O’s waste third straight quality start
Astros sweep doubleheader despite efforts of Orioles starters Brundy, Ramírez
Could this all end any other way? Like David Hess on Friday and Dylan Bundy earlier Saturday, Yefry Ramírez took the mound as one of the Orioles' last starters standing and turned in an outing that in normal circumstances could be worthy of a win.
Instead, Ramírez's longest major league start, and the first quality start of his career, ended up the same way as the ones that preceded it: an Orioles loss, 5-2 to the Houston Astros to complete a doubleheader sweep.
That sends the Orioles (46-115) into their season finale trying to avoid their 22nd series sweep.
That each of these three losses to the American League West champions came as the Orioles got a quality start is fitting, considering how their season has gone. They've had 64 starts in which their pitchers have gone at least six innings with three earned runs or fewer. Saturday's pair of defeats makes 37 losses in such games, second most in the majors.
Like most facets of their team, the starting pitching has been inconsistent. But there have been plenty of runs like this where things went well, and the wins didn't follow.
Perhaps that happened in Saturday's nightcap because Ramírez put them down early, allowing a first-inning home run to left fielder Myles Straw, who had all of three homers in his three-year minor league career. The Orioles leveled it on a single by catcher Austin Wynns in the second inning, but were behind again when Ramírez walked Jake Marisnick with the bases loaded in the fourth, and went down 3-1 on a home run by Brian McCann.
The bottom of the Orioles’ order loaded the bases in the seventh, and Renato Núñez scored on a wild pitch that was all they managed. Houston extended its lead to 5-2 with a home run by Marisnick off Mike Wright Jr. in the eighth.
In a season of little consolation, that the Orioles had three of their young starters end the campaign well will at least buoy some outlooks entering the offseason. Hess, Bundy and Ramírez became their only available starters after injuries to Andrew Cashner (knee), Alex Cobb (finger) and Luis Ortiz (hamstring), with Josh Rogers shut down because of his innings count.
GAME 1: As far as September surprises go, the Orioles are a few days away from breaking up this year with two jumping out — former first-round draft pick DJ Stewart had held his own since his addition nearly three weeks ago, and left-hander Sean Gilmartin had carved out a possible future role with a string of useful long-relief appearances.
A late 4-3 loss to the Houston Astros in the first half of Saturday’s doubleheader at Camden Yards reinforced one of those, but let some air out of the latter.
Stewart hit a three-run home run to tie the game in the seventh inning, only for Gilmartin, in his second inning after a clean eighth, to walk George Springer with two outs and watch him come around for the go-ahead run on a double to the center-field wall by Carlos Correa.