Another Early Exit
For the second year in a row, the Baltimore Orioles made the Playoffs only to find themselves one and done. Eliminated from the Wild Card Series following a 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals, the Orioles are looking at another long winter. With Wednesday’s loss the Orioles now have the dubious distinction of having lost 10 consecutive Playoff games.
Once again, the Baltimore bats suffered from a failure to launch, wasting a decent performance by an Oriole pitcher. The victim on Wednesday was Zach Eflin, who got a no-decision following a 4.0 inning effort in which he allowed 1 run on 4 hits with a walk, 3 strikeouts and 1 hit batter.
Eflin gave up the run in the first inning on a Michael Massey lead-off double and a Vinny Pasquantino one out RBI single.
Manager Brandon Hyde tried to pull the right strings, using six relievers to finish the game. Cionel Perez (0-1) took the loss after allowing a run on 2 hits with a strikeout in one-third of an inning. The winning run came on a Bobby Witt Jr. RBI single off Yennier Cano (1.1 IP, R, 2 H, K) that was part of Cano’s line.
The Orioles lone run came on a 5th inning Cedric Mullins (1 for 4, HR, R, RBI) homerun. The Birds then loaded the bases with no outs but failed to cash in on their only real threat of the game.
The team went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and didn’t get much production from their stars, Gunnar Henderson (0 for 4, BB), Jordan Westburg (0 for 2, BB, HBP), Anthony Santander (1 for 4) and Adley Rutschman (1 for 4).
The long winter holds many questions as Corbin Burnes, Santander, John Means, James McCann and Austin Slater are all free agents. Possible contract extensions for Henderson, Rutschman and Jackson Holliday will test the new ownership group’s intentions to keep the team competitive.