Orioles dealing with decline in defense

The latest non-weather related off-day for the Orioles should allow for a return to normalcy after the weirdness of Wednesday's doubleheader in Chicago.

The recovery period might need an extension more than any young Oriole in the rebuild.

A defense that's been lauded this season committed five errors in the two games. It also was guilty of a few mental blunders that showed up only as hits or runs in the box score.

"I thought we threw the ball really good out of the 'pen, and I thought today was a little bit of a hiccup for us, defensively," manager Brandon Hyde said following the walk-off loss in the nightcap. "We need to get back to and really focus on catching the ball."

Or knowing what to do with it.

Austin Wynns knows that he shouldn't have thrown to second base after Andrew Cashner struck out Ryan Cordell on a pitch in the dirt. He immediately hung his head as the ball rolled into center field, no one covering the bag and with no need to go there because a simple toss to first would have ended the inning.

The tying run scored on Adam Engel's infield hit on a ball that Stevie Wilkerson backhanded while ranging up the middle. It wasn't the only time that a White Sox batter beat out a grounder to second. Jonathan Villar also made a backhanded stop, set his feet and threw late.

Chris Davis knows that he should have gone to first base in the ninth inning instead of glancing to second, which cost him the out. Engel was credited with a bunt single to put two runners on base with no outs. The play led to two more pitching changes.

Paul Fry retired the only batter he faced on a nubber in front of the plate, but Miguel Castro, a gamble considering his fluctuating control, gave up Yonder Alonso's two-run single after striking out José Rondón and issuing an intentional walk to José Abreu.

Davis has been really good at first base, the only contributions he made during the period when he couldn't buy a hit. The lapse in judgment isn't the norm.

Cashner earns points for his tact while assessing the doubleheader.

"I thought we played really well today as a whole," he said. "I think our defense, we could probably clean up some things, but as far as hitting the baseball, I thought we did a really good job, especially with two games in this weather."

Explanations are needed for Abreu's bases-loaded single off Cashner in the fourth that scored three runs and gave the White Sox a 5-4 lead.

Three-run singles don't happen every day. The only other instance this year - and I'm surprised it's hasn't been longer - came in the seventh inning of an April 5 game between the Phillies and Twins. Rhys Hoskins cleared the bases with a one-bagger off Adalberto Mejía.

No Orioles pitcher had been involved since Gregg Olson faced the Angels' Damion Easley with the bases full in the eighth inning of a May 29, 1993 game in Anaheim, according to STATS.

The Orioles took a 3-2 lead into the eighth, allowed four runs and lost 6-3.

Olson replaced Brad Pennington, who replaced Todd Frohwirth, who didn't retire any of the three batters he faced after replacing starter Rick Sutcliffe. Olson struck out former Oriole Rene Gonzalez before Easley lined a single into right-center field to score Tim Salmon, Chili Davis and J.T. Snow.

Mark McLemore was playing right field and Mike Devereaux was in center.

No Orioles player has produced a three-run single since Tommy Davis against the Rangers' Jim Bibby on Aug. 29, 1974, according to STATS. And not a single person tweeted it.

I'm certain that Hyde and first base coach Arnie Beyeler, who's also the outfield instructor, have studied the Abreu single and how three runs scored on it. Was Joey Rickard playing too deep in center field on Abreu's grounder up the middle, allowing Nicky Delmonico to make it all the way around from first base? Or was there an issue with the cutoff?

(I don't know Delmonico's time in the 40, but he isn't Byron Buxton.)

Olson is an authority on the subject.

"Wow, it was an unusual play that could've been stopped if the OF would've thrown to the cutoff instead of 2nd base. Same thing happened in mine," Olson tweeted yesterday morning.

Did anyone yell for the cutoff? Did anyone yell for Davis to throw to first base after fielding the bunt?

So many questions. But communication might be an issue.