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Series Notebook: Blown Chances Cost O’s Against Colorado

Matt Wieters slides into second and is tagged out by the Rockies player.
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Just two days after boosting their record to a season-high 18 games above five-hundred, the O’s had their script flipped by the Rockies, who snatched two in a row from the Orioles to hand the Birds just their second series loss at home to date.

After Nolan Arenado’s solo blast tied the game at 1-1 in the series opener on Monday, former Oriole Mark Reynolds would come up big with a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh.

But after leveling the score in the bottom of the seventh, the Orioles forced extra innings and eventually won on a Manny Machado grounder that Rockies reliever Jordan Lyles botched, allowing Adam Jones to narrowly score the game-winning run at home plate.

But I don’t think it was a case of “Orioles Magic” this time – more like “Orioles Luck.” But hey, a win is a win!

With the game deadlocked at nil-nil, the Rockies unleashed a four-run barrage on Orioles ace Chris Tillman in the fourth inning on Tuesday. Carlos Gonzalez opened up the scoring with a two-run double, followed by Trevor Story coming up big with a two-run single to widen the score to 4-0.

After Arenado’s RBI double and a run scored on Tillman’s wild pitch in the fifth, the O’s found themselves down 6-0. Jones would crush a two-run blast in the bottom of the fifth to get the home squad off of zero, but the O’s would eventually lose 6-3 to force a rubber match.

On Wednesday, the game was mainly dominated by the shining starters, Jon Gray and Dylan Bundy. With the game locked at 0-0 going into the sixth, Dylan Bundy still had a perfect game in hand and had looked sharp and focused all night long up to that point.

Unfortunately, his mates could muster him no run support. Matt Wieters had what looked to be a solo home run called foul (and upheld upon review), and despite loading the bases with one out a couple frames later, the Birds still couldn’t scratch even a single run across. It followed a trend…

As O’s fans, we knew what was next, unfortunately.

Things quickly went sour for Bundy. Reynolds put an end to the perfect game, reaching on a walk. Then fellow former Oriole Nick Hundley broke up the no-hitter and the shutout by cranking a two-run shot, followed by David Dahl blasting his first career homer in the sixth to hand the Rox a 3-0 advantage.

Machado would peg back a run after crushing his 21st home run of the year in the bottom of the frame, but alas, the damage was done. Emilio Carlos Estevez would put the game to bed in the ninth with his 10th save of the season as the Rockies completed the comeback to take two of three from the O’s.

Let’s take a look at the highlights from the three-game clash at Camden:

– Despite the Orioles starters recording a subpar 5.61 ERA versus Colorado, Yovani Gallardo (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) arguably turned in his best performance of the season in the series opener, and Dylan Bundy (5.2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) was magnificent until his final frame in the series finale, and still struck out a career-high eight batters. And as for Tillman’s rough outing on Tuesday, I’d hate to be the Blue Jays (his next opponent) right now.

– The starting pitching has been in top form as of late, as the O’s starters have posted a sublime 2.91 ERA over the last seven games. Here’s to that trend continuing!

– The Orioles bullpen was absolutely dominant versus the Rockies, allowing just four hits over 10.2 shutout innings while recording 11 K’s.

– The Orioles relievers have been highly regarded for quite some time now, but their stock is still on the rise over the past 19 games. During that span, the O’s bullpen has registered an outstanding 1.77 ERA over their last 66 innings of work.

– As good as the entire pitching staff has been in recent weeks, the Orioles offense is currently riding a season-low slump as of late. Oriole hitters went just 17-for-97 versus Colorado, resulting in a dreadful .175 batting average. They also scored just nine runs over the three-game set with only two home runs.

– Over the last 13 games, the Orioles are hitting a woeful .211 as a team while having scored just 36 runs (2.7 per game) along with 13 home runs.

– However, the biggest glaring problem is the fact that the Orioles can’t seem to score runners in prime scoring position. Over the last 16 games, the Orioles are hitting an abysmal .141 with runners in scoring position (15-for-106).

Or the fact that the Orioles have a few serious slumps that are a slight cause for concern.

Chris Davis, who snapped a 0-for-24 skid on Wednesday (with a bunt single), is hitting .132 with one home run and three RBI over his last 15 games. Current home run champ Mark Trumbo is batting just .185 with three homers and six RBI in his past 15, while Matt Wieters has posted a woeful .137 average with zero homers and one RBI over the same span. Even Jonathan Schoop, who has been phenomenal all season long for the most part, is hitting just .226 with three homers and seven RBI over his last 15 contests.

– But there is a silver lining. Adam Jones, who finished the series versus the Rox going 4-for-11 with three runs, one home run and four RBI, is heating up and is hitting .333 over his last seven games, and Manny Machado, who went deep on Wednesday, is hitting .346 with two homers and three RBI over his past seven games. And who could forget about the red-hot JJ Hardy, who’s hitting .365 with two home runs and six RBI over his last 15 games?

And it’s not all bad, Orioles fans. Your first place club still owns the best record in the AL and the best home record in the majors. We salute you, Camden Nation! We’ll see you again on August 2nd!

But in the meantime, here’s to letting the good times roll on the road!

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