Even while playing some of their best baseball, the Orioles hinted at their need for relief help. With the Tampa Bay Rays’ loss, the Orioles remain one game back in the American League East. The Orioles entered the decisive frame with a 4-1 lead as top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez had pitched effectively in his return to the majors.
Even while playing some of their best baseball, the Orioles hinted at their need for relief help. Their eight-game winning streak was not free of bullpen blemishes, but they managed to cover them up.
They were not as capable in Monday’s 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Chris Taylor’s sixth-inning grand slam off right-hander Bryan Baker resulting in Baltimore’s first loss in almost two weeks and exemplifying its need for middle relief help before the approaching trade deadline. With the Tampa Bay Rays’ loss, the Orioles remain one game back in the American League East.
“We didn’t pitch our best there in the sixth inning,” manager Brandon Hyde said.
The Orioles (57-36) entered the decisive frame with a 4-1 lead as top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez had pitched effectively in his return to the majors. In his first inning back with Baltimore since a disastrous outing in late May against the Texas Rangers, Rodriguez threw six straight fastballs of at least 100 mph after never topping 99.3 mph in his first big league stint. He remained in the upper 90s for the rest of his outing, but his changeup was particularly a weapon in a two-strikeout third inning. Those two offerings accounted for 75 of his 91 pitches Monday.
The Dodgers finally got to Rodriguez in the fourth, two singles bookending a walk plating a run and cutting into Baltimore’s three-run lead.
