-1745819772711.png){kind=logo}
Holding a division lead is one of the many challenges facing the Orioles as they get down to the final 35 games of the regular season.
Home field advantage is a major perk, but the Orioles entered camp just hoping to make the playoffs. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias never set the American League East title as a goal.
Clinch a wild card berth and see what happens.
The Orioles upped the ante by posting the best record in the league. But now there’s more to do.
Try staying in one piece.
Kyle Gibson was fast and efficient for the first three innings tonight. As if trying to recoup the time lost from a pre-start rain delay.
And then, it happened. The fourth inning, when the Orioles fell behind versus a pitcher with a career 10-0 record against them.
Wins don’t matter until they stand alone with no losses. That’s when they get noticed and referenced.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the fourth after Gibson retired the first nine batters, but Anthony Santander tied the game with a two-run shot off José Berríos in the bottom half of the inning. Berríos also was perfect through the third, and he also gave up a hit to the leadoff batter in the fourth.
There had to be a separator between them. It began with Cedric Mullins and continued with Gibson.
Backup catcher James McCann isn’t in the Orioles’ lineup despite his impressive numbers against Blue Jays starter José Berríos. He usually sits against a right-hander, but he’s also recovering from the 98 mph fastball that slammed into the side of his left hand during Tuesday night’s game.
“It’s good,” said McCann, who’s 8-for-24 with two doubles and four home runs against Berríos. “Soreness is a lot better today. Now, it’s just an open wound from the blood blister.”
McCann keeps proving his toughness. He’s gone on the injured list twice with oblique strains but has endured lots of punishment and kept playing.
He’s become a master at laying down bunts on fastballs near his face.
“I give thanks to God every day when something like that happens and I come out of it unscathed,” he said. “I guess there’s a little bit of an innate toughness, but other than that, it’s by the grace of God.”
He hasn’t pitched for the Orioles since Aug. 5, but they will be thrilled to have one of their high-leverage relievers back tonight. Lefty Danny Coulombe (left bicep tendinitis) was activated off the 15-day injured list and Nick Vespi was optioned back to Triple-A.
Coulombe has been a great addition for the Baltimore bullpen, going 3-1 with a 2.77 ERA in 47 games. Over 39 innings he has allowed 34 hits with nine walks to 48 strikeouts and with a 1.103 WHIP.
Late in a long season, getting a few days to rest his arm was not necessarily a bad thing.
“I think the bicep tendinitis thing, it was probably something I only needed a few days for," said Coulombe this afternoon. "But honestly at this point, it was one of those things we felt it was best to give me the 15 days and be ready for the stretch run. I think it’s going to be good. Just really exciting to get going now this last month and a half two months."
Coulombe made one rehab appearance and threw a hitless and scoreless inning with two strikeouts Tuesday night for Triple-A Norfolk.
Adam Frazier returns to the Orioles lineup tonight after being unavailable due to a sore right thumb.
Frazier is batting ninth and playing second base.
Ramón Urías is the third baseman and Gunnar Henderson is the shortstop.
Anthony Santander, who homered twice last night, is in right field. Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter.
The Rays won this afternoon and are 1 ½ games behind the Orioles.
Left-hander Danny Coulombe is rejoining the Orioles’ bullpen tonight.
Coulombe was reinstated from the 15-day injured list after one appearance with Triple-A Norfolk on his rehab assignment. Left-hander Nick Vespi was optioned for the fourth time this season.
Left biceps tendinitis forced Coulombe on the IL after he posted a 2.77 ERA and 1.103 WHIP in 47 games. He’s struck out 48 batters and surrendered only three home runs in 39 innings.
This is the second bullpen move in two days. Mike Baumann was optioned yesterday, with Austin Voth reinstated from the 60-day IL.
The Orioles have a chance tonight to win their 25th series and beat the Blue Jays for the 10th time in 13 games.
The short notice didn’t reduce Dean Kremer’s effectiveness.
The previous back soreness didn’t drain the power from Anthony Santander’s bat.
Told yesterday that he’d move up to start tonight, Kremer twirled six scoreless innings against the Blue Jays. Didn’t walk a batter. Didn’t flinch at the assignment.
Santander returned to the lineup and hit his 22nd and 23rd home runs, and the Orioles defeated the Blue Jays 7-0 for their eighth shutout of the season before an announced crowd of 19,132 at Camden Yards.
