Just when you think you’ve surely seen the worst possible Orioles offensive performance you could possibly see, they show up in another game to prove you wrong. The Orioles dredged up the harbor once again to allow access to their increasingly large fail boat.
The game the Orioles turned in against the Athletics, which they lost, 1-0, was nothing short of pathetic. That’s the biggest story in a game where Oakland’s starter, Ross Detwiler, who last won a game as an MLB starter in 2013, was allowed to go eight shutout innings. He had never, in a career spanning 76 starts, gone eight innings - until tonight.
Why are they so bad right now? Perhaps it’s just an anomaly, or something they’re having a harder time getting out of because they’re out on the west coast. Whatever it is, they better figure it out in a hurry, because they’ve now lost first place to the Toronto Blue Jays and they will fall farther if they don’t start scoring runs.
What makes this game even worse is that, by getting only six hits and no walks against Detwiler, the Orioles spoiled a rare good game from Yovani Gallardo. The guy gave up only a run over six innings, which is very good for him.
The A’s only picked up four hits and two walks against Gallardo, and they only had two at-bats with a runner in scoring position for the whole game, but that was all they needed. With two outs in the third inning, Gallardo gave up back-to-back doubles hit by Marcus Semien and Manny Machado’s brother-in-law. That crossed the lone run of the game.
As it ended up, the O’s had more chances in the game than the Athletics. They went 1-5 with RISP and even that one hit did not score a run.
The O’s best, and really only, scoring chance came in the first inning. Adam Jones led off the game with a single and ended up on second base for J.J. Hardy. As Hardy has done a lot lately, he lifted a ball to right field and doubled.
You might ask, how in the world does a guy not score from second base when the batter doubles. That is a great question. The answer is in this video of the play. Actually, I still don’t know the answer and I watched the video.
Even if Jones got a bad read on the ball, A’s right fielder Danny Valencia still bumbles playing the carom and bobbles the pickup. And even considering those screwups, Jones still beat the ball to home plate, except he managed to slide into home plate without actually touching home with his front foot.
Jones was initially called safe. The play was overturned on review. So the Orioles lost a 1-0 game in which they had a run on the board in the first inning except for three baserunning screwups on the same play. When things are going bad, they really go bad.
Find something else in the world to make you happy because it’s sure not going to be the Orioles doing it right now. They’ve performed just about as poorly as you can possibly perform at the plate without getting no-hit against three mediocre-or-worse pitchers over the last three games.
Chris Davis got two hits in this game, so I guess that’s something.
Former Orioles farmhand Andrew Triggs awaits in the 3:35 series finale on Thursday, which the O’s will be trying to win to avoid being swept by a last place team that could barely be trying harder to lose. Triggs is 27 and has one MLB start under his belt. Perhaps that no-hitter is coming after all.
Chris Tillman starts the finale for the Orioles and will be the latest victim of the O’s offense going to sleep on the west coast. The Orioles have gotten six straight quality starts, for crying out loud, and they have lost four of those games. Good grief.