In a city that has decades of history rocketing objects into outer space, it was the Orioles that came crashing down to earth in Houston.
The Orioles were swept by the Houston Astros for the first time of the campaign at Minute Maid Park this week. That’s not to say that the series was completely one-sided; it’s just that Houston was by far the better club in the ‘’clutch’’ department, and the O’s had seemed to forget what that word meant.
On Tuesday night, Chris Tillman (7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) turned in yet another excellent outing to keep the O’s in the game and was finally aided by Manny Machado leveling the score at 2-2 with a solo shot in the sixth inning.
The contest quickly turned into an old-fashioned bullpen battle from that point on, with both teams refusing to give up the game winner deep into overtime. However, it was ultimately the hosts that came up big in the bottom of the 13th inning with a leadoff triple from second baseman Tony Kemp that eventually led to a walk-off RBI single from phenom Carlos Correa.
Things didn’t get much better for the O’s on Wednesday. The Astros would respond with three unanswered runs after Jonathan Schoop picked up an RBI double in the first inning, but the O’s would claw back and finally equalize on an RBI infield single from Pedro Alvarez in the top of the sixth.
The comeback expired quickly as third baseman Luis Valbuena launched his second dinger in two days with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to put the ‘Stros up 4-3. The Houston bullpen saw out the slim lead in impressive fashion and just like that, the O’s were staring a sweep in the face going into Thursday’s finale.
After George Springer kicked off the evening with a leadoff solo home run, the O’s responded with their own long ball by way of a solo shot from Mark Trumbo in the second to level the score.
Valbuena had other plans. The former Cub cranked his third home run in as many days with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the second to put Houston up 3-1. Springer would add onto the home team’s advantage with his second homer of the game, a solo shot in the fifth inning, to make it 4-1.
Machado would single in Hyn-soo Kim in the ninth inning, but it was too little, too late for the birds. Houston 3, Baltimore, nil. Series over, sweep completed.
The O’s also fell to two games behind the Red Sox for first place in the division. It was brutal, and should be burned from the memory bank come tomorrow.
Now let’s not dwell on a series like this for too long, but let’s take a glance at what stood out from this series:
– As much as I do believe the ‘’it’s no big deal and that it was only a few games’’ theory, one can’t the fact that the O’s struck out an MLB-record 52 times in this series…Just to make it a bit worse, the O’s struck out 52-of-118 times, or 44% of their at-bats.
– As much as we love our bullpen in Birdland, you couldn’t help but just be in awe of Houston’s over the past three games. The ‘Stros pen allowed just one run on 12 hits over 15.0 innings with a phenomenal 29 strikeouts. That’s just ridiculous!
– In addition, the O’s compiled just 24 hits on said 118 at-bats, good for a lowly .203 batting average. That also means they racked up over double the amount of strikeouts than they did hits.
– Did I mention clutch earlier? And what’s the definition of anti-clutch you ask? 4-for-28 with runners in scoring position, with a staggering 33 left on base.
– The O’s managed to put up just seven runs over three games versus Houston and now have scored just 12 in the past five games, and just over three a game at 28 runs over the past nine. Also, they’ve been held to three runs or fewer in seven of the past nine games.
Alright, this route’s too depressing and there’s too much negative stuff to cover still. Let’s end with some good points to ‘’take away’’ the sting of getting swept by the rejuvenated Astros.
– The bullpen was fantastic again versus Houston and allowed just one run on eight hits over ten innings with three walks and 15 strikeouts. Oh, and they boast an AL-best 2.54 ERA.
– A crazy bullpen statistic: Zach Britton, Brad Brach and Mychal Givens have combined to allow just ten runs over 64.1 innings with 79 strikeouts on the year. That’s a stellar 1.40 ERA along with a 0.97 WHIP.
– Despite going 0-for-4 with three K’s on Thursday, Jonathan Schoop is still hitting .312 (15-for-48) with five runs, three homers and 14 RBI over his last 13 games. On the year, Schoop is hitting .265 with eight doubles, eight homers and 26 RBI.
– Matt Wieters is crushing it at the moment. The 30-year-old is on a seven game hit streak and is 18-for-42 (.428) with five runs, four doubles, three home runs and eight RBI over his last 11 contests. On the year, Wieters is hitting .292 with six doubles, four homers and 16 RBI.
– Manny Machado went 3-for-9 with two runs, one double, one home run and two RBI versus Houston. Hopefully, this a sign of the slump coming to an end.
– Please, Buck. Find some way to keep Hyun-Soo Kim in the line-up! After going 5-for-7 with a run and a double versus Houston, along with proving his worth in almost every opportunity he’s been given…He’s earned it.
– Finally welcome to the big leagues, Ashur Tolliver! The 28-year-old sparkled in his debut on Thursday night, allowing zero hits and runs over 1.1 innings with an impressive three Ks. I’ve liked Tolliver’s upside for a while now, and it’s really awesome to finally see him get his shot!
But all in all, Adam Jones couldn’t have said it better: Let’s get the hell out of Houston.
I couldn’t agree more. Onto Cleveland!
