PHOENIX – Ahead of Zac Gallen’s start, Brandon Hyde described this series as “a test” for the Orioles lineup from a discipline standpoint. Baltimore couldn’t chase off the edges, or they’d be in for a long start to the week.
On Monday, the O’s passed that test with flying colors.
Gallen was knocked out of the game after 4 ⅔ innings, seven hits, four walks and five earned runs. He only struck out two after striking out 13 Bronx Bombers in his previous outing. Hyde called the performance “some of our best at-bats of the year.”
In the first inning of Tuesday’s game, it seemed like much of the same. After two early runs off Merrill Kelly, the Birds seemed to be rolling. But the right-hander found a groove and 17 consecutive Orioles went hitless after Cedric Mullins’ two-run single in the first.
So, in Game 2, the offense didn’t get the best grade with three runs on the board in a loss.
Part 3 of the test, against Brandon Pfaadt, felt like it was worth more. The O’s bats needed to find a rhythm and carry some positive momentum into their series against Toronto.
But in the rubber match against Arizona, no facet of the game came together in a 9-0 loss.
A 1-2-3 first inning didn’t get things off to a good start. Only three batters stepped into the box in the second inning, too, and just four in the third. Through three frames, the O’s had just two hits and no threats to score.
The fourth inning started with more promise. Back-to-back walks from Adley Rutschman and Ryan O’Hearn had the O’s in business to start the frame. But with two lineouts and O’Hearn caught trying to take second on a ball in the dirt, Baltimore was once again empty handed.
In the other halves of innings, Dean Kremer delivered a solid performance early on. Corbin Carroll continued his scorching start to the season with a single and a run scored in the first, followed by a solo home run in the third, but the damage remained relatively limited.
That was, until the fifth inning.
The sinker/cutter combination had been effective for Kremer for the first four frames. But in the fifth, Geraldo Perdomo lined a cutter for a single, and Pavin Smith drove a cutter to deep right-center for a two-run home run.
Josh Naylor was next to join the party. The former Guardian took a splitter 381 foot to right field, and in the blink of an eye, it was a 5-0 ballgame, and Dean’s afternoon came to an abrupt end.
Cionel Pérez entered the game, and things didn’t get much better.
The lefty has gotten off to a rocky start to the season, and it continued this afternoon. After a double from Jake McCarthy, a two-run single off the bat of Tim Tawa plated two. By the end of the fifth, it was 7-0 Diamondbacks.
There’s no better example of how this game felt than the sixth/seventh inning turn.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Ryan Mountcastle got a hold of one. He turned on a cutter and hit a 108.7 mph frozen rope … Directly into Eugenio Suárez’s glove.
Suárez was then the leadoff hitter in the seventh inning. Facing Matt Bowman, Suárez took an edge-of-the-plate sweeper out to left field. It was 75.5 mph off the bat and fell in for a double.
That’s just the kind of afternoon it was.
A Perdomo home run off the newly promoted Colin Selby pushed Arizona’s lead to 8-0. After a Smith double and an RBI single from Naylor, it was nine. That’s where things would end up.
That was a clunker. There aren’t many positives to take away from a game like this, but we’ll try to find at least a few.
Gunnar Henderson continues to hit the ball really hard, and eventually, that’s going to lead to better results. Rutschman continues to get on base, and Ramón Urías is playing really good baseball. That’s at least a few things to build on.
The Orioles leave Arizona with more questions than answers. They’ll try to find some back home against the Blue Jays this weekend.