A throw to third might’ve ended the inning unscathed. On third, though, stood first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who was a dozen steps from the bag by the time Mateo had released his throw across the diamond. He nearly caught Sheets, a testament to Mateo’s range and arm. Mateo ranged to his right to backhand a ground ball, then attempted a jump throw across his body to first. But there’s a time and place for the dazzling, and a two-out, bases-loaded situation in the seventh inning might not be one of them. Mateo has a penchant for the spectacular, and the Orioles shortstop has put himself in the Gold Glove conversation by making the standout plays others wouldn’t even attempt. Baker entered in the seventh and promptly loaded the bases through two walks and a single. And after that first inning, when I got the rhythm and release down, I had a good feel for it, so we were able to use it a lot.”īut the bats didn’t take advantage of that start, and the bullpen let the game slip away. “We put a lot of work on it this week to get it to where we wanted it to be. “We saw early on they were kind of leaning out over the plate towards the cutter, so we kind of reversed our focus,” Watkins said. Watkins’ slider, especially, was a weapon, forcing six whiffs as he used it more than any other pitch.
He finished with five strikeouts, two walks and five hits through his six innings, keeping Baltimore in the game. He got off to a shaky start Wednesday, allowing two runs in the first inning on a single from right fielder Gavin Sheets (Gilman).īut over his next five innings, Watkins allowed four base runners total. Watkins has performed at a high level since returning from the injured list, with his ERA dropping to 2.83 in his 10 appearances. And in the eighth, the game fell out of the Orioles’ reach as a bullpen facing an identity crisis once again didn’t resemble its usual dominant self. Moncada snared the sharply hit grounder, tagged third with his glove and fired to first in time to catch Mateo to end the inning rather than producing the go-ahead score. After a four-pitch walk by Rougned Odor to load the bases with one out, Mateo swung at a down-and-in sinker from Graveman - hitting it in just about the only place that could’ve resulted in a double play. This time, though, Moncada had Mateo played perfectly. The swing and the placement of the hit looked nearly identical to Mateo’s bases-clearing double in the Little League Classic on Sunday night. And while throwing relievers out there has worked in Baltimore’s favor more often than not this season, it didn’t Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox in a 5-3 loss, as a close game got away against a bullpen that has infrequently suffered such losses this year. “We’re going to continue to throw them out there and try to find the right combination to close games.” “We were so good the first half that it’s hard to be perfect for six months,” Hyde said Tuesday. It has led to heavier workloads for many of the same pitchers, and it has elevated the roles for relievers who weren’t frequent contributors in close games. That’s what happens when All-Star Jorge López, the previous closer, is shipped off at the trade deadline, leaving one of baseball’s best groups left to reshuffle.
In the aftermath of Félix Bautista’s heroics a day earlier, when the new Orioles closer worked a five-out save, manager Brandon Hyde admitted the bullpen is undergoing a feeling-out period. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu
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