-1745819772711.png){kind=logo}
KANSAS CITY - A light rain began to fall at Kauffman Stadium on Friday night as the bottom of the sixth inning got underway.
But the deluge had already transpired.
The Royals (20-37) poured runs on Bruce Zimmermann in the lefty’s most dismal outing in what has been a string of them. Zimmermann (2-5) allowed a career-high seven runs on 10 hits in just 4 2/3innings in an 8-1 loss in Kansas City.
The Orioles (24-35) have dropped the first two games of their four-game series, surrendering 15 runs in 18 innings.
Zimmermann’s rough night stood in stark contrast to that of Royals starter Jonathan Heasley (1-3), who allowed just one hit - an Anthony Santander single in the first inning - and no walks to go with seven strikeouts over seven innings of scoreless baseball.
KANSAS CITY - For the first month of the season, Bruce Zimmermann was unstoppable, thanks to an unstoppable new changeup.
Zimmermann’s ERA has gone from 2.72 on May 14 to 4.87 coming into Friday’s start. The last two starts have been particularly unkind, as the lefty has surrendered 11 combined earned runs over his last 9.2 innings.
The changeup that fooled hitters for the first several starts isn’t nearly as effective.
What changed?
“I’m not really sure,” manager Brandon Hyde said to the media gathered in the dugout at Kauffman Stadium. “To me, early in the year he was getting a lot of swing-and-miss on the changeup. In the dugout it has looked a little different his last few outings. Just not having the same kind of depth and swing-and-miss that he was getting on it with right-handed hitters.
Heston Kjerstad’s positive attitude is reflected in the way he’s handled the extreme delay in reaching his first professional game. How he used the term “a little bump” today to describe the reasons why it took until now to join an Orioles minor league affiliate.
With at-bats that finally count.
In front of crowds who don't just pass through the gates for free on a sunny day in Sarasota to watch practices.
A diagnosis of myocarditis shortly after the 2020 draft, where the Orioles picked Kjerstad second overall, prevented him from participating in the fall instructional camp. It kept him out of spring training after a setback. And when he finally was cleared this year to participate in a minicamp and in intrasquad competition two months later, he strained his left hamstring chasing a line drive in the outfield.
The weeks of rehabbing led to light workouts and hitting off tees and coach’s tosses, to facing live pitching, to building at-bats in extended spring training, to reporting to Single-A Delmarva this week.
Outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the second-overall draft pick in 2020, finally is able to make his professional debut tonight at Single-A Delmarva – exactly two years after his selection from the University of Arkansas. He’s batting third and serving as the designated hitter.
Kjerstad, 23, was diagnosed with myocarditis after the draft and strained his left hamstring while chasing a line drive from Adley Rutschman in a March 11 intrasquad game in Sarasota. He’s been playing at extended spring training.
The initial prognosis had Kjerstad missing eight to 12 weeks.
The Orioles decided to let Kjerstad - the No. 9 prospect in the organization, according to MLBPipleline.com - skip the Florida Complex League, but he’s on a return-to-play progression with the Shorebirds. He’ll be removed from games in the middle innings per hamstring rehab protocol and standard practices.
Meanwhile, pitcher Cody Sedlock cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk, so he stays in the organization.
The Orioles have three more games to play in Kansas City before heading to Toronto. I was supposed to be on the current trip, but was switched to Rogers Centre. My first visit since the 2016 wild card game.
More on that later.
The mailbag is allowed in Canada, but I’ll leave it home. Much lighter than its current condition.
Welcome to the latest sequel to the original. You send along questions, I try to answer them, many of you ignore me and rephrase them.
The editing remains minimal. Please don’t contact a lawyer if I remove a word without first issuing a disclaimer about length, style, clarity and brevity.
KANSAS CITY – With each swing, Carlos Santana was getting closer. A 277-foot flyout in the second inning, a 354-foot flyout in the third.
Santana had seen 14 pitches from Jordan Lyles. None were sinkers. But the 15th was.
