rare start as the leadoff hitter (why not?—whatever works against a southpaw), reached on an infield single. With Ramón Laureano at the plate, Westy executed a hit-and-run, taking off speedily for second—but he didn’t need to. Laureano cranked his 14th home run of the season, tying Jackson Holliday for the team lead.
The Orioles added a run when Tyler O’Neill singled (welcome back to the fight, Mr. Canada) and Ramón Urías hit an RBI double that scored him. No disrespect to Mr. Reliable, but this was a blown play by Cleveland centerfielder Angel Martínez, who broke in and then watched Urías’s drive sail over his head. All good, we’ll take the runs.
Then, as we’ve seen too many times, the offense went into a slumber, with just two hits off Allen between the second and seventh innings (a pair of singles by O’Neill, 2-for-4 today, and Henderson). Urías missed a home run by a foot. If you asked the broadcasting booth’s Dave Johnson, an overly wide strike zone by home plate ump Phil Cuzzi was partly to blame (“He’s having a bad day out there,” said Johnson of the man in black). But them’s the breaks!
Meanwhile, against the O’s Morton, Cleveland clawed back to a tie in the third and fifth innings. Morton hung a curveball that Steven Kwan mashed into the bleachers, a ball Morton didn’t even bother to turn around to watch. Then he allowed two straight singles and a walk, earning a mound visit. But with the bases loaded and one out, Morton limited the damage. One fly ball sailed to the warning track, dazzling Laureano in the sun, but the O’s talented outfielder twisted around his body and made the off-balance catch. Cleveland cut the gap to 3-2 on that sac fly. But a shallow fly ball was tracked down by O’Neill with no problem, and the inning was over.
Morton erased the side swinging in the fourth, all on curveballs: third baseman Will Wilson fanned on a big one dropping out of the zone, shortstop Brayan Rocchio swung over another low-and-away, and catcher Austin Hedges got caught staring at a third. It was ice-cold by the 41-year-old Morton.
Then, just as the booth was commenting how Steven Kwan has hit Morton well in his past, the outfielder took Morton deep for a second time today, and we had ourselves a tie ballgame in the fifth.
Now, I don’t know how much you know about Alex Jackson, the sixth man to don the catcher’s mask for the Orioles given a rash of injuries, but the backup backstop came through today on both sides of the plate. In the sixth, Jackson did his pitcher a huge solid by throwing out Ramírez in a timely strike-‘em’-out, throw-‘em-out double play. Then he doubled in the seventh inning to drive the starter Allen from the game and kick-start a rally.
After Jackson’s double, Cleveland put in another lefty, Erik Sabrowski. Sabrowski walked Westburg, giving himself a lefty-lefty matchup in Gunnar Henderson. Earlier today, the MASN broadcast booth had talked about Henderson being frustrated at the plate lately, but I admit, I didn’t see anything wrong with him! In a big two-out situation, Gunnar came through, breaking the 3-3 tie with an RBI single.
With closer Félix Bautista on the shelf with a sore shoulder (everyone please crack open your Jobu shrines and feed him some rum), we needed the backend bullpen to step up. And today, it did. With two on, two out, Seranthony Domínguez rung up the 39-year-old Carlos Santana, pinch-hitting in the No. 7 spot, on a diving monstrosity of a pitch. (Poor Jacob Stallings, now behind the plate. I’d hate to catch Domínguez. But it was a great inning for him!)
Then the notoriously unreliable Gregory Soto had himself the ninth inning. Well, the notoriously unreliable Soto earned himself a save today, his first (!) of the season. Soto struck out Brayan Rocchio and pinch-hitter David Fry, then allowed an infield ground ball to Steven Kwan that trickled over to third base. Urías picked it, fired all the way across the diamond from foul territory, and just beat the speedy Kwan. His defense is so solid.
Kudos are deserved by several Orioles today. Charlie Morton played the series stopper with a gritty 6 2/3 innings. Gunnar Henderson reached base three times against a trio of lefties and drove in the winning run. Ramón Laureano hit a two-run homer. Ramón Urías hit an RBI double and played great defense. Unsung catcher Alex Jackson doubled to start the winning rally and threw out a basestealer, and Gregory Soto earned his first season save. (Most Birdland Player voters, you have your work cut out for you.)
This team still hasn’t figured out the art of winning baseball this season, but every now and then, they deliver a gem like this. You love to see it.