BALTIMORE—It was the night after Memorial Day, but it felt like mid-August at Oriole Park. Game time temperature was 89 degrees and the humidity was thick as a thin crowd of just 8,106 watched another strong start from Dylan Bundy.
Unfortunately, the Orioles had no offense against five Detroit Tigers pitchers, losing 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Bundy allowed a run in the first when Christin Stewart doubled, and Miguel Cabrera’s singled for a 1-0 lead.
JaCoby Jones’ double scored Grayson Grenier in the second, and Niko Goodrum hit his fourth home run in the fifth, one that barely cleared the fence.
Bundy threw seven innings for the second time this season. It was also the second time that he faced the leadoff four times.
He allowed three runs on seven hits and did not walk a batter for the second time this season. His eight strikeouts tied his season high, and his seventh-inning strikeout of Grenier was the 500th of his career.
Bundy continued the pattern of using his slider more.
“That’s a righty heavy lineup, and I think you saw more sliders tonight,” he said. “But, really, I was happy with all the pitches tonight. One changeup left up for the homer, but with that righty lineup the slider really played a lot.
“…The fastball’s not 94-95 anymore, it’s 91-93, so I think it [offspeed pitches] helps the fastball play up, especially later in the game.”
Manager Brandon Hyde likes Bundy’s pitch selection.
“I think his pitch mix is fantastic,” Hyde said. “He only made a couple mistakes. First inning with an open base to Cabrera, trying to go off the plate and not let him beat us, and he just got a little bit too much. Miggy kind of punched it to the right. Hung a split to Goodrum that was a fly ball most places most nights.
“Besides that I thought his mix was outstanding, his fastball played up again because of a good curveball and two good breaking balls, so just a really nice performance.”
Detroit starter Matthew Boyd allowed six singles in six-plus scoreless innings. The only inning he didn’t allow a hit was the fifth.
Four relievers didn’t allow an Orioles hit in three innings on the first humid night of the 2019 season.
“It’s hot, but guys are used to playing in hot weather over their careers, and I don’t think that was any excuse,” Hyde said. “I just think we faced a really good starter that held us in check and two good bullpen arms after him. It was just a tough night offensively against really good pitching.”
The Orioles have lost 16 of 20 and are 17-38,
Stewart’s night to remember: DJ Stewart, who was called up from Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday, provided three of the Orioles’ six hits. Stewart singled in the second, fourth and seventh and struck out in the ninth on a 3-2 pitch. He also stole second in the fourth inning.
“Anytime you get one hit, it’s a good night,” Stewart said. “Three, it’s a really good night, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get the win.”
Hyde was impressed.
“I think DJ told us he was ready by how he was playing,” Hyde said. “And repeating the level from last year and swinging the bat really well this past month, six weeks, and really dominating the league.
“We’re looking for guys to dominate the league. And once you dominate the league, then you’re ready. And for the last six weeks, you look at his numbers and the quality of the at-bats he had, he was ready to come here. He stepped right in and didn’t put too much pressure on himself and played the game. And that’s what we’re looking for guys to do.”
Stewart earned the call-up batting .456 with a .512 on-base percentage and .882 slugging percentage in May.
Trumbo begins rehab: Mark Trumbo played his first rehab game for Double-A Bowie and didn’t get a hit in four at-bats with two strikeouts.
Trumbo, who had surgery last September on his right knee, was the Baysox’s designated hitter. He might play as many as 20 games in rehab.
Hyde endorses Mancini: Hyde isn’t above some campaigning. Major League Baseball began in its newest form of All-Star balloting on Tuesday.
The top three players at each position in balloting between now and June 21 advance to the starters’ election.
Hyde is hoping Trey Mancini will get support.
“I’m on the Trey Mancini for the All-Star Game bandwagon,” Hyde said. “I’m driving the bus.”
The All-Star Game is on July 9 in Cleveland.
