Aug 27, 2021; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Matt Harvey (32) pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays during the sixth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports
BALTIMORE—Following the euphoria of two consecutive wins against the Los Angeles Angels after 19 consecutive losses, the Orioles faced the team that has had their number this year, the Tampa Bay Rays.
For the 16th time in 17 games, the Orioles came up short, losing to the Rays, 6-3, before an announced crowd of 7,155 at Camden Yards on Friday night.
It was the fifth straight win for Tampa Bay (80-48), leaders of the American League East. The Rays broke their franchise record for most wins in a season against a team.
Oriole starter Matt Harvey struck out Brandon Lowe and Nelson Cruz to begin the game, and then five straight Tampa Bay batters reached, with three scoring. Wandy Diaz’s single and Manuel Margot’s two-run single gave the Rays a 3-0 lead.
“I didn’t think I made bad pitches. I thought I had pretty good stuff in the first,” Harvey said. “A couple of balls that weren’t hit very hard and a couple that were.”
Tampa Bay starter Shane McLanahan, who recorded his fourth win against the Orioles since July 20th, allowed one hit through the first three innings.
Ryan Mountcastle was denied a hit by an excellent leaping catch by shortstop Wander Franco to lead off the fourth. Trey Mancini followed with single and, with two outs, Austin Hays hit his 14th home run of the season to center to make it 3-2.
Ramón Urias singled, and Pedro Severino doubled off the third base bag, but Jahmai Jones struck out looking to end the inning.
In the fifth, Ryan Mountcastle was denied again, this time in even more dramatic fashion. He hit a drive that a leaping Kevin Kiermaier caught as it was about to clear the right-center field wall with Cedric Mullins on first. A two-run homer would have given the Orioles (40-87) a 4-3 lead.
“We had 10 hits. I thought we hit some balls hard,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We had some loud outs, Kiermaier with a great catch that would have given us the lead at the time. After the first time through the order, I thought we made some nice adjustments.”
Harvey (6-14), who retired the next 16 Tampa Bay batters after Margot’s single, was taken out after he threw 87 pitches in six innings.
“Obviously as a starter you want to go as long as you can,” Harvey said. “When we got some runners on there, he asked me again. After I was sitting down, I was a little gassed at that point. If we scored a run, I didn’t want to go back out there and give up another run or put runners on and get into a tough situation and not have anybody warmed up.
“At that point, I felt a little tired. It was a long first inning. It was one of those nights. I’d put everything I had into those final innings and just sat down a felt a little tired. I didn’t want to put us in a bad situation. Fortunately, we had some time to get someone warmed up.”
Harvey allowed three runs on four hits, walking one and striking out four.
“I think the stuff in the rest of the outing was pretty similar than it was in the first,” Harvey said. “I had to locate a little better to get ahead, and I was able to do that towards the end of the outing.”
The Orioles had another shot at scoring against McClanahan in the sixth. With one out, Hays singled and Urías was hit by a pitch. But Severino hit into a double play to end the inning.
Tanner Scott relieved Harvey to begin the seventh and struggled with his control again. After he retired Joey Wendle on a grounder to third, he hit Margot and walked Kiermaier. Mike Zunino hit his 27th homer, and the Orioles were down, 6-2.
“Tanner can be really good at times, and tonight wasn’t his night,” Hyde said.
McLanahan (9-4) allowed two runs on eight hits in six innings, striking out four.
Mullins hit his 23rd home run with two outs in the ninth.
Chris Mazza pitched the final three innings for his first save.
The Orioles didn’t draw a walk for the fourth time in the past nine games.
Notes: John Means faces (5-6, 3.50 ERA) will face Michael Wacha (2-4, 5.88) on Saturday night. Fans showing their Covid-19 vaccination cards will receive an Orioles cap. … Friday’s game was played in two hours, 25 minutes, tying Means’ no-hitter on May 5th for shortest nine-inning game by time.
Minor league update: Second baseman Mason McCoy drew a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning to lead Triple-A Norfolk past the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, 7-6. Centerfielder Ryan McKenna drove in four runs and had three hits. He hit his 11th home run, a three-run shot.
Gray Fenter allowed two runs on three hits in 2 2/3 innings as Double-A Bowie lost to Erie, 6-3. Fenter (4-3) walked five and struck out four. Leftfielder Johnny Rizer had two RBIs.
