This week, I wrote a piece about how, after leading the Majors in ERA for two weeks, the Orioles bullpen has been pitching really great.
Now, I owe everybody an apology for it.
Last night, the ‘pen failed to keep a close game close, and today, well, Yennier Cano almost singlehandedly blew a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning. With one on and one out, Keegan Akin left, and Cano came on and allowed three straight singles. A fourth Blue Jay reached on catcher’s interference, then, with the bases jammed, pinch-hitter Alejandro Kirk drove in the winning run on a sac fly. It was a spectacularly ugly finish.
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For me, the big story in this loss is that Cano looked unplayable—missing no bats, not even once—and that Tony Mansolino stuck with him longer than was necessary. Is such a move justified by where we are in the season (September, on an noncompetitive team) and the state of the bullpen (tired, and staffed with people you’ve never heard of?). I don’t know. It felt like an unpleasant way to throw away a sure win against a division rival.
Other than the ninth, Mrs. Lincoln, this was a very well-pitched game. Despite both starters getting off to lousy starts, both recovered for credible appearances. A 41-year-old Max Scherzer allowed two runs on the first four Orioles hitters but held on for five innings, and Tomoyuki Sugano, in an eerie reminder of last week’s start against Los Angeles, took a first-inning comebacker off the shin, but bravely came back out and delivered six one-run innings, his eleventh quality start of the year.
I’ll recount the good parts, which were mostly the Orioles’ early runs. The team struck quickly against the 41-year-old Scherzer, who was missing the zone. Two runs scored on the first O’s four hitters. The table was set by leadoff man Jackson Holliday, who smacked a sinker to center, and Dylan Beavers, who walked after fouling off a great breaking ball. (Note: the MASN booth comically observed, of the three-and-two curveball, that Beavers was “getting the Juan Soto treatment” after a grand total of 23 career games. I mean, maybe he should. The rookie walked three times today, which is ridiculous.) Both runners came around to score on double by Gunnar Henderson and a productive groundout from Tyler O’Neill.
Following that, a long string of zeroes. Scherzer may have only gone five innings, but he tapped into “vintage Scherzer” and kept Orioles off balance for the rest of it, using a combo of fastballs interspersed with sliders. The O’s scattered a two-out Coby Mayo single (the rookie showed a nice two-strike approach on a low changeup), another Dylan Beavers walk, and a Gunnar bloop single in the third. But Scherzer stranded the runners, retiring nine in a row at one point, with five strikeouts, to keep the O’s’ run tally stuck at two.
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Cut to Tomoyuki Sugano, who also delivered kind of a miraculous comeback effort. With two outs in the first, Sugano was torched by a 113-mph Vlad Guerrero Jr. grounder, just under a week after the Dodgers did the same to the other foot. The Orioles right hander is going to wonder why MLB hitters keep going after his feet.
But although the team precautionarily got Albert Suárez up and warming, surprisingly Sugano came back out for the second—and then some. The righty ended up pitching a full six innings, allowing just one run, in one of his finest starts of the year.
He looked good, too, doing it. In the second inning, Sugano struck out the side (two looking, one swinging). This turns out to be the first time Sugano has done that all year. “Who is this guy?” said the booth.
Back out in the third, he allowed a one-out single, but Andrés Giménez bounced into a double play.
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It could be argued that Sugano started to flag the third time through the Blue Jays lineup, when the Blue Jays cut the score to 2-1. Sugano allowed three hard-hit grounders in the fourth inning, then the Jays’ first run in the fifth, when Addison Barger muscled a home run into the stands. It was an impressive swing. The next hitter, Davis Schneider, hit a 103-mph bullet that The Beard (third baseman Emmanuel Rivera) couldn’t field. But Sugano struck out the next batter and stranded Schneider on a pair of flyouts.
By the time the eighth inning rolled around, both starters were gone, and Rico Garcia had just pitched a scoreless seventh for Baltimore (aided by the Birds’ third double play of the day) and Tommy Nance and Eric Lauer scoreless ones for Toronto.
Toronto manager John Schneider went back to Lauer for a second inning, and this wasn’t a good idea. Lauer walked Dylan Beavers—all those walks!—then gave way to Seranthony Domínguez. Oh. We remember him! He throws fast but pretty often gives up runs.
And so, Seranthony did today. Gunnar Henderson, who’d replaced Beavers on the basepaths with a forceout, stole second. Tyler O’Neill singled on a little tapper. With runners at the corners, Samuel Basallo cranked a double deep to the left-field gap. (The youngster sure is good at extra-base hits.)
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It was 3-1 Baltimore, but the Jays got one right back in the eighth. Kade Strowd took over and immediately allowed a leadoff single. With two outs, George Springer also singled, pushing the lead runner to third.
Then, a game of managers chess: Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino put in lefty Keegan Akin, and Toronto’s Schneider responded by pinch-hitting righty Alejandro Kirk. The squat catcher delivered his first of two clutch RBI’s today, singling home the Jays’ second run. That brought up Vlad Guerrero Jr. and his .894 OPS with runners at the corners and two outs. Akin walked the dangerous righty, perhaps a little intentionally. Schneider called up a pinch hitter once again, Isiah Kiner-Falefa. IKF did not deliver: a groundout to Coby Mayo, showing sure hands lately, ended the inning and kept the game at 3-2.
The 25-year-old Braydon Fisher had custody of the top of the ninth, and Blue Jays fans would regret it (well, at least for one half-inning). Fisher hung Coby Mayo a curveball, and the big rookie launched it into the left field seats. Mayo had been taking solid AB’s all day off the tricky veteran Scherzer and it was great to see him get this one. Signs of a breakout?
This felt like a critical insurance run for the Orioles—and it really should have been, because a 4-2 lead in the ninth is something a competent bullpen can protect.
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Ours may not be a competent bullpen, however. After a long fly ball out, Daulton Varsho hit a tapper in front the dish and Akin blew the throw to first base, allowing Varsho to round the bag and take second. (In light of today’s result, that missed second out feels big.) With a runner in scoring position and one out, Tony Mansolino pulled Akin and went to Yennier Cano for the save.
This move never once looked good. Immediately, Ernie Clement singled off Cano to put runners on the corners and the tying run at first. Worse, a second single past a diving Jackson Holliday made it 4-3.
Could Cano get anybody out?
No, dear reader, he could not. The Blue Jays tied the game on a third straight single. Then, bizarrely, George Springer reached on catcher interference by Basallo, loading the bases with one out. Alejandro Kirk hit a sac fly and it was 5-4, a walk-off win for Toronto.
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What to make of all this? That ninth inning was head-spinning. Keegan Akin didn’t look great, but he didn’t look terrible, either, and he’d only thrown 12 pitches when he was pulled. As for Cano, he looked unplayable. He threw 16 pitches, retired no one (unless you count Kirk’s sac fly, which I wouldn’t), and got zero swings and misses in the whole inning. Would it be an overreaction to send him down to Triple-A (assuming he’s got options)? I don’t know, but I think I would.
As for interim manager Tony Mansolino, did he commit a blunder by sticking with Cano in the ninth? Obviously, yes, if this were the playoffs. Except that we’re in September, the Orioles are out of contention, and the bullpen is just tired. I don’t know what to make of that calculus—adulting is hard?—but this was a disappointing result, a certain win against a division rival that just got squandered.