Jacob Webb retired the side in order in the seventh for his ninth scoreless outing with the Orioles over 8 2/3 innings, striking out his 12th batter. Yennier Cano had a clean eighth, aided by Cedric Mullins’ leaping catch at the fence to rob pinch-hitter Cavan Biggio. Cano was pitching on back-to-back nights.
Cole Irvin and Kyle Gibson see nothing wrong with it. Never to be accused of reliever bias in Cy Young Award voting.
Give it to the best pitcher, whatever role he fills. Whether he’s on the mound to start the first inning or the ninth.
Orioles closer Félix Bautista is aware of the chatter surrounding his candidacy. Irvin dresses only a few lockers away and gladly will lead the conversation.
“The fact that he’s in the discussion just points to how good he is,” Irvin said. “It’s impressive what he’s done this season. I mean, he’s averaging nearly two strikeouts an inning, and this is the best of the best in this league. So, for him to be doing that speaks to the quality of pitcher he is, and he’s been this season, and he’s most certainly deserving to be nominated, or even a candidate for the Cy Young.”
Bautista warmed and then sat last night, leaving him at 32 saves, a 1.52 ERA and 0.944 WHIP in 54 games, and 16.5 strikeouts per nine innings. He retired the side in order in the ninth the previous game, only the fourth time he hadn’t recorded a strikeout.
The Orioles aren’t listing starters for Thursday night or the three-game weekend series against the Rockies. The rotation is fluid after the decision to push back Jack Flaherty.
Flaherty said he didn’t bounce back after his last start in San Diego. Specifics are scarce.
“It was decided yesterday pregame to just give him a little bit extra time,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “In his catch play yesterday, there’s a little bit of soreness, and so we just wanted to give him a little bit of a break, and we moved up Dean (Kremer) to today.”
Hyde described it as “general” soreness, which “normally goes away over the course of between starts, and we feel like we want to be a little bit precautionary with him and just let him not make his start today.”
Flaherty was acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline to provide a veteran presence and someone who could handle a heavier workload, and a six-man rotation was built to spare the younger arms and make it easier control innings. But Flaherty's return date after three starts with the Orioles isn’t determined.
Jack Flaherty said he was scratched from tonight’s start against the Blue Jays because “sometimes you don’t bounce back the way you want to.”
Flaherty is referring to his Aug. 15 start in San Diego, when he allowed seven runs in three innings and came out after 84 pitches.
“You just try to make the right decision of making sure that you feel right,” Flaherty said. “Sometimes after starts you just don’t bounce back the way you want to.”
Flaherty declined to share any specifics, saying “just in general.”
“Throwing yesterday, just didn’t quite feel like you quite bounced back, and sometimes those are hard decisions to make, especially when you want to take the ball every time out. Just one of those things.”
The Orioles have changed starters tonight, with Jack Flaherty scratched from his assignment.
Dean Kremer is starting against the Blue Jays, and Thursday is now listed as TBA.
A couple breaks in the schedule and a six-man rotation put Kremer on six days’ rest following his outing in San Diego.
No explanation was provided for the switch. Manager Brandon Hyde will address it later today in his media session.
Flaherty was supposed to make his fourth start with the Orioles. He’s allowed 10 runs over eight innings since his one-run debut in Toronto.
The Orioles are a long way from setting their pitching staff for the postseason. As manager Brandon Hyde reminds us, he’s just trying to get through each game and hope that no one else is injured.
He won’t count his playoff chickens before clinching is official and the team can hatch a plan.
However, some light was shed yesterday on its bullpen strategy.
Tyler Wells is going back to his former relief role at Triple-A Norfolk beginning tonight, with the Orioles shortening his appearances to freshen an arm that can be used as a weapon. The decision made after he posted a 3.18 ERA and 0.927 WHIP, for a time the lowest in the majors, during a first half that created some chatter about his candidacy for the All-Star team.
Three starts after the break rattled his season.
First baseman Ryan Mountcastle made a diving catch and slapped his mitt on the bag, almost in one smooth motion. A double play with style points that kept the deficit at one run. A moment that the 2023 Orioles tend to use as a springboard to a comeback.
The Blue Jays scored again to stretch the lead. They handed reliever Mike Baumann his first loss in the 10th inning.
It doesn’t always work.
Jordan Westburg roped a game-tying double down the left field line off reliever Yimi García in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Orioles stranded two in the ninth and Brandon Belt hit a first-pitch homer off Baumann in the Blue Jays’ 6-3 victory before an announced crowd of 20,612 at Camden Yards.
