By Jake McDonnell
The Baltimore Orioles exit Wednesday with a 11-21 record following a doubleheader split with the White Sox. Game 2's White Sox walk-off win lost the three-game series for Baltimore at Guarenteed Rate Field. Both games were decided by one run.
Game 1 (BAL 5, CHW 4)
The White Sox held a 4-0 lead after the first three innings. Over those three innings, the Orioles defense committed three errors. In the first frame, leadoff hitter Leury Garcia reached first on a throwing error by Hanser Alberto. Garcia crossed home when Jose Abreu smacked a double to Stevie Wilkerson in right field.
In the third, Garcia reached via throwing error again, this one from Orioles starting pitcher David Hess. Renato Nunez was responsible for the third throwing error of the game on a play that produced the third White Sox run, but that occurred after a Yoan Moncada walk and Garcia scoring on a single by Abreu.
The Baltimore offense got things going in the fourth inning when the White Sox defense faced some struggles of their own. Dwight Smith Jr. scored on a wild pitch by Carlos Rondon. Hanser Alberto, who singled, made it a 4-2 game on a force-out where Wilkerson grounded to Rondon, who went to Yolmer Sanchez at second to put the tag on Pedro Severino. It became a one-run game on Richie Martin's single which plated Wilkerson. Reliever Evan Marshall replaced Rondon and retired Jonathan Villar to end the fourth inning.
The Orioles added one run apiece in the seventh and eighth innings. Trey Mancini walked to begin the seventh inning and scored on a double by Smith Jr. Martin tripled to start the eighth inning and made it a 5-4 Baltimore lead on a Villar sacrifice fly. Mychal Givens recorded the four-out save, allowing one hit with three strikeouts.
Brandon Kline earned the win in relief, tossing two scoreless innings with one hit allowed and two strikeouts. Over 4.1 innings Hess allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Kelvin Herrera took the loss for Chicago after allowing the winning run along with one other hit and a strikeout over an inning and a third.
Game 2 (CHW 7, BAL 6)
Smith Jr. began his 3-for-4 night with a one-run single that scored Villar, who got things started with a first inning lead-off single. But after leading 1-0, the Orioles lead quickly evaporated as the defense continued to implode. Ryan Cordell struck out but reached first due to a wild pitch.
After catcher Austin Wynns chased down the wild pitch that landed close to the right side of home plate, he threw the ball into center-field. No one was covering the bag at second, but it looked like the umpire's black attire may have mixed in with the Orioles black jerseys. There's no excuse for throwing the ball away, but it's something to consider when thinking through into the reasons of why Wynns tried to make that throw. Adam Engel knocked in Sanchez, who singled, to tie the game at 1 after Wynns' error. In the third inning, Abreu recorded his sixth home run of 2019 to left-center to put Chicago up 2-1.
Both teams tallied three runs in the fourth inning. In Baltimore's half, they got runners on first and second with a Chris Davis single and a walk by Anthony Santander. Santander was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to serve as the 26th man on the Orioles bench for the twin bill. Santander later hit a lead-off solo home run in the sixth inning that at the time tied the game at 5. But Wilkerson's three-run homer in the fourth inning made it a 4-2 Orioles lead. Cashner struck out both Sanchez and Cordell to start the bottom of the fourth, but then Engel tripled and the veteran right-hander issued walks to Moncada and Nicky Delmonico. After a mound visit, all three runners scored on a single by Abreu. Overall in the series Abreu went 6-for-14 with six RBI.
Cashner came out of the game after four innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts. Santander's homer in the sixth inning took place three batters before starter Ivan Nova was replaced by Aaron Bummer. The final Orioles score arrived in the seventh inning due to a throwing error by shortstop Tim Anderson in which Davis reached first and allowed Rio Ruiz to score.
Evan Phillips, who replaced Gabriel Ynoa in the eighth inning, came out for the ninth with the Birds leading 6-5. Garcia notched a lead-off walk and then Engel singled, prompting Brandon Hyde to trot to the mound and call in left-hander Paul Fry. Fry got Moncada to ground out, and then Hyde made a second pitching change in the inning by bringing in Miguel Castro. Castro struck out Jose Rondon, intentionally walked Abreu but then Alonso hit a two-run single to walk it off for Chicago.
"I thought the bullpen in both games did a really nice job," Hyde said after the game on MASN. "We had a lot of really nice appearances out of the pen from multiple guys tonight. We were really sloppy defensively in both games and allowed extra outs. We just didn't play good defensively."
Gabriel Ynoa racked up five strikeouts over three scoreless relief innings, surrendering a hit. Thyago Vieira racked up the win for the White Sox, throwing the final two innings with one hit and two strikeouts on his stat line.
Following tomorrow's off day, (the second in a three-week stretch of consecutive Thursday off days), the Orioles return to Camden Yards for a three-game weekend series with the first place Tampa Bay Rays (19-11). Like the Orioles, the Rays played a doubleheader on Wednesday and ended the night with a 2-1 series loss. However, they got swept in their twin bill, whereas the Orioles earned a split.
Friday's pitching matchup is Dan Straily (1-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. Tyler Glasnow (5-0, 1.75 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. both Friday and Saturday, and Sunday's start time is 1:05 p.m. After this three-game set, the Boston Red Sox come to town Monday to Wednesday, and the Los Angeles Angels will visit next weekend for three games.
Notes from Twitter
#orioles return Santander to AAA Norfolk
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) May 2, 2019WATCH Brandon Hyde wrap up the #Orioles' doubleheader in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/bRnTktMSd4
— Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) May 2, 2019Homer for the Tides yesterday, homer for the Orioles today --#Birdland https://t.co/dHAaqECuGl
— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) May 2, 2019Keys score a season-high 12 runs en route to win! @WillyYahn with his first career home run, part of a 4 RBI nighthttps://t.co/Ft1j3XGhin pic.twitter.com/zoV9tksoGo
— Frederick Keys (@FrederickKeys) May 2, 2019New month, same result: a Shorebirds win!! Delmarva takes another series, beating Columbia 8-5. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/5vOIliIYkO
— Delmarva Shorebirds (@shorebirds) May 1, 2019Follow Jake on Twitter @JMcDonnell95