Lyles left a 90 mph sinker over the heart of the plate with one on and no out in the bottom of the fifth inning of Thursday’s game. Santana deposited it over the right-field wall for a two-run go-ahead shot. After the Orioles had battled back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the game in the top half of the inning, the Royals reclaimed the lead, this time for good.
Kansas City (19-37) got the best of Lyles and Baltimore (24-34) in a 7-5 win in the series opener in front of 15,594 fans at Kauffman Stadium.
"Just a front-hip sinker that I thought we could get one by him, get a quick punchout," said Lyles after the start. "But it started on the plate and covered way too much of the plate, and it was just a bad pitch."
KANSAS CITY – Pitchers like Jordan Lyles are a dying breed.
Organizations are more cognizant of pitch counts than ever, and inning-eaters like the 31-year-old Lyles are increasingly hard to find.
But manager Brandon Hyde isn’t eager to assist in their extinction.
“I love the fact that he does not want to come out of the game,” Hyde said while speaking to the media in Kauffman Stadium’s away dugout. “I love the fact that he feels like it’s his game. He wants to win it or lose it."
Lyles’ throwback style is more pronounced on the Orioles’ largely inexperienced starting staff, as young hurlers like Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish and Bruce Zimmermann are still learning how to go deeper into games.
The Orioles begin a four-game series in Kansas City tonight with Jordan Lyles on the mound after last night’s rainout adjusted his turn.
Lyles has a 4.50 ERA and 1.484 WHIP in 11 starts. He faced the Royals in Game 1 of a May 8 doubleheader and allowed two earned runs (four total) in a season-high 7 1/3 innings.
Tonight’s game won’t provide a matchup of sorts between the top two draft picks in 2019 - Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman and Royals infielder Bobby Witt Jr. A nice sidebar that’s put on hold until Friday.
Robinson Chirinos is behind the plate tonight. Rutschman is going to catch at least two games in the series and likely serve as designated hitter in another. He’s probably going to catch in three of the four games in Toronto, including Monday’s opener.
Rutschman already was going to sit tonight, and the postponement didn’t change the lineup pattern established days ago. Manager Brandon Hyde is easing him into the major league workload after the No. 1 prospect strained his right triceps at the spring training complex.
The creative maneuvering that Orioles manager Brandon Hyde must execute to provide rest to players, sometimes on a rotating basis, also could be necessary late in games with personnel on the field.
Last night’s lineup left the bench without a true utility player. Tyler Nevin plays the corner infield and outfield positions. Ryan McKenna plays all three outfield spots. Robinson Chirinos is the catching alternative to Adley Rutschman.
Chris Owings didn’t hit and he was an easy target for fans on social media, which didn’t go unnoticed by some members of the organization. But he could back up everywhere on the field.
If Hyde needs to replace shortstop Jorge Mateo, he can move Ramón Urías off third base and insert Nevin. Urías is the shortstop if Mateo is rested.
Pretty simple as long as Mateo and Urías don’t slip into day-to-day status with an injury, which they’ve done this season. If that happens, the bench is going to expand again with a phone call to Triple-A Norfolk.
The Orioles are optioning pitcher Spenser Watkins to Triple-A Norfolk after removing him from the injured list.
Watkins has been throwing in the bullpen with no discomfort in his right elbow. The club wants him to make some starts in the minors before perhaps returning him to the active roster.
Bruce Zimmermann, Tyler Wells, Dean Kremer and Kyle Bradish are starting in the four-game series in Kansas City that begins Thursday night. The Royals are starting Kris Bubic, Jonathan Heasley, Daniel Lynch and Brad Keller.
The Orioles begin a four-game series in Toronto on Monday and unvaccinated players are forbidden from entering Canada, which shifts a lot of attention to roster moves made by the club.
Manager Brandon Hyde said it’s “possible” the Orioles put some players on the restricted list because of their vaccination status.
Pitcher Austin Voth has joined the Orioles and is headed to the bullpen.
Voth was claimed off waivers yesterday from the Nationals.
