Dan Connolly

Simply put, Friday’s disaster is O’s most deflating loss of year

By Dan Connolly

Posted on August 19, 2016

There have been some unpleasant losses in this see-saw Orioles season.

None can compare to Friday night’s 15-8 disaster against the Houston Astros.

Ugly, terrible, mind-numbing, deflating – none of it does Friday’s train wreck justice.

How do you make modern major league history by becoming the first team to hit four home runs before recording an out in the first inning and still lose?

And not just lose. Nearly have your score doubled.

“It’s not ideal. That game could have gone a few different ways, unfortunately it got away from us,” said Mark Trumbo, who completed a first-inning back-to-back-to-back homer chain with his league-leading 36th of the season.

Trumbo’s a veteran, and he took a veteran approach to this massacre.

“It’s going to happen throughout the course of the year. We’ve had a lot of good times, and some not-so-good times, and this will be one of them,” he said. “Everyone is this room has dealt with it many times before. It’s not easy to brush off, but I think we’re equipped to do it.”

Orioles manager Buck Showalter is the king of “one game at a time.” He refuses to make more out of a win, so he’s not going to put extra significance on a nightmare defeat.

“These are the best players in the world and things like that happen, things snowball. There’s a fine line,” Showalter said. “Our guys turn the page very quickly, just like (the Astros) did before (Friday’s) game. You can’t sit there and live in that world. If you do, you’re going to have it happen again and again and again. That’s why our guys have been engaged in this division, because they don’t do that.”

Fair enough. The Orioles smacked down the Astros 13-5 on Thursday. And the Astros didn’t let that crush their spirits. And the Orioles very well could come back with a flourish Saturday.

But that still doesn’t heal the wounds completely. Wade Miley, who was the Orioles’ lone pitching addition via trade at the deadline, has been shaky since he put on an Orioles uniform. He was a blender Friday.

Down 1-0 in the first, Adam Jones led off with a homer against Houston starter Collin McHugh. Hyun Soo Kim singled, followed by consecutive homers from Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Trumbo. Five runs, no outs.

Miley gave it all back by allowing five runs in the second.

“It was terrible. It’s embarrassing for that to happen,” Miley said “I flat-out stunk.”

To be fair, it was a veritable stinkoff for the Orioles’ pitching staff. Ubaldo Jimenez allowed three runs in three innings, Tyler Wilson, who was sent back to Triple-A after the game, permitted four in two innings. Vance Worley gave up two runs in two innings.

The Orioles will bring up at least one long reliever Saturday – the best guess is Odrisamer Despaigne, who was supposed to start for Triple-A Norfolk. They needed the insurance because Chris Tillman, Saturday’s starter, had his outing pushed back because of shoulder soreness.

As Trumbo said, they’ll try to put this one behind them. And they probably will. This group is nothing if not resilient.

But that can’t take away what Friday night was: The club’s most deflating, embarrassing, no-good loss of the year.