Two teams met today at 1:35 Eastern on Labor Day. One of them is sinking into irrelevance, limply making outs when runs are desperately needed. The other is hanging tough, gradually solidifying its hold on a playoff spot.
Today, you’d have been hard pressed to figure out which team was which. The Orioles quickly jumped on Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo – a control lefty! – with four runs in 2.1 innings. Meanwhile, in his 28th start of the season, Baltimore’s Trevor Rogers turned in yet another solid performance. Barring a terrible April/May, he’s allowed two or fewer runs in 19 of 21 starts. The lefty has been a rock in the rotation, and he was again today, going 7 1/3 innings to make his bullpen’s life easy.
Where was this offense against the league’s worst pitching staff in Colorado, where the Birds dropped a winnable series? Almost instantly, the Birds put up four runs on a Cleveland staff that proved delightfully command-challenged. Nothing came easy for Cleveland pitchers today, especially the starter Cantillo, who struggled to locate all day in the hot sun, giving up three hits, four runs, and five walks in just 2.1 innings.
Cantillo gifted the O’s several important free runners, including the first two batters of the game, Blaze Alexander and Pete Alonso. Nothing came of it then, but the O’s cashed in the second. Two more free bases, as Samuel Basallo got hit on the left hand (he’d stay in, seeming to be OK) and newcomer Rece Hinds walked on five pitches. Today, against a lefty, Dylan Beavers has was buried in the No. 9 spot, despite his solid .279/.367/.419 slashline over the last two weeks. Well, today it didn’t matter where you put him: Beavers waited on a 3-1 fastball and slammed it into the left field corner, scoring Basallo.
The Orioles weren’t done yet. Joey Cantillo was about to lose the plot. Er, the zone. The Birds left two runners on in the second, but come the third, they’d tack on three more runs, two on bases-loaded walks.
First, Coby Mayo homered. Imagine, Mayo homering against a lefty. It’s what he does now. It was a gorgeous blast to the left field second deck, the kind you make a “yuck” face at.
It didn’t get better for Cantillo. With one out, he walked Christian Encarnacion-Strand and served up a single to Basallo, the catcher’s second time on. It’s Basallo, he’s good, but Joey Cantillo probably didn’t want to also walk Rece Hinds to load the bases. Cleveland promptly lifted Cantillo, putting in the righty Franco Aleman. Dylan Beavers struck out swinging—two outs. Would the rally fizzle?
No, it didn’t fizzle, actually, thanks to Blaze Alexander, who put together an absolutely terrific at-bat. Not only did Blaze foul off off six pitches, keeping the swing short and tight, he did it after falling down 0-2 in the count. “What a walk!”exclaimed Kevin Brown from the MASN booth, calling it one of Blaze’s best AB’s all year. “Sometimes you get walked, and sometimes you earn it,” echoed Jim Palmer. True, indeed. Now it was 3-0, Orioles. Pete Alonso took a bases-loaded free pass, too, if less dramatically, and it was 4-0.
Granted, this productive offensive work could have been even more productive, as the Birds left on 12 runners today, a sign of how lavish Cleveland pitching was with the walks and singles. But given what the month of September has looked like for Baltimore, this is welcome.
And given how good O’s starter Trevor Rogers looked, by that point this game felt like a done deal. I don’t want to give Rogers stinting praise by lavishing little recap space on him, but I guess I will. What Rogers did, in compressed fashion, is make a good offense look bad while pitching deep into the game in highly efficient fashion. Rogers got through the first three innings in just 41 pitches, 32 of them for strikes, and he looked like that all game.
His one blemish was a solo run allowed in the sixth inning. It came on two straight singles and a bloop double down the right-field line, 71.3 mph off the bat of Jo Adell.
But that was all the hope that Rogers would allow Cleveland, and in the bottom of the inning, a 4-1 O’s lead became 6-1. First, Jackson Holliday singled off new Cleveland pitcher Slade Cecconi. Coby Mayo, killer of lefties, was apparently undeterred by Cecconi’s right-handedness, and he slugged his second of the game. “Beware of flying objects!” announced Kevin Brown.
That kind of did it. Rogers came out gamely for the seventh inning, facing the minimum again. Out he came, again, cool as a cucumber, for the eighth. He retired one and gave up a single before giving way to Rico Garcia, who did his cleanup thing perfectly to end the inning.
That left three more outs. With the O’s still down a real closer in Ryan Helsley and Félix Bautista (although both injured relievers are getting closer to a return this year), Andrew Kittredge has pitched the ninth more often than not. Today he again showed he’s not a real closer, even if the W was ultimately unharmed. Kittredge allowed two straight singles and an out, then hung a slider to pinch-hitting slugger Nathaniel Lowe. Bad move—and a really bad pitch. Lowe drove it to the flag court, and suddenly, at 6-4, this was a close game.
It should never have been this close, but Kittredge was allowed to face one more batter—Angel Genao, the Guardians’ second baseman, who grounded out. O’s manager Craig Albernaz put in lefty Josh Walker instead to try to get the last out. Walker did, throwing nothing but fastballs. Fly ball to right, game over. Orioles win!
Look, these games mean something. Today’s win doesn’t mean that the Orioles are a lock, or even likely, to earn a trip to the postseason, but it’s good to see them keep fighting. Maybe the Birds’ predictable unpredictability, which sunk them against a lowly team like the Rockies, will give them a competitive fire against the Guardians, a team playing these days with everything on the line.
So who was your Most Birdland Player of the day, CC’ers? If I’m being frank with you, I see two real choices. You could go starting pitching, with Trevor Rogers and his cool 7 1/3 one-run innings. Or you could opt for the long ball and pick Coby Mayo, who drove in three runs on two home runs, his first career multi-homer game. An outside-the-box choice, if you like a good batting eye, would be Blaze Alexander, who walked twice, including an 11-pitch gem with the bases loaded and two outs, to keep the rally alive. It’s good to have choices.
