Rays rally, spoil Eshelman’s debut
Bullpen coughs up 4 runs after rookie’s solid start
Tom Eshelman’s calling card as a pitcher has always been his control, so it makes sense he managed to wrangle whatever emotions were bothering him in his first inning as a major league pitcher.
Eshelman’s debut was good enough to win, but the Orioles didn’t after their bullpen surrendered four runs in a 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night. The 25-year-old right-hander’s five innings of two-run ball came less than a month after the Orioles acquired him.
The Houston Astros’ second-round draft pick in 2015 when Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias was Houston’s scouting director, Eshelman was part of a package sent to the Philadelphia Phillies for closer Ken Giles that offseason. He climbed the Phillies’ organizational ladder and reached Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2017, a year in which he was honored as the top pitcher in Philadelphia’s system and started for the International League in the Triple-A All-Star Game. He competed for a rotation spot the next spring, and after he didn’t get it, he had a 5.84 ERA back with the IronPigs.
He began this year with the Phillies’ Double-A affiliate in Reading, struggled there, then pitched well after returning to Lehigh Valley. The Orioles acquired him for international signing bonus pool slots June 10, desperate for starting pitching depth to plug into the high minors and able to do so at the expense of slots they didn’t plan to use anyway. Eshelman also didn’t require a 40-man roster spot, and with the Orioles recently shuffling through several pitchers in their fifth starter role, that had to change before Monday’s game. Left-hander Josh Rogers, who Tuesday could get news he requires Tommy John surgery, was moved to the 60-day injured list, and Eshelman finally got his call-up.
As a Cal State Fullerton standout, Eshelman set the Titans’ career ERA record at 1.65, but he earned his reputation for excellent command by walking only 0.43 batters per nine innings, a Division I record after he began his college career with 631⁄ walkless innings.
The same could not be said for his major league career, as he walked the second batter he faced as his curveball hung and his high 80s mph fastball did anything but sizzle to allow the Rays to tag him for four hits and two runs. He left the bases loaded with a pair of groundouts, the latter coming off the bat of Brendan McKay, who Eshelman faced in an NCAA Super Regionals at Fullerton.
He retired 13 of the final 15 batters he faced and didn’t allow a run over his final four frames. Thanks to RBI singles from Hanser Alberto, Pedro Severino and Rio Ruiz, his outing officially ended after 75 pitches with him in position for his first major league win and a shower of various liquids in Tropicana Field’s visiting clubhouse.
Instead, Branden Kline entered in the sixth and allowed a walk and a single before serving up a three-run home run to Kevin Kiermaier and exiting the game. The Rays added another run off Miguel Castro in the seventh.
But that shouldn’t detract from Eshelman’s night, nor should the possibility he’s off the roster by Tuesday’s game as the Orioles try to fit a starter for that contest onto the roster. For one night in his third organization, he was a major leaguer.