No telecast today, because Orioles ownership is incredibly cheap. But honestly we didn’t miss a game we’d have wanted to see.
It was a rough one for Easton Lucas. He got through the first with only a walk issued, but the Orioles figured him out in the second. The first four batters walked, singled (on which the lead runner was thrown out at third), doubled, and homered. He rallied to get a pop up for the second out, but at that point John Schneider came in with the hook. Unfortunately, Andrew Bash was worse. A walk, a hit by pitch, a single and a homer extended Baltimore’s tally to seven.
Braydon Fisher was better, striking out four across two perfect innings of relief. The offence woke up in between, scoring four with the help of a meltdown by Orioles reliever Colin Selby. After two quick outs, Davis Schneider and Nathan Lukes walked and Leo Jimenez was hit by a pitch to load the bases (there was a wild pitch and a balk in there for good measure). Back to back singles from Orelvis Martinez and Myles Straw cut the Orioles’ lead to three.
After the Jays failed to get a man on in the top of the fifth, Eric Pardinho had a 1-2-3 bottom half. Schneider managed another walk in the sixth, but wasn’t cashed in. Pardinho returned to start the seventh, but a pair of walks and a single made it 8-4 before he could record an out. Johnathan Lavallee allowed one if the inherited runners to score, and Nick Fraze allowed a home run in the bottom of the seventh to put Baltimore in double digits.
The Jays scratched out another run in the eighth on a pair of walks and a pair of fielding errors, but Fraze gave it back in the bottom half.
They made one more run in the ninth. Robert Brooks walked, Josh Kasevich lined a single, and Charles McAdoo homered to centre field, bringing the score to 11-8. That was as close as they’d get, though.
A second rough pitching outing in a row, but again it was all guys who shouldn’t be on the team during the regular season, so it’s not the end of the world.
The offence scored a lot, but that had more to do with Baltimore’s pitchers walking six and hitting two, plus balking and throwing a wild pitch. McAdoo had the only extra base hit, and there were only four in total.
Split squad tomorrow. Chris Bassitt and probably most of the A team will take on Reece Olson and the Tigers in Dunedin. That one should be on TV, at 1:07pm ET. Later in the evening, at 6:35pm, Jake Bloss will take the rest of the squad to Tampa to take on Gerritt Cole and the Yankees.