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CHICAGO – The Orioles are back home for a four-game series against the Yankees that begins tonight, followed by three against the Rays and a final trip to the Bronx. The light at the end of the tunnel isn’t another oncoming train. The season is almost done.
An entire day passed yesterday without a roster move, if you don’t count the Braves claiming reliever Carson Ragsdale on waivers. No one was hurt. No one was put on a plane with instructions to join the team.
Poor health has wrecked the Orioles’ hopes of a third consecutive playoff berth, but they aren’t leaning on that excuse.
It might not support their weight, and the crash could bring physical harm.
“It’s gonna be a huge part of (the story) in a lot of ways,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “We’re not gonna blame it all on injuries. I think that’s a little bit of a copout, it’s not very accountable from our perspective to do that. But yeah, it’s hard when all your players aren’t on the field at the same time.
“I would guess, and I could be wrong here, that the projected Opening Day lineup in spring training probably hasn’t been on the field one day. I don’t think they’ve all actually been healthy together on one given day, which is pretty wild at this point. It’s a big part of it.”
The rest of the story is the failure of core players and others to perform up to expectations. The Orioles aren’t blind to it.
“The other point is under-performance, and we recognize that and we know that. And it really has to be priority No. 1 is to get some of the young hitters who have probably had down years to their standards. We have to get those guys back,” Mansolino said.
“For me, looking at this group right now, yes, you need to go get more pitching. That’s probably the most visual thing. But we have to get these young hitters back to the standard they set for themselves.”
Tyler Wells made his next-to-last start yesterday and strengthened his case for staying in that role next year.
Can Wells influence the Orioles over these last few weeks or is he at the mercy of their offseason plans to address the pitching staff?
“All of the above, I think,” Mansolino said.
“I will say this, I think we’ve forgot how good of a starter this guy is. I think being out as long as he was and kind of seeing him pre-injury last year, probably wasn’t this version before he went on the IL and had the surgery. This guy’s a really good major league starter. I think the only concern about him starting isn’t his ability to be a good starter, but it’s his ability to stay healthy over the course of a year, and he hasn’t done yet.
“I think all information’s got to be considered, but do you want a really good starter to start a big league game? I would think so.”
The Orioles will bring in at least one starter over the winter and could aim for more, as they did with Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton. Kyle Bradish is healthy and pitching like an ace. Trevor Rogers is healthy and pitching like an ace. Dean Kremer is solid toward the back end of the rotation, able to avoid injury beyond some forearm soreness that cost him one turn.
The bullpen must be rebuilt and Wells could help in multiple ways, but he’s also had success as a starter. He just needs to convince the club that he’s durable and can handle the workload.
He, too, pitched like an ace yesterday.
“I just hope it stays that way as far as the results go,” he said. “I'm just really happy with where everything's at and I just want it to stay there.”
Dylan Beavers has homered in back-to-back games and also collected his first triple. Coby Mayo walked and singled yesterday and reached base 12 times in his last six games, including a pair of home runs in Toronto. Gunnar Henderson has eight hits in his last five games, and his three stolen bases yesterday were a career high. Jeremiah Jackson had a run-scoring single yesterday to give him four hits, two walks and three RBIs in the series.
Hitters run hot and cold. The Orioles created some heat in the Windy City.
Beavers had a hunch that he’d be a major contributor to Tuesday’s 8-7 win.
“You see Beavs starting to tick down and hit a big homer, have a nice night,” Mansolino said. “He told me in the dugout, he was joking around with me before the game, that if he didn’t help the team win tonight, he was gonna shave his head. So just a super loose, care-free, not stressed out mentality. Love it.”
Samuel Basallo didn’t play yesterday, but he belted a 420-foot, tie-breaking two-run homer Tuesday. He has hits in four of his last five games but is batting .188 with a .615 OPS in 24 games.
“You see Sammy right there, who, he probably thought this was gonna be a little bit easier because I would assume that up until this point hitting in professional baseball hasn’t been that hard based on what he’s done,” Mansolino said. “It’s probably not going exactly how he had scripted it in his mind, but he keeps getting big hits.
“The ball he hit, hooks it, keeps it fair down the line, it’s a huge hit for us. The split that he took off Seranthony (Domínguez) in Toronto and hit it off the wall in left-center, that’s unique stuff. You don’t see hitters do that, whether they’re young or old.”
