Pulled in with the remainder of the Orioles’ infielders, Rougned Odor dove to his left, Yuli Gurriel’s sharp grounder simply out his attain. Two innings later, the identical was true of Rafael Montero’s two-strike changeup the Orioles’ second baseman noticed whereas representing the go-ahead run within the ninth inning.
Gurriel’s two-run single in Sunday’s seventh inning offered the Houston Astros with their first lead over the Orioles in additional than 5 recreation’s value of innings, and it proved sufficient to disclaim Baltimore a second straight sweep at Minute Maid Park with a 3-1 victory. Montero struck out Odor with two runners on for the ultimate out to finish a collection the Orioles gained however wasted many scoring alternatives, even after American League Cy Young Award frontrunner Justin Verlander unexpectedly exited early.
“Our pitching has been outstanding this entire series,” supervisor Brandon Hyde stated. “We’ve got to start swinging the bat a little bit. Offensively, we need to start scoring some more runs, but I was really happy with the effort this series.”
The Astros had gone 47 innings with no lead towards the Orioles relationship to final season earlier than Gurriel’s knock off Bryan Baker, with Baltimore claiming the primary two video games of the collection behind dominant pitching performances from younger starters Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer. Sunday, Austin Voth matched them precisely by holding the AL’s finest group to 1 hit by means of six innings earlier than permitting the leadoff man to achieve within the seventh.
The stroll to Alex Bregman chased Voth after what had been six scoreless innings, giving Baltimore (67-60) a full flip by means of its rotation with all 5 starters working that deep. Even because the Orioles’ rotation has averaged greater than six innings per begin over the previous dozen video games, Hyde has nonetheless relied closely on his major bullpen trio of Dillon Tate, Cionel Pérez and Félix Bautista. Instead, he deployed Baker behind Voth.
A double from Kyle Tucker put two in scoring place for longtime Oriole Trey Mancini, who struck out for the fifth time in 10 at-bats in his first collection towards his former group. But Gurriel’s single by means of the best aspect previous a diving Odor ignited the 31,559 introduced in attendance. The hit drove in additional runs than Houston scored within the collection’ first two video games, with a kind of scores on Voth’s line to depart Baltimore’s rotation ERA at 2.19 over the previous 12 video games. It marked the third time in 4 outings Baker allowed a run.
Joey Krehbiel managed to depart the bases loaded behind Baker however allowed a house run to Bregman within the eighth. An Orioles offense that additionally had its struggles within the collection was shut out till the ninth, forcing the membership to accept a collection win whereas remaining 1 1/2 video games out of a wild-card spot.
“We’re continuing to prove people wrong,” Voth stated. “I think a lot of people just count us out going into a series, and they shouldn’t. We’re a good club, and we can compete.”
A break however no breakthrough
The Orioles have been at all times going to have a problem in entrance of them Sunday dealing with Verlander. Even when he left the sport after three innings with proper calf discomfort, they have been then confronted with the duty of taking over the very best bullpen within the majors.
Their first two batters singled off him, however Verlander recovered to strike out the following three Orioles in a 28-pitch first. They acquired two males on towards him within the third, however Robinson Chirinos initially broke for third earlier than holding at second on a flyout to middle whereas Cedric Mullins tagged up from first, resulting in an pointless out on the bases to finish the inning.
It additionally ended Verlander’s outing after 60 pitches. Houston starters averaged 19.4 pitches per inning within the collection, however the Orioles not often capitalized on that, getting two hits of their first 20 at-bats with runners in scoring place within the collection.
“Would like to get a lead in that type of a game and didn’t do it,” Hyde stated. “I believed our at-bats have been good off him. We simply didn’t swing the bat off their bullpen, and it’s a great bullpen.
“We just couldn’t get anything going, unfortunately.”
Houston’s bullpen, which entered play main baseball in reduction ERA, didn’t give the Orioles one other scoring alternative over the following 5 innings. Their finest probability was erased when Jorge Mateo was tagged out at third attempting to increase a double within the fifth.
It marked Baltimore’s solely hit off a Houston reliever till Anthony Santander’s one-out double within the ninth. He finally scored on a single from Austin Hays earlier than pinch-hitter Kyle Stowers singled off Gurriel’s glove at first. Odor labored the depend full earlier than placing out, leaving Baltimore 3-for-22 with a runner at second or third base within the collection.
“We had a couple opportunities, just needed that big hit,” Hays stated. “We simply couldn’t get the massive hit tonight.
“We’ve got a bullpen that has been doing great all year and our starting pitching is, I think, just starting to hit their stride, so I think that combination — just get a little more offense going. We’ve done a better job recently of getting things going earlier in the game. We’ve done a great job all year scoring in the later innings, so the progress of making the starters throw more pitches and having better at-bats early in the game has been a good adjustment for us. I think our team’s starting to show what we can do and what we could do in the playoffs.”
Around the horn
>> Hyde stated right-hander Tyler Wells (left indirect pressure) was due for a simulated recreation both Sunday or Monday. The Orioles are nonetheless figuring out whether or not he returns as a starter or reliever, with Hyde noting the increase for the previous will trigger Wells to take longer to return.
>> Outfielder Colton Cowser, the fifth total decide in final yr’s draft and the Orioles’ No. 5 prospect in line with Baseball America, hit a walk-off residence run Sunday for Double-A Bowie, the place he’s hitting .341 with a 1.037 OPS in 49 video games.
ORIOLES@GUARDIANS
Tuesday, 6:10 p.m
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com