The Orioles designated infielder Chris Owings for assignment to make room for Voth, who’s wearing No. 51.
Owings was 6-for-56 with two doubles, 10 walks and 24 strikeouts in 26 games. He signed a minor league deal on March 15 and served in a super-utility role.
Owings was activated from the bereavement list yesterday.
Baseball’s trade deadline is pushed back a few days this summer to Aug. 2, maybe providing a little more time for Trey Mancini to field questions about his status on the market, the likelihood that he’s moved, how much he hopes to stay.
Stuff he can recite in his sleep because he’s had so much practice with it.
This is an annual event in Baltimore. The Preakness Stakes feel small by comparison.
The Orioles included a $10 million mutual option in Mancini’s contract with a $250,000 buyout that could keep them together in 2023, but it’s rare that the sides agree. And Mancini made it clear after signing his new deal that his status isn’t really impacted. He just as easily could be traded. Embedding the option isn’t equivalent to planting roots.
Mancini actually could be more enticing to some clubs that may not view him immediately as a summer rental. There’s at least a possibility of keeping him an extra year.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde describes rookie Kyle Bradish as having electric stuff, with plus pitches across the board. Says it’s about locating and working ahead in the count, “and not having the high pitch-count innings that he’s had trouble with.”
Bradish’s first pitch of the game tonight was a strike, and Christopher Morel drove it 429 feet to left field for a leadoff home run.
Jumping hard on a trend, Cedric Mullins led off the bottom of the first with a home run to right field off Cubs starter Keegan Thompson, and Trey Mancini launched the next pitch into the home bullpen.
Thompson hit Rougned Odor and Ramón Urías with one out in the second, fans booed, and Jorge Mateo changed their tune with a three-run shot to left. Austin Hays later became the fourth Orioles player to homer into the second deck.
Rain kept falling, baseballs kept flying, and the Orioles welcomed back the Cubs to Baltimore with a 9-3 victory.
Austin Voth isn’t at Camden Yards today, but Orioles manager Brandon Hyde knows how he’s using the right-hander beginning this week.
Voth, claimed off waivers from the Nationals, is going to work in long relief – a role that’s subject to change, of course.
“I just know him from seeing him the last few years with the Nationals,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “It’s a guy that’s given innings out of the ‘pen in his career, spot started at times, been a starter. You’re always looking for starting pitching right now, and we’ll bring him here and see what he can do, and hopefully he can give us some length out of the bullpen to start off with.”
Voth’s arrival won’t change Keegan Akin’s duties as a multi-inning reliever. The Orioles don’t have any plans to put him back in the rotation.
“I still like to use him in the role that he has been in,” Hyde said. “That could, obviously, change with injuries or things that are going to happen in the last half of the year, more than half of the year, obviously, at this point. But I would prefer to keep him where he is right now just because he’s pitching so well in that role.
The Orioles welcome the Cubs to Camden Yards tonight for the first time in five years. A two-game series that features Kyle Bradish starting and Adley Rutschman setting the target.
Rutschman is 0-for-17 since his double in the eighth inning of a May 30 game against the Red Sox.
Bradish is 1-3 with a 6.82 ERA and 1.545 WHIP in seven starts. He’s averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
In four starts since his 11-strikeout game in St. Louis, Bradish has allowed 17 runs and 25 hits with eight walks and 19 strikeouts in 16 innings.
Trey Mancini, who’s the designated hitter tonight, has reached base in 28 of his last 29 games since May 8 and owns a .433 OBP with 13 walks during that stretch.
Promotions earned yesterday also felt like a bone tossed.
The huge disappointment over top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez perhaps missing the rest of the 2022 season with a Grade 2 strain of his right lat muscle was followed a day later by the rush that comes from infield prospects Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg advancing to Triple-A Norfolk.
Out with the bad report, in with the good.
Westburg began the season viewed as closer to the majors than Henderson based on his age and Double-A experience. He’s 23 and appeared in 30 games with the Bowie Baysox last summer in his final three-affiliate stop.
