BALTIMORE—Mychal Givens hasn’t had many save opportunities this season. On Monday, he was in position to earn his fifth but instead he blew his second when he allowed five late runs to the New York Yankees in a wrenching 10-7 Orioles loss.
Givens wasn’t helped by his defense.
The right-hander came into a game the Orioles once led, 6-1, with a 7-5 lead in the eighth and two outs.
On his first pitch, Gleyber Torres hit his second home run of the night, his 10th of the season, and his eighth against the Orioles this year.
In the ninth, Brett Gardner led off with a single. Cameron Maybin singled to right, and outfielder Joey Rickard threw to third instead of second, which enabled Maybin to advance to second, removing a double play chance.
DJ LeMahieu then grounded to third, with the Orioles holding the baserunners while getting the out at first. Aaron Hicks followed with a fly ball to left. After catching it, Dwight Smith unwisely threw home as Gardner easily scored. It allowed Maybin to advance to third and was Smith’s second errant throw, and decision, of the night.
Luke Voit then hit a towering foul ball that catcher Pedro Severino misplayed, enabling the at-bat, and the inning, to continue. First baseman Trey Mancini didn’t come in for support on the popup, which Severino misjudged.
Voit then walked, after nearly getting hit with ball four, and Gary Sanchez followed with a three-run homer to break the 7-7 tie.
“Just didn’t get the job done,” Givens said. “That’s basically it. I put the game on me. I’ve been in those situations. It’s not like I haven’t been in it before. I just didn’t get the job done.”
The five runs scored against Givens were a career-high.
“It’s a tough loss,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We just did some things the last couple innings that allowed extra base runners, allowed runners to move up. We played winning baseball for seven innings and then didn’t the last two innings.”
The Orioles have had some glaring fundamental mistakes in recent games, and Hyde said he’s addressing them.
“We’re out early almost every single day,” he said. “I think we do more ground ball team fundamental stuff than I’ve probably ever seen in the big leagues, just because of the youth and inexperience we have at this level.
“When you play a game like that, with inexperience, the game speeds up on you. With the lack of experience, sometimes things happen. What you hope for is that guys learn from the mistakes. We made a lot of mistakes in the last two innings obviously and allowed a really, really good team and a good lineup to catch up and take the lead on us. That’s what’s disappointing. But you’ve got to come back and try to get better.”
Hyde often speaks about his experience with the Chicago Cubs, who made the postseason the last four years, and now has a team that’s lost 10 of 12 and has a 15-32 record.
“I knew the inexperience going in, and I didn’t know a lot of our players real well, so obviously I know them pretty well now a couple of months in,” Hyde said. “I’m seeing some things at the big league level that I haven’t seen in a while, but that’s why we’re here, and we’ve got to get better.”
Zack Britton pitched a scoreless eighth for the win, and Aroldis Chapman worked the ninth for his 12th save.
Alberto’s career night: Jonathan Villar did not start for the first time this season. His replacement as leadoff hitter, Hanser Alberto, had a stellar night.
Last Thursday, Alberto became a national punchline for his mental error at second base in Cleveland, when a potential double play ball resulted in no outs and two runners scoring for the Indians. Four nights later, he had a career high four hits and an unassisted double play.
Alberto led off for the first time as an Oriole and just the second time in his career, and began the night with a double. He scored on a double by Mancini.
Leading off the third, Alberto hit his third home run of the season to right. In the fourth, he singled, stole second and scored on Smith’s RBI single.
“I put a lot work in, and it finally worked,” Alberto said. “You just continue with hard work, and you get more hits like today.”
In the New York fifth, Maybin lined to Alberto, who stepped on second to double off Gardner. Alberto led off the eighth with a single, and Villar ran for him.
The Orioles had a season-high eight extra-base hits. Renato Nunez, who had been in a 6-for-68 tailspin, homered and doubled. Smith, who had been 3-for-25, tripled and had two singles.
Cashner’s night: Andrew Cashner produced his third straight quality start and his fifth overall in allowing three runs on five hits in six innings.
He allowed a home run to Gleyber Torres in the second.
“This is the toughest one of the season for sure,” Cashner said of the loss.
“To get out and get ahead early and to lose this one, this one was tough.”
Armstrong’s relief: Shawn Armstrong, acquired on waivers from Seattle on April 28, has been excellent since joining the Orioles.
He retired all four batters he faced. In his seven appearances, Armstrong has allowed one run on three hits and struck out 10. He has a 1.08 ERA.
“I thought Shawn Armstrong was unbelievably fantastic,” Hyde said.
“I’ll take a two-run lead with Mychal Givens in the game with four outs to go every night of the week when he’s available. He has been lights-out for us and he was probably due for a hiccup and tonight unfortunately was one of them … But we didn’t help him out. Mike’s not going to be perfect down there and he’s been almost perfect so far and tonight just didn’t happen.”
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I'm guessing our most trade worthy piece isn't worth as much now, we just can't seem to do the most basic of things, defensive changes with game on the line would have put one of the best defensive 1st basemen in the game, put Boom-boom back in the outfield, Adley would have made the catch that was blown, again baseball IQ, my HS teams had better, very frustrating, at some point Hyde needs to turn into Dr. Jekyl & maybe throw some bats in the shower, after all they're just kids....ala Bull Durham....