Ignacio Feliz (0-3) allowed three runs in the eighth inning as High-A Aberdeen lost to Brooklyn, 6-4. Leftfielder Johnny Rhodes, this year’s third-round draft choice, hit a two-run home run, his second, in Low-A Delmarva’s 4-3 loss to Salem. Peter Von Loon (0-1) allowed three runs on four hits in two innings.
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I’ll say it again Scott is a thrower not a pitcher. I’m tired of hearing how great an arm he has. He has no head and if he succeeds somewhere else so be it but the experiment here should be done with. Now I actually like Guttierez and think he should be given steady playing time along with Urias who is supprising
me with his bat. Jamal Jones looks overmatched so far.
He's a belly itcher.
Oh I don't know .... considering what we have behind him, are you really ready to move on from the guy?
We don’t have anyone that good to say cya to Tanner, I didn’t seem to see the same velocity on his fastball last night, or maybe he didn’t throw it...go O’s...
He threw almost all sliders last night.
The monstrous homer was on a curve. His fastball has been not so fast the last few times clocking in at 95. He has blown some saves and generally looked terrible. Yes I’m ready to move on after three years or so of him being erratic, walking and hitting batters. You don’t keep him just because there is no one else. You get someone else.
Sir you are incorrect. Scott six straight sliders to the 1st batter he faced, 87-89.2 MPH. Then four straight sliders to the 2nd batter, 87.1 to 89.3 MPH. Then six straight sliders to the 3rd batter, 85.6 to 88.9 MPH. Then two sliders to Zunino, 88.2 and 86.9 MPH. His first pitch to the batter after Zunino's homer was a 97.8 MPH fastball. Congrats on getting all the facts wrong in support of your opinion, much appreciated!
Fine...but at least get someone before parting ways with him.
I’m fine trading Scott in the near future (next year’s deadline) But I’d want him to go on a hot streak first (which he does do) and sell high on him. Some other team will turn him into Aroldis Chapman.
Hoping we can pull the same stunt with DJ — let him hit 7 HR in 10 games and trade him while we still can.
I agree with the “trade while he’s hot” approach, but other teams have scrutinized his stats and know exactly what they are trading for, regardless of any recent success he may be enjoying. The thing that concerns me is that he WILL turn into Aroldis Chapman with his next club. When I think of that happening, I think it’s best to stand down.
How long is Chris Holt around? When does his current contract expire?
Don’t get rid of Tanner Scott till the end of the season, please- we need him so as to get the first draft pick!!. Better yet, keep him next year, so we get first pick for that year as well!!
Hey Rich, how many games did Ryan McKenna start while with the Orioles…I like his hustle and overall play, just wonder if he’s the type that needs to play every day like he is in Norfolk. He seems to go down there and tear it up.
I'm not Rich, but here are McKenna's numbers with the O's in 2021:
63 total games played, 28 starts, 35 appearances off the bench.
O's overall record in games McKenna appeared is 27-36 0.429 winning pct (vs 40-87 0.313 team record)
In games McKenna started, O's were 11-17 0.393.
In games McKenna came off the bench, O's were 16-19 0.457 probably due to being used as a defensive replacement in games the O's were leading frequently.
What is odd IMO are McKenna's starter vs sub batting splits:
Starter 0.189 BA and 0.554 OPS
Sub 0.364 BA and 1.079 OPS (only 15 PA though)
Suspect McKenna will be the new "the FO and Hyde ruined his career" poster player for CP and BRR very soon!
Correct me if I'm wrong, non-Rich, but using your numbers, I came up with .241 as the O's winning percentage in games in which McKenna did not appear at all. Rather starling, in not a good way, I thought. I would expect his numbers to be higher in games into which he was inserted as a defensive substitute since the games were effectively settled and hittable pitches were being thrown.
Oops there it is, Obsession...go O’s...
That makes 2 of them.
But this guy is an equal opportunity attacker. He hates everyone.
Shocked to see Scott's ERA at 3.50. What a facade. Wish they didn't have that 3 batter rule--when Scott plunks a batter it's time for him to go. He always seems to do it within the first one or two batters. Jones seems to be getting treated by the umps like a true rookie--not getting the plate calls. If he were Trout,Judge,Betts,etc. some of those strikeout calls would have been walks. Hang in their Jahmai you'll be fine. What's up with McKenna down there at Norfolk? Is he the consumate AAAA player? Seems some of the buzz/excitement has fizzled since the "streak" ended. Hey but that's ok. Can't be the "lovable losers" for ever.