Henderson, still 20, appeared in five games with the Baysox last season and went 3-for-15 with 10 strikeouts.
They are moving on up. The Orioles today promoted infielders Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. Both will now get tested at the minor leagues’ highest level, one step below the big leagues in Baltimore.
They are expected to be with the Tides (26-28) for the opener of their series Tuesday night at Nashville.
Henderson, 20, is having a huge year and is now ranked No. 37 by Baseball America in an updated top 100 prospects list. MLBPipeline.com has him at No. 46.
In 47 games with Bowie he batted .312/.452/.573/.1.025 with 11 doubles, three triples, eight homers, 35 RBIs and 12 steals in 14 attempts, and scored 41 runs. He has made remarkable improvement in plate discipline and has walked more than he has struck out, 41 to 38.
The Orioles' second-round pick in 2019 out of an Alabama high school, Henderson will turn 21 on June 29.
Grayson Rodriguez walked off the mound at Harbor Park Wednesday night after 5 2/3 scoreless innings, an athletic trainer matching him step for step, and the hope was that a little cramping caused his exit and nothing else.
It never was just cramps. Wishful thinking from his camp, perhaps.
The Orioles announced that an MRI revealed a strained right lat muscle, and the hope was that a second opinion would show only a Grade 1. Not a Grade 2 that would extend his absence, or a Grade 3 that would require surgery.
It never was feared to be a Grade 3 – a nearly or completely full tear, where muscle rips off the bone - but the news yesterday could have been better.
Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias met with the media and confirmed a Grade 2 strain that can carry a recovery timeline of up to 12 weeks.
After he had thrown minor league rehab outings of two, three and four innings, the Orioles knew that right-hander Dean Kremer would likely not pitch deep into today’s game. But after the first inning today, he did throw well in his 18th career major league start.
But a three-run homer in the first on this sunny afternoon put him and the Orioles behind early and they could never catch up as they lost 3-2 to Cleveland in the rubber match game of this series.
The Orioles fall to 23-33 overall, to 6-4 in rubber-match games, to 2-4 on this homestand and to 14-15 at home for the season.
Second baseman Andrés Giménez hit 1-0 changeup to second baseman out of the park for his seventh homer of the year, and that three-run blast would put Cleveland ahead five batters into today's game. Kremer’s outing began with a strikeout before Ahmed Rosario ripped a 107 mph single, and with two outs, Owen Miller walked to bring up Giménez.
Kremer's changeup then found too much of the plate and Giménez drilled it 372 feet into the right-center seats for the lead as Cleveland improved to 24-25 overall with its fifth win in the last six games.
Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said today that baseball's top pitching prospect, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, could return this year to pitch in September. He added that whether that happens or not, the club is very much expecting that Rodriguez will begin the 2023 season in the Orioles rotation from opening day on.
Rodriguez, who is 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA in 11 starts with Triple-A Norfolk, left his outing Wednesday after throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings on two hits. He was closing in on his major league debut when he walked off the mound with the trainer in what was described last night as a lat issue.
Elias confirmed the same today and said that, after additional medical review, Rodriguez has been diagnosed with a grade II lat strain.
“He’s going to, basically, have to rest and build back up, ramp back up, and it’s going to be a process that takes at least several weeks,” Elias told reporters in the Orioles dugout. “There is probably a lot of variability to the exact amount of weeks this takes to get back out to competition. It just kind of depends how it goes. He’s feeling really good right now, so that’s a good sign. But statistically, you look at these professional pitchers and I think that the bull's eye right now is on the month of September, when we would have the option of getting him back out on the field. We’ll see. He may beat that timeline, it may take longer than that.
“Whether or not we decide to pitch him again in September, or just let the season end, it’s going to be TBD (to be determined). So we’ll see. The good news is this is an injury we have a very, very high degree of confidence that it’s going to heal. And he’ll back to himself in no time. And at the very least put himself in position to join our rotation out of spring training. That’s our hope. We’re looking forward to getting him back to work. He’s a tough kid and a very hard worker, so I expect he’s going to do very well.”
