Albert Súarez delivered six shutout innings, and the Orioles held on for a 2-1 victory over the rangers
Albert Súarez entered tonight’s game in need of a decent showing and the 34-year-old delivered. Súarez exceeded expectations with six shutout innings, and the Orioles overcame a wild night from relievers to secure a 2-1 win over the Rangers.
Súarez limited Texas to three hits and never faced a true scoring threat. He struck out two, walked none, and exited after throwing 49 of 87 pitches for strikes.
Surprisingly, the flyball pitcher retired the side with three ground balls in the first. He posted a clean second, and passed his only real test in the third inning. Leody Taveras stole second after a one-out single, but Súarez struck out Corey Seager to strand the runner in scoring position. Súarez danced around a two-out single in the fourth before retiring the final six batters he faced.
Texas appeared up for a pitcher’s duel with a former Cy Young Award winner on the mound. Max Scherzer needed only three pitches to get the first two outs in the first, but Ryan O’Hearn made him work with a two-out walk. Ryan Mountcastle flew out to end the inning, but O’Hearn prevented Scherzer from entering a quick rhythm in his second start of the season.
O’Hearn made Scherzer sweat again with two outs in the third. He flew out to end the inning, but not until the 10th pitch of the at bat. O’Hearn saw 18 of Scherzer’s 77 pitches in his first two plate appearances, and the DH played a significant factor in chasing Scherzer in the sixth inning.
Neither team scored in the first three frames, but Baltimore finally broke through against Scherzer in the fourth. Colton Cowser launched a middle-middle four-seam fastball 408 feet to right field. The blast marked his 12th homer of the season and Baltimore’s 58th homer this month.
I doubt Cowser or Brandon Hyde hear the groans when Heston Kjerstad is left out of the lineup, but Cowser made his skipper look good once again. Cowser has now homered in three consecutive appearances.
Baltimore doubled its lead with some speed in the fifth. Jorge Mateo led off with a single to left and sped to second on a fly out to right field. With Mateo in scoring position, Gunnar Henderson turned around a first pitch cutter and sent it to right for an RBI-single.
The O’s did not score again, and the bullpen struggled to match Súarez’s efficiency. Yennier Cano entered in the seventh, received a generous first pitch strike call, and then proceeded to throw 10 consecutive pitches outside of the zone.
Cano recovered to strikeout Nathaniel Lowe after the pair of walks, but Travis Jankowski loaded the bases with a single to left. Hyde went to Jacob Webb with one out, but the righty failed to escape unscathed.
Webb struckout pinch-hitter Jonah Heim for the second out, but he quickly went down 3-0 to the nine hitter Leody Taveras. Webb battled back to load the count, but Taveras took an outside changeup for the Rangers’ first run of the game.
The walk turned over the lineup, and Marcus Semien nearly made the Birds pay. The leadoff hitter smacked a hard-hit ball to third, but Ramón Urías made a strong pick and throw to end the threat.
Cionel Pérez took the eighth and walked a pair to put the tying run in scoring position. Pérez escaped by striking out Robbie Grossman and showed plenty of emotion on his way back to the dugout.
Craig Kimbrel entered the ninth with a one-run lead against the bottom of the order. He struck out Jankowski and Heim before winning the battle with a harmless grounder from Taveras.
Kimbrel’s 18th save provided Baltimore its third straight win and guaranteed at least a share of the four-game set. The Orioles will look to clinch the series with Cade Povich on the mound tomorrow evening.