Let's see...hmmm Scott's ERA before entering last night's game was 3.83 and rose up to 4.31 after last nights game, so where did you pick the 3.50 ERA from? Talk about facades!!!
Re: McKenna this is the first season he has played above AA and you are ready to tag him "the consumate AAAA player". Take a look at Cedric Mullins path...
Who are you seriously WHO are you? Is that your function to demean and correct each post? You sound like that kid in the back of the class--"ooh,ooh teacher". As Biden would say--"come on Man!".
He’s trying to sit at the popular kids table, you, me Boog & a few others, remember the kid in jr high that wouldn’t use the restroom because he’d get beat up?...go O’s...
CPs ... therein lies the problem I suspect.
I think he' s probably too young to have been abused in the Jr. High boys room. I hear they're really strict on the 'no bullying' concept now-a-days.
A Code Red may have done this young man some good.
(and we both date ourselves by referring to it as "Jr. High" vs. Middle School)
As Trump said "I'm not concerned at all!" OOPS!
Guys, D bags live here, too. They are everywhere. Just don’t respond.
Wait, so it’s not ok for OhMy! To “demean and correct” some of the posters here, but it’s ok for the same posters to “demean and correct” moves by Elias and Hyde on a pretty regular basis? Glad I understand.
You catch on quickly.
But what you don't understand is this, other than demeaning others, the guy offers no other input. He doesn't comment on the team or the article. Matter of fact, on many occassions, it's more than apparent that he didn't even read the article.
Two comments. Surprising that the game finished under two and a half hours, given that nine runs were scored.
Maybe no walks to the O's had something to do with it. There's no reason for pitchers not to throw strikes to the O's; they're usually playing with the lead, often a comfortable cushion, and most O's hitters are non-threatening. Unfortunately, this skews the stats of our few good hitters in a positive way because they're almost always getting pitches to hit, and it's hard to evaluate them.
Os are going to take a beating against the AL East to close out the year. No worries, they’re just evaluating players at this point. Big things ahead. Just think about Rutschman and Rodriguez playing next year. DL Hall and Baumann not far behind.
I didn’t think Harvey pitched that bad. They found holes in the first inning and that screwed him a bit. He did his job kept you in the game and had a quality outing. I saw a stat that Scott has thrown 62 sliders in his last 69 pitches. Is this by design? Are they working on something with him?
I’ve contested before that Harvey often has decent starts, but our defense lets him down, or he’s lifted early in the game before he has a chance to show whether he can pitch out of it, or we just can’t score enough (or any) runs to make a competitive start out his effort. I agree he’s pitched better than the abysmal W-L record shows.
I didn’t collate a list of irrefutable, exhaustive statistics, but I think he’s a gamer, and cares about trying to keep his team in the game.
Biggest mistake of the season, hanging on to Fry and Scott at the deadline!
Buzz, ever consider that maybe they didn’t try, or that they did try and nobody wanted to take on these guys?
It’s not as simple as get rid of them or hanging onto them.
Elias said he had opportunities to move a few players, so I am assuming those were 2 of them.
What offers did we turn down? I didn’t hear of any but I’m wondering if any half decent offers ever came in.
Can someone explain to me how the new September Call up rules work? Only 2 players can be added? Does that mean this year the Os will be shuttling various players back and forth to look at several players or just two or 3 guys will be looked at for all of September? Please be kind. I realize most of you are Experts...
Yes, only two players can be added, and the likelihood is that September looks like the rest of the season with players moving up and down. Norfolk’s season ends on October 3, when the Orioles’ season does.
Season ticket holder for the most of the great seasons and now 23 years in Fl and I still watch almost every Oriole game on MLB. Follow the minor league teams and read this column every day. Am I crazy, most likely, as I’m in Rays tv area and I’ve watched Kevin Cash push all the right buttons again and again for years vs the Orioles and others. Durham does the same to Norfolk. So for the remainder of the year I’ll watch the Rays and hopefully return next year to an Oriole improved team with a younger manager that has some idea who his best players are and a strategy to win games! And while they’re at it, Holt and Long need to go back to coaching school.
Lol, kind of a low blow to HS coaches, :)....go O’s...
Sorry to lose you here, but you've probably chosen the better part. Look forward to your return next year.
That franchise down in Tampa/St. Pete is a fine ball club. Small market, low to modest payroll,........2 things that are frequently tossed out as reasons for the Orioles struggles. The O's could do well to emulate TB and how they go about the business of winning baseball.