MILWAUKEE – The story of the O’s first two games in Milwaukee has felt eerily similar.
The starting pitching didn’t take them out of it but wasn’t stellar, the bullpen was adequate but not great, and some late life from the offense wasn’t enough to push Baltimore ahead.
Any way you slice it, it added up to the Orioles’ eighth consecutive loss, this time 5-2. The Orioles haven’t won a series against the Brewers since 2003.
The first turn around the order was incredibly uneventful for both teams. If you like pitching and defense, the first 18 plate appearances were right up your alley. Three walks between both teams, with the most excitement coming in a Sal Frelick fly out to the warning track.
Batter No. 18 was a Chayce McDermott three-pitch strikeout of Joey Ortiz. It was the 19th batter that presented the first sign of trouble.
Brice Turang mashed a four-seam fastball 409 feet to left-center for a solo home run, giving Milwaukee a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Despite some hard contact from William Contreras and Christian Yelich, McDermott got out of the rest of the inning unscathed.
The first opportunity for the O’s offense came in the top of the fourth, when Gunnar Henderson beat out an infield single and stole second base. Ramón Laureano, the team’s hottest hitter as of late, and Ryan O’Hearn, the team’s most consistent hitter this season, couldn’t cash in, and there went another opportunity with a runner in scoring position.
The Brewers, conversely, cashed in on their opportunities.
With Rhys Hoskins in scoring position after leading off the fourth inning with a double, Frelick brought him home. The Boston College product opted for the longball route over small ball, though. Frelick drove an inside slider into the second deck in right field, and when he touched home, the Brewers had a 3-0 lead.
That Hoskins double was a hit to the O’s in more ways than one. Laureano’s charge into the fly ball was a very awkward one, twisting and contorting his lower half in an uncomfortable watch and even more uncomfortable action. The outfielder left the game one inning later with “left ankle discomfort,” according to the Orioles.
"Sounds like he's going to be kind of day-to-day," Tony Mansolino said. "Something with his ankle, I don't want to be specific as to what it is, but right now, indications are that it will be just a couple of days."
In the fifth, McDermott did well to dance out of some more trouble. With runners on second and third and just one away, the rookie right-hander struck out Hoskins and forced an Isaac Collins groundout. Baltimore was within striking distance.
And importantly, Milwaukee starter Logan Henderson was out of the game. Using, essentially, just a two-pitch arsenal, Henderson was masterful, tossing five innings of scoreless baseball while allowing just two hits and two walks. The righty struck out seven Orioles in the process.
"He’s got good stuff," Jackson Holliday said after the game. "No doubt about it. Good changeup, good heater and he can throw strikes and get guys kind of guessing. And he had the cutter and the slider to kind of show you every now and then and go back up top with the heater."
Baltimore’s offense, with Henderson out, was tasked with capitalizing against a Brewers’ bullpen that had the ninth-highest ERA in the game.
McDermott was able to keep the O’s in it, allowing three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. The command, which has been an issue for the right-hander throughout his minor league career and in his brief stint in the majors, was sporadic once again.
"I thought he did a pretty good job," Mansolino said. "He did fall behind at times, but it seemed like when he needed to make a pitch and get an out, he did it."
The Ball State product walked five batters and threw under 50 percent of his pitches for strikes. In his first start of the season, that number was at 52 percent. If he wants to stick around in the rotation, he’ll need to find a way to keep the ball in the strike zone.
How would he evaluate his command?
"It was bad," McDermott said bluntly after the game. "I'm just gonna be honest. It was pretty evident to see. You can't throw under 50 percent strikes at any level of baseball, let alone the big leagues. Some mechanics were off, rushing a little bit, go back to the drawing board tomorrow. That's the good thing about baseball. You can go back to work tomorrow and improve from there."
It's important to remember that McDermott didn't have a spring training and hasn't made many appearances this season. As such, he's still getting his mechanics in line.
"I’m not really worried, I know I’ll find it," he said. "I’m just a little upset at how that went today.”
In the seventh, the Orioles offense was in business. Back-to-back singles from Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins put two runners on with nobody away. A Heston Kjerstad double play didn’t quite squash the momentum, as a Ramón Urías flare to left plated Mountcastle.
On the very next pitch, Holliday was inches away from a home run, instead settling for an RBI triple. Just like that, Baltimore had cut the deficit to one run. Adley Rutschman couldn’t bring him home, but the O’s were back in it.
Things remained that way in the bottom half. Bryan Baker had a clean showing, but Félix Bautista ran into trouble in the eighth. Hoskins mashed a solo home run to make it 4-2 Brew Crew, and Baltimore’s closer didn’t get much help from his defense.
Holliday made a nice play to get to a Joey Ortiz grounder, but on the spin, air mailed a throw over the head of Mountcastle, allowing a runner to score. 5-2 Brewers.
"I'm trying to make a play," he said. "Obviously, Joey is a good runner and just kind of sailed the throw, honestly. But, like I said, I’m gonna keep working on it. I expect to make those plays."
Later, Henderson's throw on a Turang grounder could've ended the inning, but it was late. Rutschman's throw to check back in on Ortiz at second bounced into center field, moving runners to second and third.
Luckily for Baltimore, Cionel Pérez made a great play on a dribbler to get out of the inning.
"I feel like the defense has actually settled down here the last month," Mansolino said. "I feel like we came out of the gates from spring training a little bit funky, defensively ... Tonight was probably the first night where a couple defensive miscues showed up for us. But it happens. It's baseball."
A game that seemed to be in striking distance suddenly felt much further out of reach.
Baltimore's bats went quietly into the night in the top of the ninth, and there was your ballgame for the eighth straight contest.
The Orioles will look to avoid their third-straight sweep in tomorrow afternoon’s game. Tomoyuki Sugano's name on the projected starter list provides as much optimism as anyone's.