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So with DJ's promotion, and Trumbos imminent return ... who goes? Could it be the Crusher?
I'm just wondering--the night that Stewart FINALLY starts Smith Jr sits and Broxton gets hit for. Will this OF ever play as a whole? Stevie(who's stance is starting to resemble Rickard's) should be the one going down.
I think it will be Trumbo.
The problem is if we send Wilkerson down that gives us 1 CF.... I think there’s an outside shot it could be Ruiz who goes down. He’s not hitting. I’m not 100% sure he has an option left but Nunez, Alberto, and Wilkerson are all 3B capable. But I don’t see how we fit Trumbo and Davis. If Trumbo hits I suspect we eat half his remaining money and he gets dealt for peanuts.
It’s a conundrum. Perhaps the Crusher goes on an extended IL stay?
When Trumbo underwent his surgery last August I seem to remember that they said it was a 8-12 month recovery. So we are at 9 months now. Everybody heals at a different pace , so there is no way to know if Mark is ready. He tried in spring training and had to back off. My big concern is that the Orioles try to rush him back to try to increase his trade value and he re-injures his knee. So I would hope that Trumbo and the Orioles wait until he is completely healed before they make any moves
John, Trumbo underwent his surgery in September, so we're not yet at nine months.
First, Trumbo has to dominate AA; then he has to dominate AAA. 0-for-4 with two K's
is not dominating. I think Davis has found his niche on the IL. Hyde's nickname should be
Only-a-Couple-Mistakes. Does it really matter who gets sent down? He'll pop up again. The Orioles' roster moves are like Whack-a-Mole.
He doesn’t need to dominate AA or AAA. He just needs to hit some balls hard and remain healthy. Like everyone else, I have no idea who goes when he and Davis are both back.
It's after 1:00 PM and all we have are 2 comments and 3 replies on the greatest Oriole web site/blog in the galaxy? TWO STINKIN' COMMENTS!!!
Where the heck are all of you "true/diehard" fans that were chastising me for bemoaning the rebuild/tank job we're getting this year? The ones that said back in April, that they knew it wouldn't be pretty but they were all in on the process and were in for the duration. Blah blah blah? Were you one of the 8106 in paid attendance last night? Something tells me not.
Go back to watching your lacrosse and quidditch, but don't tell me how we all have to just accept the losing as part of the process.
Go O's, and special thanks to Mr. Elias for finally bringing up one of the youngsters.
And oh yeah, thanks to Mr. Durbroff for continuing to churn out the verbiage in this, of what has to be, one of the most difficult years to cover the Birds.
Thank you, Boog. By the way, it’s “Dubroff”— not “Durbroff.”
My apologies Mr. Dubroff ... I knew better.
Mr. "Dubroff",
I second Boog's praise of your reporting ... as Boog noted, you continue to provide your readers with interesting and informative updates, despite the woes of the team.
Thank you, Birdman. I appreciate your kind words.
We could’ve added 3-4 mid size FA’s and still have been a laughing joke. This was the inevitable reality of the Duquette and Angelos built team. There wasn’t enough talent in the pipeline to have a competitive 2019. I certainly prefer this years expected joke to last years “we’re going to compete” joke with 3 rule 5 players, Danny Valencia, and Pedro Alvarez on the opening day roster.
I will say I’m hoping next year we invest into more rebound candidates for the pen and rotation though. We don’t have 5 arms going into next season who really can be counted to be major league starters. Those guys could be potentially trade chips later on also and as we’ve seen this year the David Hess’s and Mike Wright’s of the world aren’t major leaguers.
JBigs ... I never expected a winning season this year, but what I do expect is that the team puts it's best players on the field of play. Try to win what ever small amount of games you can, and stop maneuvering for the 1st pick in the draft. I'd also like to see a few players that actually have a snowball's chance of still being here when things do turn around. Other than Bundy, Cashner, Mancini & Villar ... and now Stewart, who else on the 25, can you say has a future in Baltimore?
