It was a gruesome night in Miami as the Orioles lost the series-opener and possibly their second baseman.
The Orioles lost an ugly series opener 6-3 to the Marlins on Tuesday night in Miami. Albert Suárez was booted from the game in the third inning, the same frame in which Jorge Mateo exited with an apparent elbow injured, suffered after an infield collision with Gunnar Henderson. It was a bummer.
Suárez had a rough night. He recorded just six outs and got the hook in the third inning with the bases loaded. The 34-year-old’s final line is brutal: two innings, eight hits, six hits, one walk, three strikeouts. The Marlins whiffed just five times on 31 swings against him, notable for a club near the bottom of the league in contact rate.
It was a shocking outcome after Suárez’s smooth first inning that required only 10 pitches and included two strikeouts. The vibes were high in that moment. The Orioles had just gone ahead 1-0 in the top of the inning on a Jordan Westburg single to score Adley Rutschman, and their starter looked great in the bottom of the frame. But the evening unraveled from there.
Miami’s first four hitters reached base to begin the second inning. That included a solo home run from Jesús Sánchez and an RBI single off the bat of Nick Gordon. After a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position, Jazz Chisholm Jr. drove them both in with a run-scoring double to make it 4-1 Marlins.
The O’s fought back in the top of the third. Their first three hitters of the inning got aboard: Adley Rutschman walk, Anthony Santander single, and Ryan O’Hearn single. Westburg nerfed the rally a bit with a run-scoring double play ground out. But Colton Cowser rescued it with a hustling infield single that drove in Santander and pulled the Orioles within a run. Cowser followed that immediately by being thrown out at third base on a Ryan Mountcastle single, a violation of baseball’s Cardinal rules.
It turns out that was just the beginning of a series of awful happenings in the third inning.
In the bottom of the inning, with a runner on first base and no outs, Sánchez hit a slow grounder through the infield. Gunnar Henderson and Jorge Mateo both converged on the ball and collided on the edge of the dirt. Henderson bounced up and collected the ball while Mateo was left in a heap, clutching his left elbow. It didn’t look good in real time, and the rather gruesome replay was even worse. Mateo’s elbow bent in an abnormal manner, and it’s safe to say he will be out for some time.
Mateo had settled into the Orioles’ everyday second baseman role, and although his offensive production has waned since early this season, his speed and positional versatility will be difficult to replace. In the short term, it feels like Westburg will shift over to second base more often and Ramón Urías will play third most days. Internally, the Orioles could turn to Connor Norby or Jackson Holliday for second base help. Holliday just returned to playing the field this week after dealing with shoulder trouble for a few weeks, so the Orioles could slow play that. Norby has been pushed to left field by that development, but should still be plenty comfortable on the dirt if needed. But he could also be part of a trade within the week. Whatever the case, they will need to fill in Mateo’s playing time somehow.
On the very next at-bat, Suárez was hit by a comebacker that deflected towards Urîas—who had entered as Mateo’s replacement—for a single. That loaded the bases and pushed the starter out of the game, either due to legitimate injury or under-performance. Suárez did exit under the watch of a trainer, but it was also time for him to leave. Hopefully he doesn’t have anything serious wrong. The Orioles need all the arms they can get, but Suárez could be running short on starting opportunities.
Keegan Akin was called upon to get out of the jam. He did not exactly do that as two of the three runners he inherited scored. But he stemmed the bleeding and kept the Marlins within sight.
Perhaps the most impressive pitching performance of the game (from the O’s perspective anyway) was Burch Smith. He entered after Akin and looked fantastic. Over 1.2 innings he struck out three and allowed just one hit. Considering he maxed out his fastball at 98.2 mph, it’s possible he was amped up to face his former team. Whatever the case, he did well. The Orioles bullpen needs help, and it can’t all come from big trade deadline moves. They need some of their waiver claims to pan out. So far, Smith has done that.
Vinny Nittoli was next out of the ‘pen, just his second appearance in an Orioles’ uniform. He also did well, delivering two scoreless innings and striking out one with his right-handed finesses style.
The Orioles bats wouldn’t put up much of a fight as the game went on. They had just two base runners after the third inning: an O’Hearn single in the fifth and an Austin Hays hit by pitch in the ninth. That was it. They were thwarted by a Marlins relief effort that included two shutout innings from A.J. Puk and a Tanner Scott save. Both of those lefties are trade candidates in the days ahead. Perhaps Mike Elias took notice.
It was a brutal evening of baseball all around. The Orioles lost to a bad team, and an important piece of their lineup went out with what appears to be a serious injury.
At least the bullpen was solid, albeit against a flawed lineup. The front office is sure to make moves in the days ahead to further bolster the unit, but what’s already in-house will continue to make up the bulk of relief innings thrown from this point forward.
These two teams are back at in on Wednesday night in Miami. It is rumored that Chayce McDermott will make his MLB debut for the O’s. The team is yet to announce a starter for the game, and the 25-year-old is on the taxi squad for this series. Maybe McDermott does well, but the fact that the Orioles are calling on a guy walking more than five batters per nine innings in Triple-A to start a game right now speaks to the need for another starter (or two). First pitch is 6:40.