TORONTO – The O’s bullpen doesn’t have set roles.
More often than not, you’ll see arms like Keegan Akin, Yennier Cano and Rico Garcia in the later innings. Unproven names like Grant Wolfram and Kade Strowd are working to gain trust, but aren’t quite established yet.
It leaves Baltimore, and interim manager Tony Mansolino, playing the matchup game more often than not, trying to win with finesse and tactics. That chess match becomes far more interesting in a bullpen game.
This afternoon, the O’s bullpen didn’t come out on top in the game of chess, and Baltimore fell 11-2.
Coby Mayo got this afternoon’s scoring started with a solo home run in the second, his second home run in as many games.
Yesterday, Mayo hung back on a Braydon Fisher curveball, driving the mistake pitch that caught too much of the zone 403 feet to left field. Today, against former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, the young first baseman was on an elevated fastball, sending it over the center field wall.
That longball improved Mayo’s OPS to .817 in the month of September.
In the third, Toronto got even.
Andrés Giménez beat a shifted outfield for a double down the line, and George Springer followed him with a double of his own. It appeared as if Dylan Beavers had the route to make the catch, but he came up just short. When it landed, Giménez came around to score and tie the game at one run apiece.
After that third frame, the day would be done for Albert Suárez. It was a bit less efficient of a start than the O’s had hoped, with 53 pitches required to get through three innings. But Suárez was effective nonetheless, surrendering just one earned run and striking out five.
Wolfram entered in relief but had to face a part of the lineup that Mansolino would’ve loved for him to avoid.
Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho reaching base meant that Ernie Clement stepped into the box against Wolfram, the big lefty. Clement, entering the game, was hitting .325 with a .901 OPS against left-handed pitching on the season. He boosted those numbers with an RBI double that skipped over the third-base bag, plating the duo that reached before him.
It extended Toronto’s lead to 3-1.
That lead grew in the fifth.
Making his major league debut, Carson Ragsdale surrendered some loud contact. The noisiest came off the bat of Springer for a solo home run, his 29th of the season. The next two outs came on long fly balls hit at 99.5 mph and 102.2 mph, but they were outs all the same. Ragsdale punched out his first big league batter to end the inning, but more damage had been done.
The remainder of his outing didn’t get any prettier.
Another run came across in the sixth, and with the bases loaded in the seventh, Addison Barger unloaded them with a double to left. Ragsdale was just going to have to wear this one.
Toronto would go on to score a total of six runs in the inning, extending their lead to 11-2.
After consecutive series wins against the Padres, Dodgers and Pirates, the Orioles were swept in three games this weekend in Toronto. This afternoon's game didn't cap things off on a good note.
Over the final two weeks, they'll try to build some positive momentum heading into the offseason. Players want to be in a winning environment, both for their current situations and future success, and that's what the clubhouse is working hard to create down the stretch.
The O's travel to Chicago for a three-game series with the White Sox before their final homestand of 2025.