Tillman feels ‘good,’ but start is not
Mistakes in the field hurt struggling O’s ace; Young, Machado each homer twice
Orioles manager Buck Showalter and right-hander Chris Tillman separately say there is no real concern with Tillman this season, that his uncharacteristically high ERA and dismal record are a confluence of some bad luck and subpar moments.
“Chris is a 27-year-old man with a lot of success behind him,” Showalter said after Tillman and the Orioles lost, 9-5, to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon. “He’s very close, and he’s going to pitch good for us this year and, hopefully, for a long time. Keep that in mind. He was very close to having a real good outing today.”
Instead of a good outing, Tillman (2-7) lost his sixth straight decision, a career worst; saw his season ERA near 6.00 again (5.94); and failed to pitch five innings for the fourth time in 10 starts this season.
Always brutally honest in postgame interviews, no matter his performance, Tillman said this stretch is not completely disheartening.
“Results- wise, yeah. But the process is there, and you can’t cheat it,” said Tillman, who allowed six runs (five earned) on nine hits and three walks in 42⁄ innings. “We have been doing the work needed, and I think the results will come. That’s the way I’ve been my whole career; you got to go through the TV: Radio:
process. Stay true to who you are, and it’s going to come.”
Tillman has for the past 21⁄ seasons been the Orioles’ most reliable and consistent starter, a strike thrower who seemingly gave his club a chance to win every time he took the mound.
In 2015, he has won twice, and not since April 18. His seven losses match his major league high, which he set in 2013, when he was 13-7 in 33 starts.
“Mentally, I’m good. I feel really good with where I’m at,” said Tillman, who also said he was fine physically. “It’s just execution; it all comes down to execution.”
Playing before an announced 36,945 at Camden Yards, the Orioles’ defense was subpar: Delmon Young made an errant throw that led to a run, Steve Pearce threw to the wrong base, and a few potentially catchable balls dropped for hits. The offense did little besides getting two-homer games from Young and Manny Machado.
Twice in the past week, the Orioles faced a club on a lengthy losing streak and won the first game, only to lose the next two. Last weekend, the Miami Marlins ended an eight-game skid, winning Saturday night and Sunday afternoon; this past weekend, the Rays had dropped six in a row before beating the Orioles in consecutive afternoon games, Saturday and Sunday.
In between, the Orioles (23-26) took two of three from the Houston Astros, the club with the best record in the American League, and split a doubleheader with the struggling Chicago White Sox.
The Orioles haven’t won more than two in a row since late April. They also haven’t lost more than two in a row since dropping four straight from May 4 to May 8. Despite the seesaw, they remain in third place in the AL East, two games behind the Rays and Yankees (both 26-25).
At times Sunday, Tillman was good, striking out seven batters, including four straight. At other times, he was unlucky. In the fifth, he walked Evan Longoria on a two-out, full-count pitch, followed by an infield single and a RBI bloop to left-center field that dropped in front of Pearce and out of center fielder David Lough’s reach.
That play set up a three-run homer by Steven Souza Jr. that destroyed Tillman’s outing. All six runs Tillman allowed came with two outs.
“I was shaded right from the get-go … so I wasn’t able to make the play, and obviously, Pearce couldn’t make the play as well,” Lough said.Young homered on the first pitch he saw from righthander Jake Odorizzi in the first, planting it into the visitor’s bullpen in left-center to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. It was Young’s first homer since Aug. 29, against the Minnesota Twins.
Young tied the game in the third on another first-pitch cutting fastball from Odorizzi.
In Young’s first four career at-bats against Odorizzi, he was 4-for-4 with three homers. Odorizzi walked Young on four pitches in the fifth. The Orioles loaded the bases that inning against Odorizzi, who threw eight of nine pitches for balls before getting Pearce to ground out on a firstpitch cutter.
Pearce said he was looking for a fastball and thought he had the pitch he wanted, but it cut away from him at the last moment.
Machado hit a two-run homer against Odorizzi (4-5) in the seventh and a solo shot off Xavier Cedeno in the ninth, but the Orioles head to Houston on a two-game losing streak.