Orioles bullpen collapses in 10-7 loss to Padres

Baseball is often a very annoying game. Hits fall in. Someone is hot, someone is not. One game can seemingly hang on anything but the players on the field. Tonight was one of the more annoying nights of Orioles baseball this season which is especially unfortunate because last night was similarly annoying.

The Orioles lost tonight 10-7 to the Padres in a very painstaking and mind boggling manner.

The scoring in this one started early and often. Tyler Wilson quickly gave up three hits right out the gate. Padres lead off hitter Travis Jankowski singled up the middle to lead off the game and would steal second base.

With one down, Matt Kemp flared a ball to right field to score Jankowski. Another single and a hit by pitch would load the bases for the Padres. But, with two down Wilson would get Derek Norris to ground out to finish the first inning. Somehow the Orioles were only down 1-0.

The Orioles offense early on looked perplexed by the Padres starter Luis Perdomo who was throwing strikes with crazy movement. Another no name starter looking good against the Orioles, but no so tonight. In the bottom of the third inning the Orioles offense would figure Perdomo out.

With two down Francisco Pena worked a walk and was doubled home by Adam Jones after Matt Kemp played a ball of the right field wall quite poorly. A wild pitch then moved Adam Jones to third base and Hyun Soo Kim would single him home on a ball that went through the shift. 2-1 Orioles.

Wilson would turnaround and give that newfound lead right back in top of the fourth inning. Derek Norris led off the inning with a line drive home run into the first row of seats in left field. 2-2 tied. Then with one down Alexei Ramirez doubled to left field and Will Myers singled him home with two down. 3-2 Padres.

Of course, the Orioles would come back and take that lead right back in the bottom of the fourth. A lead off single by Jonathan Schoop was followed by Pedro Alvarez taking a 1-2 pitch into the left field stands. An opposite field bomb. 4-3 Orioles. The Orioles managed to put some other runners on base in the inning, but would fail to capitalize on the opportunity. This would clearly come back to bite them.

Wilson would wriggle out a jam in the fifth inning and come in to complete the sixth inning easily, his only 1-2-3 inning of the night. Wilson finished with an admirable performance of six innings pitched, three runs, nine hits, one walk, and four strike outs.

The Orioles offense would add to their lead in the bottom of the fifth to bolster Wilson’s lead. A Schoop walk followed by another monster Alvarez home run gave the Orioles a 6-3 lead.

The Orioles bullpen, and Mychal Givens as a part of that bullpen, has been terrific all year long. But, sometimes that guy you need is just not going to have it that night and the Orioles learned that in a big bad way tonight.

Givens came in and gave up three straight hits to let one run in and then walked two to let another run in. He faced five hitters and retired none of them and left the game with the Orioles leading 6-5. Givens lacked the typical crispness on his stuff and had little to no control. Darren O’Day is sorely missed.

In came Oliver Drake with the bases loaded and none down. He did the best he could. A first pitch wild pitch (that Pena should have blocked) tied the game and an RBI ground out (that Schoop booted to miss cutting down the runner at the plate) gave the Padres the lead. The damage done, 7-6 Padres lead. Hold me. I’m weeping.

The Orioles had a good scoring chance in the bottom of the eighth inning loading the bases with two outs and Adam Jones at the plate. However, the Padres brought in their closer Fernando Rodney and he got Jones to ground out to second base and eliminate the possibility of a comeback.

The Padres would go on in the top of the ninth inning to add three more insurance runs all off of Zach Britton (only one of which was earned) in a non-save situation who again struggled to get outs.

The final score was 10-7 Padres after the Orioles added a run in bottom of the ninth inning. Not a great night of Orioles baseball and one I hope to soon forget.

Join us tomorrow at 7:05pm for the final game in this two game set against Padres. The pitching match up as of now is Erik Johnson for the Padres and TBA for the Orioles (although all signs point towards Ubaldo Jimenez). An Orioles fan can hope that it will somehow be better.