I don’t think Villar or cashner is here past this season. But we could’ve added a few more bounce back candidates. That I think was a miss by Elias. But there was no way to have long term core guys on this years team. Just not where we are right now. Any FA would’ve been another ST stopgap.
But I’m not disagreeing with you that this group of stopgap players is fun to watch. They certainly aren’t but I genuinely believe in our path now. This time last year things were much worse.
As I said earlier, a few better buy low guys in the 2-6 million dollar range or so on the mound would’ve been nice. But we just never had the talent to be more than a 65 game winner at our ceiling this year. I don’t care if we resigned Jones, schoop, Brach, and Britton....That’s the best we were ever going to be and if that 30+ million saved today can go into a 90 win team 3-4 years down the line then I’m much happier with that.
Agree with jbigle on last years roster. Opening Day roster had 3 rule 5 guys, 4 minor league free agents spring training signings, 1 player who was only there because he was out of options ( Mike Wright), 1 pitcher they brought back out of loyalty (Tillman) and Chris Davis. That’s 40% of your roster and you expect to compete with the Red Sox and Yankees. Not to mention that your best player was a pending free agent ( Machado) along with the long time face of the franchise ( Jones).
Boog, I would disagree that we are playing to intentionally lose in order to get the first pick. As bad as this team is, I do think every effort is being made to put the best MLB-ready players in the organization on the field...not necessarily the guys who will be the best players 2-3 years from now, but the most MLB-ready players we have RIGHT NOW. When Elias and Hyde feel our players of the future are MLB-ready, they’ll be in Baltimore. No sense in rushing the likes of Diaz, Mountcastle, Sisco, McCoy, etc. (as much as I’m looking forward to them being on the team) when they still have areas of their game that are not ready for the bigs. The Davis and Trumbo situations aren’t helping our situation either.
It’s not pretty, but this years team is far less disgusting (and interesting) than last years group of “stars” that absolutely tanked. It not all about wins and losses and star power.
(and more interesting)
I would point out to those who think that the Orioles should have done more to better team on the field this year is that Elias didn’t get the job until December 2. The first month or so was devoted to assembling a front office staff, scouts, an international presence, and BTW hire a manager/coaching staff for the MLB team and the affiliates. After he did all that it was time to evaluate the 40 man roster and the players in the minors. He needed to get a good read on who he had before signing mid-level free agents. Any free agents you sign means taking someone off the 40. Over the lean 14 years the Orioles would always sign a few over 30 free agents who only came for the money Most played well and were professional but it came at the cost of player development. I expect that Elias will be active in free agency this offseason but he will target players who will fit in and not just those who will take the money.
I think you're making good points, John, but Elias got the job on November 16, admittedly late in the cycle.
Greetings from a long time reader and first time poster. As one of the 8,106 in attendance last night, it was disappointing to see the crowd as sparse as some of the early April games, although I certainly understand the various reasons why it has regressed to this point. The camaraderie of the diehard core, even if seemingly shrinking, does remain and provides some positive reinforcement. Bottom line for me is that as frustrating as this team has become again (echoing the lost decade), I still enjoy going to Camden Yards as much as I did as a boy in 1992 or 33rd before that (not much else I can say that about). At least last night's game finally saw DJ Stewart's hustle and another decent performance from Bundy (although a couple of the doubles he gave up looked close to going out), albeit against a Detroit team that lacks much gusto. Once Trumbo and Davis finally move on, I hope that finally unlocks a true across the board competition for roster spots.
It's always great to hear from first-time posters. Thank you for reading and posting, 89. Hope to hear from you more often.
In response to Boog’s challenge about where are all the commenters at 1 PM... I usually don’t have a chance to go to this site until after work, usually while I’m watching the evening game. But I do read it daily and appreciate the reporting by Rich and Paul as well as the many insightful comments. Go O’s!!