This recap should come with a warning: Caution! Dangerously Bad Baseball Being Played; Eye Protection Required. This was one of the worst Orioles games of the season, a 20-1 drubbing that was over before the Reds had made an out in the third inning. (The worst game since… I don’t know. You tell me.)
Was the low point starter Charlie Morton’s seven earned runs in 2 1/3 innings? Ryan O’Hearn playing outs into triples in right field? Infielder Jorge Mateo, pressed into duty in the eighth and allowing a grand slam? Catcher Gary Sánchez, serving up his own grand salami in the ninth? I don’t know. I feel bad for everyone who chose to come to the ballpark on Easter Sunday, especially the kids, who probably hadn’t chosen anything at all, but still had to sit through this suckfest.
There are many reasons to feel annoyed right now. Baltimore and Cincinnati are both strapped for pitching right now, but Cincinnati’s gamble on a bullpen game worked, while the Orioles’ continued attempts to revive Charlie Morton’s career failed miserably. In a game where the Orioles needed length from their starter, Morton laid another egg, forcing them to turn to waiver pickup Cody Poteet in the third inning, who wasn’t so hot either. Poteet allowed two of Morton’s inherited runners to score, plus five runs of his own on six hits in 2.2 innings where he struck out just one. Cionel Pérez pitched one good inning, then allowed three more runs. Jorge Mateo and Gary Sánchez… well, poor those guys.
As for the Orioles offense, after launching five home runs off Cincinnati on Saturday, they were handled easily by a pack of five Reds relievers covering for their starters. Orioles hitters had just five hard-hit balls today (95 mph or better) and three of them went for outs.
The Reds’ soft-tossing lefty Brent Suter allowed just a single run in three good innings. That run came on a Jordan Westburg double off the scoreboard and a throwing error. With Westburg still on second, Jackson Holliday almost had himself an RBI, but the Reds’ All-Star shortstop Elly de la Cruz made a full-extension Superman play to save a run. What a freak! The Orioles run scored anyway, but also, the run was a footnote today, because of course we should all be talking about the starting pitching.
A quick ‘n’ dirty recap of Morton’s day: the veteran pitched a scoreless first, but with two outs he went to two strikes against Elly De la Cruz and Austin Hays and couldn’t finish off either, walking the pair, instead, before Gavin Lux did him a favor by grounding out. Morton surrendered a run in the second inning on a one-out walk, then two hittable fastballs to the next two hitters, including old Oriole friend Austin Wynns, who singled home a run.
Then, disaster struck in the third inning, one of the worst innings I’ve watched this year. The first five Reds reached, and seven runs came home. One-man wrecking crew De la Cruz dumped a hittable fastball into the bleachers to make it 2-1. A single, walk, single, and two-run single later, and this game was 4-1. Alas. Just when you thought Morton might right the ship with a beautiful strikeout, the Orioles starter yanked a pickoff throw to first and let a fifth run score. One middle-middle changeup—to Austin Wynns, of all people—later, and it was 6-1. Out came manager Brandon Hyde, and out came Morton.
(It was a great day for former Orioles returning to Camden Yards, BTW. Austin Wynns never had a three-hit game as an Oriole; today as the Reds’ catcher he had six, drove in six runs, and hit five balls 103+ mph in exit velocity. Mostly that tells us O’s pitching was bad. Also Austin Hays went 4-for-6 with a walk and four runs scored.)
As for the relief pitching, no one looked good today. Cody Poteet’s relief efforts were unremarkable, and that’s being generous. With two of Morton’s runners on, Poteet allowed an RBI single and a run-scoring triple (courtesy of Ryan O’Hearn, who played a terrible right field today, despite ending up with no errors). Poteet allowed two more runs to score in the fourth inning, and two more in the fifth, all of his own making.
Cionel Pérez pitched a clean sixth inning, showing much improved command, but he melted down in the seventh, allowing three runs on a single, walk, double, single and single. I would say Jorge Mateo having to come in to pitch the eighth, hitting a batter to score the Reds’ 16th run, then serving up a grand slam was a lowlight, but I think Morton still takes the honors. Catcher Gary Sánchez almost pitched himself a beautiful ninth inning, getting two outs on five pitches, but it all went to hell and he gave up four runs of his own, too.
Adley Rutschman, just to preserve a bit of self-respect, homered off Reds reliever Randy Wynne in the eighth.
What are the Orioles going to do with Charlie Morton? We’re all wondering. I honestly don’t think Morton’s stuff looks bad, he just can’t command it right now. During one of pitching coach Drew French’s four (!!) trips to the mound today (gotta get in those steps), the MASN booth speculated that Morton’s arm angle might be screwy. It certainly might be: at one point, Morton had thrown 11 curveballs, 10 out of the zone, allowing Reds hitters to not swing at any breaking balls and just tee off on his fastball. Someone please fix this man before he decides to retire for good?
By the way, elsewhere in the league for five 1/3 innings the Tampa Bay Rays were no-hit by Yankees lefty starter Max Fried, who at one point in the offseason was linked to the Orioles. Signing aces is no prediction of anything, as the Yankees’ injury-bitten pack of throwers—Carlos Rodón, Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil—proves. But throwing up a song and a prayer on the mound isn’t working so great, either.
