Mama said there’d be days like this. The Orioles pitching staff had no answers for what is not a very good Oakland offense.
It was one of the most insanely idiotic games in recent memory, and everyone that watched it is now dumber for having endured it. The Orioles were obliterated 19-8 by the Athletics on Saturday, and may God have mercy on their souls.
This was the Orioles’ worst performance of the season, and I sure hope that no other game comes close. Every orange-clad pitcher that stepped on the mound got absolutely ambushed by the Athletics’ offense, an offense that entered the day at or near the bottom of the league in all major categories. It was embarrassing.
O’s starter Cade Povich seemingly had no idea where the ball was coming out of his hand from pitch one. The rookie walked the first two batters he faced, and then served up a three-run homer to Brent Rooker. He returned for the second inning, and once again got into trouble, this time with a single and double followed by another three-run bomb.
At 6-0, the game was not lost just yet, but it was up to Povich to show who he was a little bit. Could he eat some innings and take one for the team? Apparently not. He walked the following hitter, coughed up a single, and that is when Brandon Hyde pulled the plug on his day.
Growing pains are going to come for rookie pitchers. Povich experienced a big one here. He got no whiffs on 14 swings. That’s a little alarming! And the contact that was made was quite hard (average exit velocity of 90.4 mph). There is no getting around it. He was bad. But one start does not make a career. Up to this point, the 24-year-old had been solid, even good, in his debut season. Now it’s up to him to figure out what went wrong and adjust.
Povich was not alone in his struggles on the bump. Two veterans, Dillon Tate and Cole Irvin, also stunk. Tate gave up four runs on six hits and a strikeout over his two innings of work. While Irvin gobbled up four frames, and surrendered five runs on five hits, three walks, and four strikeouts.
Tate’s outing was kind of a bummer. The Orioles likely had hopes this season of Tate returning to a late-inning role that saw him pitching in some of the game’s biggest moments. But Hyde’s usage of him would seem to indicate that that trust is all but gone. He entered in the second inning with two runners on and no outs. For the Orioles to have any hope, he needed to stem the bleeding and strand those runners. He was unable to do so, and instead the floodgates opened.
Irvin’s numbers are ugly. But by the time he came into the game, this one was already out of hand. The Orioles just needed him to serve as a long man and take his lumps. In that way, he succeeded. But if Irvin was hoping to prove that he should re-take a starting role anytime soon, that very much did not happen. If anything, he proved that he is now in the right spot.
James McCann made a pitching appearance as well. The O’s backup catcher came on for the eighth inning as a personified white flag. On the plus side, it took him only 10 pitches to get three outs, but unfortunately he did mix a two-run homer in-between outs two and three. Even still, it was the team’s most successful pitching performance of the day.
Now, what I am not going to do is turn this awful day of pitching into an argument that the Orioles need any more pitching help now than they did at first pitch. Clearly, things did not go well in this game. And the Orioles do need more arms! But this is not a cause and effect situation. It was a bad game that does not reflect the actual abilities of any of the pitchers that did appear in the game.
On offense, the O’s actually did some really good things! They scored eight runs, collected 16 hits (only two fewer than the A’s), and walked five times (only one fewer than the A’s). There is no real point in going play-by-play since it was more of a side dish to the entree that was the team’s pitching meltdown. But at least the bats didn’t lay down without a fight. In fact, they ended the game with a higher xBA than the Athletics (.334 vs. .330).
Gunnar Henderson went 2-for-2 with a walk. Adley Rutschman hit a three-run homer. Ryan Mountcastle hit his first homer since June 7. Heston Kjerstad came off the bench to collect a pair of hits. Austin Hays and Jordan Westburg both doubled. On a normal day, that would be a whole bunch of production, but unfortunately it happened on a day where the opponent lapped the O’s (and then some).
Watching this game was not an ideal way to spend my Saturday afternoon. But it was such a laugher that it feels more like something you shake your head at and move on from rather than dwell. There is still a series to win here.
The O’s and A’s will play their final matchup ever at Oakland Coliseum on Sunday. Grayson Rodriguez (10-3, 3.45 ERA) takes the hill to face off with righty Mitch Spence (5-4, 4.15). First pitch is at 4:07 ET on MASN 2.