Where to begin. Yes Mancini exposed his limits(brains at 1B) but he's also a very poor RFer. Trade bait? Outfield is worse than last year's "terrible" OF. Why Hyde pulled Armstrong--God only knows. When Elias evaluates talent I know he likes to include talent,character,etc. Now he can add IQ to the mix. This team is DUMB! Beckham would be a riot playing with this crew. Come on June 3--dawning of a new era(hopefully).
This isn't funny anymore.
Missing the cut-off man is like cardinal sin #1 for any outfielder. We did it 3 times. My guess is that there will be a long session, before tonight's game with our outfielders practicing hitting the cut-off man. It's baseball 101.
Cannot believe this is happening at the major league level, mistakenly thought the new management team would recognize who was more capable to play in different situations, obviously I was wrong. The same defensive miscues occur it seems every time and then Hyde pulls Armstrong to ice the cake. At least the Mets had Casey when they were bad.
Always great getting the British Columbia point of view. I'll BCing you around him more often, I hope.
Adam Hall, a 19-year old SS from London, Ontario, (2nd Round pick in 2017) leads the 33-9 Delmarva Shorebirds with a .303 AVG, 27 runs, and 13 stolen bases.
Hall may have a hard time hopping over Mason McCoy, who after hitting .379 this year at Frederick, is hitting .408! at Bowie.
There was an article at Fangraphs about Hyde's day as a manager. I did read it, but remember nothing, to be honest. From what we see on the field, there was nothing to remember all along.
Best definition I can come up with for the way the O’s play... SNAFU!!!!!!!!!! It’s past being funny. It seems like they try to screw things up... and that goes for the guy wearing the manager’s cap. Why take a guy who’s pitching well (Armstrong) out with a right handler coming up? I read his quote in Rick’s piece but what it tells me is that he’s over managing. Just saying...
Good point about Mancini, but you could have added the third baseman and pitcher to the spectator list. Albeit, still no excuse for Severino. Speaking of inexperience, how about on the bench? Hyde should have gone straight to Armstrong instead of the feckless Kline and left Armstrong to finish the eighth, saving Givens for the closer's ninth. When this team has a chance to win, you have to stick with only your best relievers. I know, I know, we're in a developmental mode and are trying to find out what happens when you put guys in situations over their heads. Unfortunately, that includes the manager, whose pitching changes are a crapshoot.
Hyde's handling of the bullpen is a bit curious. He keeps changing pitchers until he finds one that implodes and loses the game. Givens has not been reliable in about a year and a half.
I am impressed with Armstrong however. He's been great for us so far. Let him close next time we have a late inning lead.
Also, Hyde keeps talking about how they are stressing and practicing "fundamentals" and yet the outfielders keep launching throws at the backstop and infielders can't keep track of the outs or how many runners are on base.
Seems like there is a disconnect here...
I know the saying is “The buck stops here...” meaning the manager. BUT... the fundamentals are up to the coaches so as for the sloppy play I’d be looking at them... and am not impressed. Just saying...
Hyde and these coaches are supposed to be "teachers". But remember the bad pitching is all Roger McDowells fault and the bad fundamentals are Buck's fault.
I agree that Armstrong has pitched well
However a word of caution. The Orioles were able to acquire him on a waiver claim so that Seattle could add Mike Wright to the roster. Remember him?
Guys, it's a bad baseball team. This is the "demonstrate various bloopers to show how much they suck montage" portion of the film. Welcome to the machine.
Criticizing the current manager by saying the Buck stops here is pretty ironic, although I respectfully disagree with the coaches part, if the coaches aren’t getting it done, it still falls on Hyde.....
I don’t disagree with that but he can’t be everywhere so that’s why there are coaches. I also know, from experience, that the manager usually pays the price when his assistants don’t get the job done and that’s the way it looks from my seat in front of the TV. As far as Hyde goes, see my stand alone post above.
I wish Buck was still here at least they would be playing better D then they Are
And Duquette would have certainly found better players in the dumpster than the curret regime has.
We’re also spending half the money as when Duquette was here and we’re embracing a rebuild. Our payroll was never even close to that level it’s at now and we’re essentially only paying 4 guys. Cashner, Cobb, Trumbo, and Davis. You can thank the old regime for 0 production out of 28 million of those payroll dollars. (Cobb and Trumbo) I’ll put the Davis debacle on Angelos.....
I mean seriously trying to compare this team to one Duquette put out is just funny. We were actually trying to win with him at the helm and spent twice as much. Most of our team is making the league minimum.
When you say “dumpster diving” with Duquette he was still spending 5+ million dollars per year for those guys. Elias hasn’t even spent a million bucks on a single player. I suspect he doesn’t have that kind of budget to work with. That’s not an apples to apples comparison in any sense.
Duquette is the reason our team is left with minimal talent and farm
Sad, but all too predictable.
I know it’s early but I’m not convinced that Hyde is a major league manager. At this stage it’s a moot point and the least of our worries. I know he’s been dealt a terrible hand but still I’m not seeing it with him yet.
Two weeks until the draft. Start the chant, RUTSCHMAN, RUTSCHMAN, RUTSCHMAN!!!!!
Agree.....strongly agree......