The Orioles were back in it.
Baltimore, as has been typical of late, didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning of Sunday night’s series finale against the Astros. Eloy Jiménez singled, Emmanuel Rivera walked and Ramón Urías sent them all around the bases on a three-run homer.
The game was tied. Until two pitches, both straight down the middle, in the seventh changed that. The Astros hit back-to-back home runs off Burch Smith, taking a 5-3 lead and holding on to win 6-3.
“Tonight, he got beat with his breaking ball,” manager Brandon Hyde said of Smith. “He was throwing 98-99 and strikes. Just went two breaking balls to [Alex] Bregman and the second one got hit out, and first-pitch sweeper, I think. He’s got a really good arm; he throws 99 miles an hour. I don’t know if they were sitting on it or what, but he pitched well against them a couple nights ago.”
Baltimore and Houston split the series and, although the result Sunday wasn’t ideal, this weekend should still give the Orioles momentum as they head to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers, who have the best record in MLB.
The Orioles are still playing .500 baseball, as they have been since the start of July, but there were signs from this weekend that things could be looking up. The two mistake pitches from Smith and a sacrifice fly against Cionel Pérez in the eighth (which was only possible because of an error) were the only runs the bullpen allowed all weekend. Albert Suárez and Dean Kremer, who had his third straight quality start Sunday, put together solid outings. Kremer allowed three runs in six innings, all of the runs coming in the fourth, when the Astros had five consecutive two-out hits.
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The offense found the big hit, even if it didn’t pay off Sunday. Anthony Santander hit a grand slam in the eighth inning in Friday’s win, while Jackson Holliday had a bases-clearing double in Saturday’s victory.
On Sunday, it was Urías’ turn. He’s become a staple in the lineup with Jordan Westburg injured, and he’s made the most of the opportunity. He’s had four home runs since July 31 — the day Westburg fractured his hand — the same number he had all of last season.
But, while the big hit is needed, the Orioles managed only two hits all game, the fourth time in their last seven games they’ve had four hits or fewer. Both of their hits came against Astros starter Yusei Kikuchi, the team unable to get anything going against the bullpen either, which had been the case earlier in the series.
“Kikuchi was really good,” Hyde said. “We saw him in Toronto early. It’s a firm, firm 96, 97, with a really good slider. Really tough on righties and lefties. We had a tough time putting things together against him.”
Ryan Mountcastle (sore wrist) and Cedric Mullins (sore quad) were unavailable for the second day in a row, but Hyde is hoping that, with a day off Monday, they will be ready to go Tuesday for the start of the Dodgers series. Either way, this offense needs someone to get going, especially as the Orioles prepare to face former teammate Jack Flaherty in the series opener. He has a 3.00 ERA, one of the lowest in MLB.
“I think we’ve been struggling to put good at-bats together as a team,” Urías said. “I think we all know that we have the talent, so I think we just have to keep the focus and bring that back.”
