Offense sputters in tight loss, Eflin shut down about a week (updated)

PHOENIX – The Orioles offense got off to a blistering start. Charlie Morton did not in what would be a 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks. And after the game, things got worse.

Let's start with the worse news before getting to the bad news.

After the game, Brandon Hyde announced that Zach Eflin has a low-grade lat strain and will be shut down for "about a week." The plan is to "reassess from there, and hopefully he'll be back throwing at that point." It could've been worse news, but it certainly could've been better.

A plan for his replacement has yet to be determined, as O's coaches got the news during tonight's game.

Brandon Young would be a logical replacement. Already on the 40-man roster, the right-hander has made two starts to kick off the season with Triple-A Norfolk. He's totaled 11 1/3 innings and hasn't allowed a run while striking out 11 and walking just two. Couple that with his 3.94 ERA in 20 games for the Tides a season ago, and you're left with an ideal candidate to make a spot start or two. 

And now to the baseball game.  

In his first 13 pitches of his outing, Morton threw just three strikes. A hit by pitch and two walks comprised his 10 balls. But after loading the bases with no outs, the veteran found a way to get out of trouble with minimal injury. 

"I just lost command in the first," Morton said after the game. "But luckily, with the bases loaded there, we limited damage to just one run."

The three outs that followed felt like vintage Morton. Josh Naylor grounded into a double play, only scoring one, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. grounded out to Gunnar Henderson. When Morton is at his best, he’s keeping the ball on the ground.

And his offense had his back to start the game.

The O's quickly loaded the bases in the top of the first and Cedric Mullins delivered yet another big hit. A single to right scored two and gave Morton some early breathing room.

Even Baltimore’s outs were loud off of Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly. In the first two innings, balls in play that resulted in outs had the following exit velocities: 109.1 mph, 107.5, 98.9 and 107.7. In a process based approach, that was a sign of good things to come.

As it turns out, that sign read “stop,” and the Orioles weren’t the next offense to strike.

"We let him (Kelly) off the hook in the first inning," Hyde said. "We had really good at-bats up until that point (Tyler O’Neill’s double play) and we didn't do much offensively after that, unfortunately."

In the third inning, Corbin Carroll did Corbin Carroll things, taking Morton deep for a solo home run to knot things at two runs apiece.

Entering play, Carroll was in the 96th percentile in expected slugging percentage, 92nd in average exit velocity, 88th in barrel rate, 89th in hard-hit rate and 86th in launch angle sweet-spot percentage. He’s the type of player that you can only hope to contain.

After a rocky first inning, both starters found more of a groove.

Six Orioles came to the dish in their two-run first frame. After O’Neill’s double play to end the inning, Kelly sat down 11 consecutive Birds. Jackson Holliday would’ve been the 12th, if not for an error from Eugenio Suárez. 

Morton, on the other hand, was far from as clean, but found ways to bob and weave out of trouble until the fifth inning. 

The veteran was fortunate to see a Pavin Smith double be of the ground-rule variety, leaving runners on second and third. It felt like the type of bounce that you get when things are going your way.

Instead, the next at-bat ended with two runs on the board for Arizona, as Naylor took Morton’s curveball 110 mph down the right field line for a game-changing double.  

The veteran righty’s day didn’t last much longer. After Suárez reached on an error and Gabriel Moreno on a walk to start the sixth, Morton was pulled.

"We've all had ups and downs with command," Morton said. "I think for me, looking at my stuff right now and how it's actually playing in the zone, it's surprisingly pretty good. ... I think it really just comes down to fastball command, if I could've just limited some of those walks. Even still, I was able to pitch into the sixth inning and it's not like I had 100 pitches. It was just really bad timing with walks, and they had a couple of really clutch hits with men on."

In Morton's relief, Keegan Akin promptly worked out of trouble and kept the score at 4-2. 

In the top half of the frames, Kelly just kept on rolling. After Mullins’ two-run single in the first, 17 consecutive Orioles went without a hit. 

"He mixes well, uses both sides of the plate," O'Neill said of Kelly. "He's a little deceptive, so definitely showed it off today."

It’s no surprise that Mullins was the one to break that streak with a double to kick off the seventh inning. 

The next batter, O’Neill, maybe (probably) got away with a checked swing on a potential strike three and later walked. First base umpire Laz Diaz didn’t like what Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo had to say about it, and Arizona’s skipper was ejected from the game. Regardless, Kelly’s day was done.

If you thought that that would be the end of the seventh inning circus, you would be mistaken.

Holliday, with the bases loaded, flew a ball to left field. Gurriel made an outstanding sliding catch, but launched a ball to the right of home plate. Mullins tagged and scored from third, but O’Neill did not tag up at second base and was instead tagged out at third for an inning-ending double play. It is important to note here that the third base umpire did not appear to make an out call on the catch, which is not particularly helpful for a baserunner.

"We didn't see a call on the field, that's a little bit of the problem I had," Hyde said of the confusion. "It's a tough play for everybody at that point. Would like to see a call on the field, nobody saw it."

"Yeah, pretty crazy play," O'Neill remarked. "First thing that I saw, I thought Gurriel trapped it. So I was trying to stay closer to third base to try and score on the play. I was just trying to stay aggressive out there. Took a peek at the umpires, I didn't see any signal that there was a catch or anything, so I just kind of went about my business. Obviously, seeing it on the replay, he made a heck of a catch. So just one of those baseball plays that didn't go our way."

There was still a baseball game after the circus, and Jorge Mateo delivered some more excitement. Unfortunately for the Orioles, it wasn't all positive. 

Mateo pinch-ran for Adley Rutschman in the top of the eighth, and immediately stole second and third. He was then tagged out in a pickle between third and home on Ryan Mountcastle’s ground ball back to the pitcher.

"Mateo's going to run on contact every single time he's at third base," Hyde added. 

The bullpen was, once again, outstanding. Akin, Bryan Baker and Seranthony Domínguez combined to toss three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit along the way. 

But ultimately, it wasn't enough. Justin Martinez and his wicked splitter closed things out. 

The Orioles can still win the series in tomorrow's rubber match. Dean Kremer and Brandon Pfaadt hit the hill.