The Orioles (77-48) had a chance to rise more than 30 games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 25, 2014. They’re 27-14 in series openers, and 8-3 against the Jays.
Tyler Wells is moving from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk, where he’ll pitch in relief Wednesday night in a new twist to his injury rehab assignment that reverts back to his past.
Wells made three starts with the Baysox and allowed three runs in 8 2/3 innings. The Orioles restricted him to two innings and 27 pitches on Saturday as part of their plan.
“We’re going to shorten his outings a little bit, just have him throw less pitches and less innings and kind of see how that goes,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “But we’re really encouraged by giving him some rest, giving him some time off. He’s throwing the ball much better here as of late, so we’re going to put him in Norfolk.
“Different ball, more like the major league baseball, and put him in the bullpen there and then see how that goes.”
Wells was a Rule 5 reliever in 2021 before the Orioles converted him back to starter the following spring. They’re using a six-man rotation and can more easily control Wells’ innings in the bullpen after he threw 113 2/3 this season, 10 more than last year.
It was just recently where Gunnar Henderson went through a seven-game period when he was just 2-for-25 (.080) at bat with seven strikeouts. And it wasn’t that long ago.
From the last game of the New York Mets series on Aug. 6 through three games in Seattle to start the West Coast swing where Henderson went hitless, he had just those two hits, both singles and just one RBI in that span.
But now he is coming off a game where he produced four extra-base hits and is just the 11th Oriole to have four in one game – something that had not been done since Aug. 17, 2008 when Melvin Mora did it.
Gunnar can be hard on himself and noted both his hot series in Oakland and a slower stretch that preceded it when asked about his swing today heading into this Toronto series.
“Feeling pretty good. Had a little bit of a (slow) stretch there. But feeling good at the plate the whole time. Just stuff didn’t fall. But now looking forward to keeping this going,” he said.
The Orioles are back home tonight and trying to improve their record to 28-13 in series openers.
Anthony Santander is out of the lineup again with lower-back soreness. Ryan McKenna is in right field.
Gunnar Henderson is batting third. Austin Hays is the cleanup hitter.
James McCann is catching, with Adley Rutschman serving as designated hitter.
Ryan Mountcastle has reached base in 26 consecutive games. He went 11-for-13 against the Blue Jays during a four-game series in Toronto.
On Sept. 24, 2014, the Orioles defeated the Yankees 9-5 in the Bronx to move 32 games above .500. They lost their next three, won 1-0 in Toronto and finished the regular season 96-66.
The 2023 edition is 77-47 heading into tonight’s series opener against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards, with a chance to soar 31 games beyond the .500 mark for the first time in nine years.
Can’t clip those wings, though strains happen. And be careful with that back.
I remind myself of this daily as I hoist my mailbag. Lift with the legs, the only exercise they get.
I’m lightening the load by answering a few more questions this morning, the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original, while my body adjusts to East Coast time.
OAKLAND – The joke landed and also elicited a quick and serious response.
With a six-man rotation, multiple pitchers nearing a return from the injured list and others who are candidates to return from the minors, is it possible that the Orioles actually have, dare we say, too much pitching?
Manager Brandon Hyde, sitting in the dugout yesterday during his media session, smiled and fired back.
“Can never have too much pitching,” he replied.
This is true.
OAKLAND – Jorge Mateo paused before sprinting out of the batter’s box, knowing he hit JP Sears’ changeup a long way, thinking maybe it would clear the fence in left-center field. He slowed as he got halfway to second base, realized that Lawrence Butler wouldn’t make the catch or contain the ball, and slipped into another gear.
The Jorge Mateo gear that few players can find.
Mateo dived across home plate, with the Athletics botching the relay and unable to challenge him. His first home run since April 30, in a month where he hit six of them.
Austin Hays drove in two runs on a ball that deflected off Sears and bounced into shallow left field to pad the lead.
The Orioles wouldn’t just sweep the Athletics. They decided to get creative with it.
OAKLAND – Anthony Santander is out of the lineup again this afternoon, as the Orioles conclude their 10-day road trip and attempt to sweep the Athletics.
Santander is day-to-day with back soreness.
Ryan McKenna is in right field and Gunnar Henderson is the designated hitter. Austin Hays is in left field and batting cleanup.
Jordan Westburg moves down from fourth to seventh. He’s starting at second base, with Ramón Urías at third and Jorge Mateo handling shortstop.
Ryan Mountcastle extended his on-base streak to 25 games last night. Jonathan Schoop is the last Oriole with a 26-game streak in 2017.
