By Jake McDonnell
It took less than four games for Brandon Hyde to make his first controversial decision as manager of the rebuilding Orioles. Holding a 6-0 lead with one out in the sixth inning, Hyde trotted out of the Baltimore dugout and pulled starter David Hess, who just happened to have a no-hitter going. Sitting at 82 pitches, Hess had only allowed one Toronto hitter to reach base, which was Billy McKinney, whom Hess walked. Hess threw 50 strikes, striking out eight.
"I was shocked," Hess said on MASN after the game. "I knew my pitch count was decently low. I could tell that [Hyde] was fighting against himself a little bit, because I think the excitement was there. A lot of respect towards him having that mindset and that thought process, that means a lot to me."
"I think the biggest thing is he cares about us a lot," Hess said. "It's hard as a player and I'm sure harder as a manager to go out there and have to pull a guy for the thought process of keeping him healthy and his well-being."
If Hess hadn't thrown 42 pitches on Opening Day against the Yankees, Hyde probably would have given him a longer leash. There's something to be said for no-hitters being a staple in baseball history. There's not one pitcher who doesn't want to go the distance every time they toe the rubber. But when Hess's Thursday pitch count and the Orioles long-term plans are both taken into account, Hyde pulling Hess at the time in which he did isn't the end of the world.
"Just an amazing performance on a night that we needed it more than anything," Hyde said on MASN after the game. "We were really short in the bullpen, [Hess] was on a limited pitch count because he pitched two innings on Opening Day, and no one wanted to see him stay in there more than I do. I've been involved with a couple no-hitters, and they are incredibly special. I let him go as far as I could possibly let him go. All of the credit goes to him for what he did tonight."
"It was the right thing long-term for [Hess's] health," Hyde said. "It's a six-month season. In his first start to extend him way past what we feel like is a healthy place for him to finish at, just wasn't smart."
Naturally, things got interesting right after Hess exited the field. Making his first relief appearance of the season, Pedro Araujo immediately walked Justin Smoak and then allowed a two-run home run to Randal Grichuk, ending the no-no.
The two Oriole relievers who followed Araujo, Mike Wright and Richard Bleier, ran into trouble too. Wright finished off the seventh inning for Araujo and began the ninth inning, but he allowed a solo home run off the bat of Freddy Galvis in the eighth to cut Baltimore's lead to three.
After Brandon Drury opened up the bottom of the ninth against Wright with a single, Hyde called on Bleier. The left-hander coming off a torn lat muscle retired Smoak on a line-out, but then Bleier gave up a double to Grichuk that moved Drury to third. Drury crossed home on a sacrifice fly-out by Kevin Pillar, and then Grichuk scored on a triple by Teoscar Hernandez. With the tying run on third, Bleier struck out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to seal Baltimore's third win of 2019.
Five of the Orioles six runs were scored over the first two innings, four of them in the first. After Dwight Smith Jr. singled with one out, Jonathan Villar hit his first home run of 2019, depositing the long shot just past the Toronto bullpen in left field. A missed catch by Galvis and a bases-loaded walk issued to Chris Davis plated two more runs to put the O's up 4-0.
Trey Mancini made multiple contributions with his bat on Monday night, joining Villar in the home run department in the seventh inning with a solo shot to left field. It's his second solo homer in as many days. Mancini also plated Cedric Mullins in the second inning on a sacrifice fly-out. Over the first four games of the season Mancini is hitting .500 with eight hits in 16 at-bats.
The second contest of this three-game series begins at 7:07 pm on Tuesday evening. The pitching matchup features Andrew Cashner and Marcus Stroman, who both pitched on Opening Day. Cashner's first start if 2019 lasted four innings, as the veteran right-hander allowed six runs on six hits, four walks, and three strikeouts.
Against the Tigers on Thursday, Stroman tossed seven shutout innings but didn't win the game as the Blue Jays lost 2-0. Stroman allowed just two hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. He owns a lifetime 3.55 ERA against the Orioles in 63.1 innings pitched.
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