What went wrong in the Orioles’ 8-4 defeat to the Texas Rangers on Saturday night?
In trying to identify the top three losing factors with the addition of home plate for any not-so-honorable mentions and other notes, we go around the bases after the 11th game of the 2016 season.
1st — Buck Showalter is as good they come handling a pitching stuff, but the Orioles manager was too greedy sending Yovani Gallardo out to the mound to begin the seventh inning with a 4-2 lead. It wasn’t even about the right-hander having thrown 96 pitches to that point, but multiple Texas hitters had made hard contact in the previous two innings, making you think the Orioles were already pushing their luck with the veteran through six. A questionable decision was made even worse by allowing Gallardo to not only issue a four-pitch walk to the No. 9 hitter, Brett Nicholas, but a double to Delino DeShields before finally going to T.J. McFarland, who was put in a difficult spot. That seventh inning had Brad Brach’s name written all over it, but he had been used each of the previous two nights. That said, there were too many other options in the bullpen to excuse sticking with Gallardo for the seventh.
2nd — Even if Showalter made a bad decision leaving Gallardo in too long, McFarland and Mychal Givens didn’t do their jobs in the seventh and couldn’t keep the Orioles in the game. It was a lot to ask the former to strand runners at second and third with no outs, but three of the four hitters McFarland faced were left-handed and he needed to be able to keep the game tied at the very least. Givens wasn’t much better as he gave up back-to-back singles that busted it open for the Rangers instead of slamming the door and keeping it a 5-4 deficit when he entered.
3rd — The defense also melted down in the seventh as McFarland failed to cover first base on a grounder to Chris Davis that turned into an infield hit for Nomar Mazara, the first batter the lefty faced. An out there certainly would have improved their chances of keeping it tied or to a smaller deficit. Making matters worse was Mark Trumbo letting Rougned Odor’s two-run single skip under his glove, allowing the speedy second baseman to advance to third and score on a single a batter later. It capped off a nightmare inning that began with a two-run lead and ended in a four-run deficit.
Home — The Orioles left nine runners on base. … Jonathan Schoop was the only Baltimore hitter not to record a hit and went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. … Manny Machado homered in the first inning and has now hit safely in all 11 games to begin the season. … Pedro Alvarez drove in his first run of the season with a two-out single in the fifth. … Mike Wright goes to the hill in the series finale on Sunday against Rangers lefty Derek Holland.
