Bullpen can’t hold late lead as O’s are swept out of Toronto
TORONTO – A part of the tense transition the Orioles are experiencing — some players not knowing howlongtheywill bewiththeteam, others trying to find their part in the club’s future — is that there are a lot of moving parts, as manager Buck Showalter explained following the Orioles’ 5-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.
Those moving parts failed to produce a win in three games at Rogers Centre, with the Orioles swept in a road series of three games or more for the eighth time this season.
TheOrioles (28-72) have lost a lot through the season’s first100 games, but Sunday’s setback was one of the most frustrating after the Orioles blew a three-run leading heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.
The questions are many. Is the trade talk affecting right-hander Brad Brach’s performance? Why did Showalter go to rookie lefthander Tanner Scott with the winning run at the plate in the eighth? Was closer Zach Britton, also one of the pending free agents who could be traded in the coming days, available? Why did Showalter pull Andrew Cashner after just 79 pitches in the sixth?
“We’re juggling a lot of balls here,” Showalter said. “You’re juggling trades. You’re juggling development. You’re juggling trying to win games. All of the above. … There’s a lot of different challenges I’m juggling here, OK? So, respect that. There’s a lot of things. [Zach] pitched yesterday and could have pitched the ninth inning today [with a lead].”
Everything backfired for Showalter in the eighth inning Sunday. Randal Grichuk hit a tworun homer off Brach and Yangervis Solarte added a game-winning tworun blast off Scott, and within a four-batter span, a three-run lead turned into a one-run deficit.
Brach, hampered by inconsistency that has led to a 4.97 ERA, entered the game with a 4-1lead but surrendered a leadoff walk to No. 9 hitter Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Two batters later, he hung a 1-1 slider that Grichuk sent over the left-field wall.
Showalter then turned to Scott, who struck out the side in the seventh Saturday night, with the game on the line with one on and two outs in the eighth, and Solarte tagged a 3-1elevated 97-mphfastball over the left-field fence to give Toronto the lead.
An All-Star just two seasons ago, Brach’s season has been characterized not by the home-run ball, but by allowing too many baserunners. His 1.74 WHIP is a stretch from his career markof1.27. He’s walking too many hitters, and when he leaves a pitch in the zone, hitters are having success attacking.
“I don’t know,” Brach said. “I’ve been looking for answers. Watching video. Trying everything I can. Trying to work on everything and it’s like, anytime I execute a pitch, it seems to find a hole or goes over an infielder’s head. Obviously, when I don’t make pitches right now, it seems to be giving up the big hit or the home run. It is extremely frustrating.”
Brach said he doesn’t believe trade rumors — or the lack of them, in Brach’s case — are affecting him. There’s been little buzz about Brach, and whether that means he’s not traded to a contender or it means a lonely offseason of free agency awaits, it’s not good.
“There really hasn’t been much said,” Brach said. “I need to pitch better if I want to go possibly pitch for someone else. If I want to stay here, I’m not pitching well enough right now. So it’s just one of those things. I havetogrind throughit and get better.”
Britton threw just 13 pitches in a scoreless eighth inning Saturday, but Showalter said he was only going to pitch Britton in the ninth with a lead. Instead, he turned to Scott in the eighth after he threw 12 pitches in a1-2-3 seventh Saturday.
“As as good as [Scott] looked yesterday, you’ve got to [be able to] pitch when guys are in pure ambush modejust swinging and colliding with the ball,” Showalter said.
Jonathan Schoop gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead with his second homer of the series, a solo blast off Joe Biagini in the sixth inning. Schoop also hit a game-tying solo homer in the ninth Friday.
The Orioles added two more runs in the eighth off reliever John Axford on Renato Núñez’s two-out RBI double and an error by Gurriel onagrounderbyTreyManciniafter Gurriel collided with shortstop AledmysDíazwhilefielding the ball near second base.