The Orioles and Red Sox faced off for the second game of their four-game series, and once again the Orioles were unable to give starter Shane Baz any run support. Baz and Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez dueled and ended with similar results, the only difference being one first-inning run. That was enough to decide the entire game and send the Orioles to their fourth straight loss.
Baz was fantastic tonight. That’s all there was to it. On the first pitch of the game, Roman Anthony flew out. On the second pitch, Mickey Gasper hit Baz’s fastball onto the flag court. Not a great way to start, but Baz more than made up for it. He followed with a strikeout of Adley Rutschman and a flyout by Wilyer Abreu to get out of the inning.
Over the next 5.1 innings, Baz did have traffic on the bases. But only twice did a runner get into scoring position, and both times it happened when a fielder made an error behind him. In the third inning, Eli White singled with one out. Anthony followed with a ground ball to Jackson Holliday that looked at best like an inning-ending double play, at worst a ground ball out that moved up the runner. But Holliday just…didn’t catch the ball. It hopped right past his glove and into right field. Holliday looked at his glove accusingly, but I don’t think the glove was the problem.
Baz picked his teammate up by getting the next two batters, ending the inning on a Rutschman groundout. He had to throw a few extra pitches, but beyond that no more damage was done.
With the Orioles still down one run, Gasper started off the sixth inning with a single to left field. Leody Taveras tried to field the ball in some weird sideways fashion and it kicked away from him. Get in front of the ball! What on earth? Gasper moved up to second on the error.
Again, Baz got out of it. He struck out Rutschman for the second time in the game, then worked around a walk and got the final two outs. It was a very nice job by Baz after the leadoff runner reached second base.
Baz started the seventh inning with a Jarren Duran groundout, then allowed a single to Trevor Story. It was his fourth hit allowed. Not bad. Craig Albernaz went to the bullpen and called for Logan Hoppe. Hoppe got himself into a little trouble. He walked Anthony, then barely clipped Gasper with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases.
That brought Rutschman to the plate, and I know I wasn’t the only one envisioning a grand slam to break the game open. But on a 3-1 pitch, Hoppe fired 100.9 mph to the plate. Adley got the bat on it but flew out harmlessly to end the inning. He ended the game 0-for-4.
Josh Walker pitched a little bit of a messy eighth. He struck out the side but also allowed a hit and a walk. Cam Sanders took over for the ninth and pitched a 1-2-3. It was an all-around great game for the pitching staff. Baz’s pitching line: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K. The bullpen combined for 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K.
Unfortunately, the hitters did not hold up their end. Not even close. They couldn’t get anything done against Ranger Suarez. In fact, pretty much the only guy who didn’t look like a disaster was leadoff man Blaze Alexander. The team had six hits altogether, and Alexander had three of them. He and Mayo hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the third, but were stranded. Mayo’s was an infield hit.
After Carlos Narváez was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, Alexander again singled with two outs. Again, the runners were stranded. And in the eighth inning, Alexander led off with a single but was erased on an inning-ending double play by Luis Robert. Blaze tried to stir up some emotions after that. He and second baseman Nick Sogard exchanged words after Alexander’s totally normal slide, and Alexander went after him a bit.
The benches cleared, and Alexander tried to get the crowd to make some noise. But his passion didn’t do much other than give us a bit of spice in what was otherwise one of the dullest games imaginable. I also enjoyed when the cameras caught Colton Cowser saying something to Rutschman in the middle of the mob of players, neither looking much interested in a fight.
Up by a run in the ninth inning, the Red Sox sent in closer Aroldis Chapman, probably my least favorite baseball player. Last night, Chapman allowed two runs but held on for the win. I was hoping for something similar with big bats coming up to the plate. But Pete Alonso, Gunnar Henderson, and Encarnacion-Strand went down without a fight.
Orioles lose, 1-0. They have lost every game since reaching .500 on the road trip and are now 69-73. Game three of the series is tomorrow at 7:05 with Chris Bassitt on the mound opposite Sonny Gray. Woof.
