Tomoyuki Sugano became the first Orioles starter to pitch into the eighth inning this season. Gunnar Henderson recorded a pair of extra-base hits, and the O’s bested the Angels 4-1.
The Orioles received a solid pitching performance from Dean Kremer on Wednesday, but the club’s RISP woes outlasted the quality start. Apparently, Baltimore needed something special from its starting pitcher to snap a five-game losing streak, and Tomoyuki Sugano delivered tonight.
Sugano, pitching with a lead after some early offense, kept Los Angeles off the board for the first six innings. NEED A NUT GRAPH HERE WITH SCORE
Gunnar Henderson provided Baltimore some instant offense in the top of the first. Henderson squared up a changeup and sent it 400 feet over the fence in right center. It wasn’t a hit with a runner in scoring position, but it got the Orioles on the board.
Baltimore finally snapped their RISP woes with a pair of runs in the second. Both Ryan O’Hearn and Tyler O’Neill walked to start the rally. Jackson Holliday sent a first pitch sinker right back up the middle, and the Birds breathed a sigh of relief as O’Hearn raced home.
Ramón Laureano was called out on strikes for the second out, but Emmanuel Rivera delivered a solid piece of two-out hitting. Rivera snuck a ball into left field, and O’Neill came around to score for a three-run advantage.
While Angels starter Kyle Hendricks struggled early, Sugano looked sharp from the jump. Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel struggled to keep his helmet on while flailing at pitches below the strike zone in the top of the first, and Sugano added a pair of K’s in the second inning.
Sugano allowed a one-out single in the third but quickly retired the next two batters. The Angels went down in order in the fourth, and Sugano escaped after surrendering a two-out double in the fifth. He needed only 10 pitches to post a zero in the sixth.
The Angels finally got to Sugano in the seventh after a leadoff triple by Yoán Moncada. The Orioles played the infield back with a three-run lead, and Taylor Ward drove in LA’s first run with a routine ground ball to short. Sugano retired the next two hitters without drama, and his night appeared to be done after seven strong.
Somewhat surprisingly, Brandon Hyde asked Sugano for one more out in the bottom of the eighth. The starter generated a quick grounder for the first out, and Hyde summoned Yennier Cano to face Jo Adell. Sugano left the game with 3 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts and 0 walks allowed.
Cano only faced three batters but needed 25 pitches to do so. Adell worked the count full before lining a base hit to center, and Cano lost a pinch-hitting Jorge Soler on a 3-2 sinker. The walk turned over the lineup for LA’s top hitter Zach Neto with the tying run on base.
Cano fired a 2-0 fastball for a strike after falling behind and then threw 10 consecutive sinkers. Neto fouled off pitch after pitch before eventually going down swinging. Keegan Akin replaced Cano, benefited from a generous strike call in a 3-0 count, and retired Schanuel to end the threat.
The O’s secured an insurance run in the top of the ninth but nearly struck for more. Rivera started the inning with a bloop single to center. He tagged to second on a fly ball, advanced to third on a balk, and was thrown out at the plate on a grounder by Adley Rutschman. Hyde could have pinch ran Mateo for Rivera and shifted Henderson to third in the ninth, but the speedster remained on the bench.
Henderson came to the rescue with a two-out triple to right field. Rutschman motored all the way around to extend the lead back to three. Ryan Mountcastle followed and sent a ball to the warning track, but Matthew Lugo secured the ball at the wall.
Félix Bautista took the mound with a three run lead and refused to make things interesting. Bautista struck out Moncada, generated another routine grounder from Ward, and ended the game when Logan O’Hoppe failed to check his swing.
Sugano became the first O’s starter to pitch into the eighth inning this season. The offense appeared to benefit from not facing an early deficit, and Henderson referenced the ninth-inning insurance as the type of thing that can generate some momentum. Henderson, Holliday, and Rivera combined for six of Baltimore’s nine hits.
The O’s have a long way to go to climb out of this early hole, but they’ll have another opportunity tomorrow with Kyle Gibson on the mound against RHP Jack Kochanowicz.