A late three-run homer and a horrible Jacob Webb and Dillon Tate tandem spoiled Rodriguez’s pitching line, the defense was silly, and a late offensive explosion fell just short.
Baseball is “beautiful and horrifying,” like injured O’s starter John Means said the other day. How else to describe an MLB debut by Houston rookie Jake Bloss necessitated by pitching injuries that ended after 3 2/3 innings with Bloss grimacing as he grabbed his hurt shoulder? Eh. . . maybe more horrifying than beautiful tonight.
Ditto Grayson Rodriguez pacing in the dugout while a random injury to the home plate ump delayed the game, then giving up a three-run home run to lose the lead an inning later. Or Rodriguez leaving the game with two runners on in the sixth before an incompetent tandem of Jacob Webb and Dillon Tate allowed eight more runs to come home. A nine-run sixth-inning meltdown: I’d call it the worst inning of Orioles baseball I’ve seen all season (of course, I’ll take suggestions if anyone can think of a worse one).
Beautiful, a little bit, though, to see the Orioles, down 14-3, bring terror to Houston fans with eight late runs on four home runs. By the time Anthony Santander cracked his 11th of the month to make it 14-11 Houston in the eighth, radio announcer Geoff Arnold crowed, Houston, you’ve got a problem! What are we WATCHING?
The rally fell short, but in the end, it wasn’t all for naught: any game in which you build up an eleven-run lead and still have to use six pitchers is a loss in my book. (Like, half a loss.) A tired Houston ‘pen will certainly help the O’s cause tomorrow. Also, the Yankees got spanked for the second straight game, falling 8-1 to Atlanta, so no ground was lost in the AL East race.
But yeah, a lot of shenanigans tonight. If you have a strong stomach, by all means, read on.
Jake Bloss hadn’t pitched a game above Double-A in his life, and as the lame, anxious, superstitious baseball fan that I am—I learned it in the days the Orioles were bad, forgive me—I had a narrative ready for this situation: Great. We’re going to blow a great matchup and take a nervous rookie and make him look like Nolan Ryan.
It wasn’t quite like that, but the Orioles really should have done more damage against Bloss. Houston’s defense spoiled two early chances, as the Orioles put two on with no outs in the first inning—Gunnar Henderson hit a squibber off the mound and Adley dropped a single into right field—but a diving web gem by Houston left fielder Joey Loperfido robbed Ryan O’Hearn of an RBI double. In the second, Cedric Mullins, lately determined to entertain you, singled and stole second, but another good catch left him stranded.
Meanwhile, just as Houston’s defense had risen to the aid of their pitcher, Baltimore’s let theirs down, gifting the Astros a first-inning run off Grayson Rodriguez on three ground balls, including an uncharacteristic Jordan Westburg error. Obviously it would get worse.
The Astros then got a second run off of Grayson Rodriguez with no cheapies needed: a seeing-eye single was followed by two no-shit line drives, Jose Altuve (eternally annoying!) driving in a run with a double. All three balls were hit 100 mph or better.
Still, this felt like Baltimore’s game to win. By the third inning, the O’s had worked the rookie Bloss’s pitch count up to 68 and tied the game. Gunnar walked, casually stole a base, and scored on an Adley single and an O’Hearn RBI groundout. A second run scored on an Anthony Santander single. Westburg followed up with a single, but before the inning could be broken open, a Mullins line drive was snared by a diving Jake Myers, the third likely Orioles hit gobbled up by a diving Houston outfielder.
With two outs in the fourth inning, Bloss’s day was suddenly cut short: he threw a 2-0 fastball to Gunnar, the velocity down about 3 mph, and the Houston staff trotted en masse to the mound. Bloss pointed to his right shoulder, then left the field. Wow. Just 3 ⅔ innings into the game, and already it was time for Houston to call on the bullpen.
More reason this should have been a win tonight. That the Orioles soon made it 3-2 off lanky Houston right-hander Shawn Dubin was further proof: the run scored on Adley’s third hit of the day, an O’Hearn single, and a Ryan Mountcastle sac fly (he was fuming that he missed the home run, but he was hardly the problem today). The Birds reloaded the corners on a Tony Taters single, but Westburg bounced into an inning-ending double play. Bad game for Westburg, sorry to say.
Meanwhile, just as Grayson looked to be settling down, striking out the side in the fourth and other nice things, he scattered two singles in the fifth and picked a wretched time to hang a curveball: Astros centerfielder Jake Meyers made it 5-3 with one three-run swing.
As we now know, the Orioles certainly COULD have made up two runs… but not eleven. Instead, they suddenly turned into the Keystone Cops. A single and a ground ball deflecting off Mountcastle’s glove turned into a sixth run that felt like shouldn’t have been hung on Rodriguez’s line.
Then, as we said, it all unraveled. Jacob Webb came in and looked terrible, retiring none, with RBI doubles to Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman and two walks, and Dillon Tate allowed three more hits. If I were Brandon Hyde I’d almost surely overreact and option Webb and Tate to the minors (do they have an option remaining? Who cares. Option ‘em anyway!).
By the time the smoke cleared, it was 14-3, and to be honest, it felt like a pointless, classic FUHR when Gunnar homered in the seventh to make it 14-4.
But it wasn’t quite. The Orioles gave Houston a huge scare in the eighth with three two-run home runs. Jorge Mateo hit one. Henderson hit one, too, his third hit of the game. (He’s really good.) Adley and Mountcastle doubled to make it 14-9. (Adley would quietly go 5-for-5 tonight, despite the carnage around him. He’s good, too.) Finally, Santander hit his own two-run bomb, pushing the score to 14-11. Houston fans booed. It felt nice.
Sadly, that was as close as it would get. What to say about this one? Overall, Grayson Rodriguez wasn’t perfect, but he certainly didn’t deserve this! A lot of people are at fault in this seven-car pileup. At least it was cool to see the offense get down and dirty and fight to stay in it down 11 runs.
OK. Let’s remember all the gorgeous days of baseball the Orioles have graced us with this season and move on.