O's second stretch without Zach Britton gets rocky

Catcher Matt Wieters produced his ninth career walk-off hit last night. It was the first one Orioles fans did not truly enjoy. Wieters' two-run single off Brad Brach in the ninth capped the Washington Nationals three-run rally in the final inning as they beat the Orioles 7-6.

With a 6-2 lead heading to the bottom of the eighth, the Orioles seemed in good positon to extend their winning streak to seven games. Looks can be deceiving. The Nats scored five more runs before the Orioles could get six more outs.

A season after watching Zach Britton go 47-for-47 in save chances, the fans have seen Brach go 8-for-10. Perfection is hard to repeat.

Brach's stuff certainly is good enough to close games and we've seen him do it this year. But Brach suffered a blown save in New York on April 28, the night the O's blew a 9-1 lead. And he suffered one the night they let a 6-2 lead get away. He was certainly not the only one to pin the loss on.

More than anything, Brach might need rest at this point. Last night he was pitching for the third time in four days and the fifth time in the last seven. Maybe the Orioles were just asking too much from him.

In his first 11 games of 2017, Brach pitched 12 innings allowing no runs on three hits and with a batting average against of .089. In his past eight games, he has pitched seven innings allowing 11 hits and eight runs for an ERA of 10.29 and with a .367 average against.

There is nothing wrong with his velocity. Last night his average four-seam fastball was 95.5 mph, which is his second-highest game average of the year for that pitch. He averaged 86.7 mph on his slider, which is normal for him.

But he also saw Jayson Werth work him for an 11-pitch at-bat and then homer to lead off the ninth, cutting the O's lead to 6-5. Wieters' game-ending single came on his 28th pitch. So he has been carrying a heavy workload and then had a 28-pitch inning. That is the second-most pitches he has thrown this year. So, yeah, it probably was asking too much.

Brach threw some good pitches last night but he elevated three and each one cost him. The 11th pitch to Werth was away but he went with it and homered to right on a 96 mph fastball. The next batter was Bryce Harper and Brach got ahead of him with a couple of good changeups but could not finish him off. Harper was off balance on a 2-2 splitter but it was up on the outside corner and he got enough of it to punch it into left for a double. Later with runners on first and second and one out, Brach had Rendon down 0-2 in the count. But another fastball was up and Rendon singled to center to load them up for Wieters. On the next pitch he ended the game. Brach didn't miss his spots by much but each time he did it seemed to cost him.

Wieters' game-ending single went buzzing right by Orioles first baseman Chris Davis. But it was hit at 100 mph and Davis looked to be screened somewhat by Rendon on the play. He had little chance to make what would have been a spectacular play.

The Orioles have seen a lot of things go their way lately. They swept the White Sox and beat the Nationals two in a row. But six outs away from another win, they could not seal the deal.

Now Brach probably could use a couple of days off before he gets thrown back into the fire of the ninth inning. You have to get the same three outs that inning, but I've never felt it is just the same as pitching the eighth, seventh or so forth. The last three outs can be the hardest three. Britton spoiled us with a perfect season.

Surviving for a time without Britton in the rugged American League East will probably be every bit the challenge you might think.