The Orioles needed something good yesterday and they got it from Suárez.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles! One thing that we are always going to want to see now that the team is good is for them to take care of business against teams that do not appear to be very good. The O’s managed to do just that in dropping the sweep on a Twins team that, at least early on, has a poor offense and should have been ripe for the picking. Sure enough, they were, with the O’s finishing off the sweep with yesterday’s 4-2 victory. Check out my recap of the game for more on the lovely totals.
I thought it was an impressive victory because it could have very easily just ended up being a kind of “Eh, the Orioles have already won the series, it doesn’t matter if they can’t get the sweep” punt game. It could have ended up that way if emergency starter Albert Suárez, who had last pitched in an MLB game 2,395 days previously, had resemblance to the spot starters of 3-5 years ago. It could have ended up that way after a weak part of the bullpen combined with the defense (really just Gunnar Henderson making a terrible relay throw) to put the Orioles in a late hole.
They won anyway. Anthony Santander tied things up with a dinger, teeing up Yennier Cano and Craig Kimbrel to hold the line, which in turn set up the possibility of Cedric Mullins’s walk-off home run – the first such homer of his career. They busted out the homer hydration station as part of the celebration at home plate. At 12-6, the Orioles are on pace for a 108-54 season. That leaves them a half-game back of first place in the division after the Jays choked away a 4-2 lead they carried into the ninth against the Yankees, allowing first place New York to rally late and win and stay ahead of the O’s. Thanks for nothing, Canada.
Even so, a win is a win, and with Suárez pitching well, there’s less reason to panic in the short term about Tyler Wells missing time with elbow inflammation. Although the team hasn’t announced its rotation so far out yet, it seems like we can put down Suárez to start on Tuesday in Los Angeles, which is the next time that spot in the rotation will come up.
We can see how Suárez does with that before thinking about whether he should stick around, or in what role, upon John Means’s return from the injured list. The Angels aren’t one of the best offenses around, but they’ll be a tougher task than the Twins right now. Also, Means stunk again in his rehab last night, failing to get out of the first inning. He really needed to show some improvement in this outing for me to start feeling good about his eventual return instead of nervous.
Time is running out for things to get better before it counts for Means. We’re still two weeks away from the point where something has to be done about it. Might as well not worry about it until then. If Suárez is able to continue to look like he belongs, that might make for a tough choice for Mike Elias.
An off day awaits the Orioles today. The team is traveling to Kansas City for a weekend series starting tomorrow. Before this season began, playing the Royals six times in the first 21 games seemed like evidence of a soft early schedule for the Orioles. This doesn’t actually appear to be the case, with the Royals, much to my disappointment, starting off with a 12-7 record.
Included in that is a starting rotation that entered yesterday’s games with a second-best in the AL 2.29 ERA rotation. A number of young hitters on that team, topped by Bobby Witt Jr., are performing well and helping to drive the Royals to what is early on the best run differential of any team in MLB. They weren’t actually easy two-and-a-half weeks ago and they aren’t going to be easy now.
Around the blogO’sphere
Hyde explains decision to start Suárez (School of Roch)
The skipper’s rationale is looking good after what happened yesterday. Tough luck for Bruce Zimmermann, who might have gotten the call if the Twins had more lefties in their lineup.
Nearly 7 years between MLB outings? No problem for dominant Suárez (Orioles.com)
“I think I enjoyed this moment more than the first time I got called up,” said Suárez. Not hard to root for the guy after doing as well as he did and giving quotes like that!
Cade Povich is racking up K’s, and cutting down walks (Orioles.com)
The lefty prospect down at Norfolk has got three great starts under his belt to start off his season. If things are still going well for him as the season rolls along, it’ll start to be a question of when and how to get him into the rotation.
Kyle Bradish looked like himself for Bowie. There’s cause for guarded optimism. (The Baltimore Banner)
Speaking of pitchers who will be in the rotation at some point this season (barring no setbacks) – Bradish is getting some positive stories and comments that sure are not like what was being said about Means after his rehab outings.
Inside the development of Grayson Rodriguez (Press Box Online)
Nice feature-length article about some of what’s gotten Rodriguez to where he is now. The Orioles have yet to lose a Rodriguez start this year, which is fun.
Another Orioles rookie is going berserk. Can he stay berserk? (FanGraphs)
They’ve noticed Colton Cowser’s last week-plus over at FG. The obvious conclusion is not the fun one for Orioles fans: Of course Cowser can’t keep hitting like this.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1987-88 reserve Pete Stanicek, and 1986 reliever Rich Bordi. Today is Bordi’s 65th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857), baseball Hall of Famer Sam Crawford (1880), actor Rick Moranis (1953), comedian Conan O’Brien (1963), actress Melissa Joan Hart (1976), and K-pop artist Jessica Jung (1989).
On this day in history…
In 1775, several American colonists including Paul Revere set out on a late night horseback ride to warn of an advancing British army. The warning allowed local militias to muster and clash with the British in the next day’s Battles of Lexington and Concord, recognized now as the start of our War of Independence.
In 1912, 705 survivors of the Titanic who had been rescued by RMS Carpathia arrived at their sunken ship’s original destination of New York City.
In 1942, during World War II, a force of 16 American bombers took off from an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific in secret, eventually striking mainland Japan, including the capital of Tokyo, which was thought by the Japanese at that time to be untouchable by the American military.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on April 18. Have a safe Thursday.