After a feel-good win yesterday, the Orioles put up a clunker today. As is often the way, they were unable to score much until the late innings, and this time it was too little, too late. And the recently very steady Kyle Bradish struggled and lasted just four innings. It was not a winning combo and the Orioles fell, 6-4.
Bradish came into this game on a five-game tear that had us all hoping he was back to the vintage Bradish we knew from before his Tommy John surgery. His first start of June did not go so well. He fell behind early and often today and struggled with his control.
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The Orioles blew a two-on, no-out situation in the first inning, but got on the board in the second. Taylor Ward started the game with a walk, as he does, and Gunnar singled behind him. Adley Rutschman moved the runners up with a groundout, but Pete Alonso and Coby Mayo struck out to end the inning.
After the first, the Blue Jays replaced opener Braydon Fisher with Spencer Miles. Miles faced the Orioles inlast Sunday in Baltimore and gave up six runs in three innings, three of which came in on a home run by Colton Cowser. Wouldn’t you know it, Cowser faced Miles in the second inning today and hit another bomb. Unfortunately, it was just a solo shot and was not the start of a rally.
In fact, after the Cowser home run, Miles retired nine straight batters. The next Oriole to reach base was Blaze Alexander when he walked with one out in the fifth. He was stranded when Jackson Holliday and Tyler Ward struck out.
While the Orioles’ batters flailed against Mile, Bradish was falling apart. The Blue Jays tied the game at one in the bottom of the second inning, but it felt like they should have gotten more. Three of the first four batters reached on two singles and a double, but Bradish got a big strikeout and then a groundout to escape.
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The third inning was…bad, especially when you take into account that Bradish got the first two batters out. He went 3-0 on George Springer before getting him to ground out, then struck out Nathan Lukes. Vlad Guerrero walked and Jesús Sánchez singled on a ball that Jackson Holliday probably should have gotten to. That set up a three-run, no-doubt homer by Ernie Clement. It put the Blue Jays up, 4-1, and they weren’t finished.
Bradish just needed one more out, but he couldn’t get it. Brandon Valenzuela, Kazuma Okamoto, and Andrés Giménez all singled. Valenzuela came in to score on the Giménez hit, but luckily for Bradish, Okamoto got himself thrown out at third to end the inning.
Bradish labored through a scoreless fourth inning but got a little help from George Springer who was running on a pitch but got thrown out by a mile. He did not return for the fifth inning. His final pitching line: 4 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. Let’s hope it was just an off day and he’ll be back on track next time.
Keegan Akin came on in relief to pitch two innings, and immediately gave up run of his own. Of course he did. He followed with a scoreless second inning so his ERA actually went down to 8.64. Great job?
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Spencer Miles started the sixth inning for the Jays, but exited after giving up Gunnar Henderson’s second hit and getting Rutschman to fly out on a ball he just got under a bit. With a five-run lead, Toronto manager opted to go with Jeff Hoffman.
When last we saw Hoffman, he was blowing the game for the Jays in the bottom of the ninth in Baltimore. Hoffman was charged with five runs back on May 30th in the Orioles walk-off win. It wasn’t quite as bad today, though he did immediately allow a two-run homer to Pete Alonso. That cut the score to 6-3, but Hoffman got out without other trouble.
The Orioles cut into the lead a bit more in the seventh. Mason Fluharty replaced Hoffman. Fluharty struck out pinch-hitter Tyler O’Neill, which is not a surprise. But he could not retire Alexander, who hit his second home run of the season. That made the score 6-4, but the Orioles couldn’t take it any further. Fluharty struck out both Jeremiah Jackson and Ward.
Henderson started the eighth inning with his third hit of the game, an infield hit up the third base line. But none of his teammates could bring him in. Louis Varland, the closer with a minuscule 0.28 ERA, retired the side 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game. Samuel Basallo pinch-hit, which was good to see after he left yesterday’s game injured. Of course, the cynic in me is worried that they sent him in there to ground out and reaggravate his injury for nothing.
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Shout out to Albert Suárez, who the Orioles just keep DFA’ing and re-signing. He pitched two scoreless innings today and worked around a leadoff double that Leody Taveras should have caught in center field. I think maybe Taveras is afraid of the wall because he has a lot of trouble near it. I would be afraid of the wall, too, but nobody pays me to play center field.
Orioles lose, 6-4. They can still get the series win tomorrow, but they will have to beat former Orioles Kevin Gausman to do so.
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