The Orioles dropped their second game in Minnesota with one of their most torturous losses of the year, 7-6. In a game that both teams desperately tried to lose, the O’s somehow out-futiled the Twins despite drawing two bases-loaded walks and chasing the starter in the third inning. In a game rife with awful pitching, baserunning blunders, and a bullpen meltdown, Delmon Young-- a guy with a .662 OPS entering the night-- completed a four-hit game with a walkoff single off Kam Mickolio in the ninth. Simply painful.
Good lord, people-- this was an excruciating baseball game (and I typed that sentence before I even know who won). Even when the score was in favor of the Orioles, this game was an exercise in slow torture, with both teams looking completely inept and disinterested. These guys should be watching the Little League World Series to learn the right way to play the ballgame-- those kids know their fundamentals.
In the bottom of the first inning, it was already apparent that this game was going to be sluggish and painful, as O’s starter Brian Matusz labored through 27 pitches and allowed the Twins to load the bases before somehow escaping. Matusz simply brought nothing to the table tonight, stuff-wise, and he battled with himself all night.
In the second, the Orioles jumped out to a multi-run lead against Twins right-hander Armando Gabino, who was making his major-league debut. With one out, Matt Wieters and Melvin Mora lashed back-to-back singles, and Michael Aubrey brought them both home with a double to the wall. Aubrey then scored on a Cesar Izturis single, making it 3-0. Izturis got to third with one out on an errant pickoff throw by Gabino, but the O’s couldn’t get him home, as Brian Roberts grounded out to drawn-in shortstop Orlando Cabrera and Felix Pie popped out on the first pitch.
Just after his teammates had given him the lead, Matusz gave most of it back. In the second, he allowed a pair of sharp singles followed by a Denard Span triple to right-center, making it a 3-2 game and putting the tying run at third. Like the Orioles, though, the Twins failed to plate a runner from third with one out, as a grounder and a liner to third ended the inning. Already, both teams were doing the little things wrong, and this game was dragging on interminably. There’s a lot more where that came from.
For the Twins, Gabino’s big-league debut turned out to be a horrific one. In the second, he allowed a one-out double and walk. He nearly escaped the jam by getting Wieters to hit a grounder to first, which should’ve been a double play, but Gabino forgot to cover first base and nobody was there to receive the relay throw from second. Then he walked Mora on four pitches, and manager Ron Gardenhire had seen enough. Gabino lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks.
Philip Humber wasn’t much better in relief; he walked the first batter he faced, Aubrey, to force home the Orioles’ fourth run. Humber continued to struggle with his control against Izturis, but thanks to a couple of questionable strike calls by home plate ump Gary Darling (who had just as bad a game as the players themselves), he ultimately fanned Izturis.
Just like before, Matusz immediately gave up a run after his teammates had scored for him, with Justin Morneau launching a leadoff homer in the third (his 29th). It’s 4-3.
On to the top of the fourth inning, in which the O’s again spent about half an hour at the plate yet ended up with just one run to show for it. The Orioles loaded the bases with one out (atoning for a baserunning mistake by Pie, who got deked by Cabrera on a hit-and-run and was tricked into stopping at second instead of advancing to third). Luke Scott whiffed for the second out, but Wieters worked a walk from Humber, forcing home Pie to make it a 5-3 game. Ouch-- Humber issued four walks in just one inning of work, including two with the bases loaded. And to think-- he was one of the main guys who came from the Mets in the Johan Santana deal. What an awful trade for the Twins.
The Orioles again left the bases loaded when Bobby Keppel struck out Mora, and they’d already stranded eight runners in four innings. Spoiler alert! Those missed opportunities would come back to haunt them.
The Birds added a run in the sixth when Scott ripped an RBI single. However, the O’s would’ve had an extra run on base at that point if not for another baserunning blunder by Pie. Felix, after a leadoff bloop double, inexplicably tried to tag and move to third on a foul pop to the Orioles’ dugout. He was thrown out by approximately 800 miles.
Meanwhile, Matusz somehow gutted through five innings for the Orioles despite walking on eggshells the whole time. He threw 99 pitches, giving up three runs on seven hits, and left the game in line for a win.
Not for long. It took Brian Bass no time at all to completely destroy the ballgame, as the right-hander was simply putrid in the sixth. I don’t understand why Dave Trembley didn’t have recent sensation Kam Mickolio work two innings, then go to Danys Baez (or Chris Ray) in the eighth and Jim Johnson in the ninth. Why mess around with Bass at that point? Go straight to your best relievers and nail down this win. Instead, disaster ensued.
Bass allowed a leadoff single to Delmon Young-- already his third knock of the game-- followed by a Carlos Gomez bouncer over Mora’s head for a hit. Alexi Casilla, after failing to lay down a bunt, swung away and ripped a double that plated Young. It was 6-4 with two runners in scoring position and nobody out. Time to get Bass out of there before he blows the game completely. Er…right, Dave?
No. Bass remained…and he walked Span to load the bases. Okay, so he can’t throw strikes and he’s getting cuffed around. Surely he must pulled now. Yes?
No! Incredibly, Bass stayed in the game for another batter, and he walked Cabrera to force home another run. Now it’s 6-5, with the bases still loaded, still nobody out, and the Twins’ two best hitters-- Joe Mauer and Morneau-- coming up.
Finally, Trembley pulled Bass, after he’d already made a complete mess of things. Hmm…you know, Bass used to play for the Twins. Are we sure he wasn’t secretly working for the enemy tonight? I don’t think Trembley handled this inning well at all. It was a mistake to bring in Bass in the first place-- he’s best when eating up lots of innings in a game that’s out of hand, not when trying to hold a slim lead in a middle relief role-- and it was certainly a mistake to let him face five batters, all of whom reached base.
On a brighter note, Mark Hendrickson was incredible in relief. Coming into a seemingly impossible jam-- the .372-hitting Mauer at the plate with the bases loaded-- Hendrickson did as superb a job as anyone could ask. He got Mauer to ground into a double play, which plated the tying run but essentially snuffed the rally. Then he retired the dangerous Morneau on a grounder to second, stranding the go-ahead run at third. Fantastic!
But this game had already slipped away from the Orioles, for all intents and purposes. They didn’t score a run for the rest of the night, even wasting a leadoff double in the ninth when lefty Jose Mijares retired Nick Markakis, Scott, and Wieters in rapid succession.
In the bottom of the ninth, this painful experience finally came to a close. Kam Mickolio-- who had worked a perfect eighth inning-- quickly got the first two outs, but then ran into unexpected trouble. Michael Cuddyer kept the inning alive with an infield single, and Jason Kubel won a nine-pitch at-bat by drawing a walk. That’s when Young-- uber-bust Delmon Young, of all people!-- collected his fourth hit of the night, sending a single to right field that brought in Cuddyer with the game-winning run.
The Twins mobbed their teammates on the field, unable to believe that they won this game after looking so horrendous early on. Well, guys, you had the good fortune of playing against a team even more self-destructive than yourselves. The Orioles slumped off the field, having given away another one. I keep telling myself that there are much brighter days ahead. I sure hope so. The Orioles, in their present form, look like a team that simply doesn’t know how to win. They continue to shoot themselves in the foot in so many ways.
Mijares (2-2) got the win, while Mickolio lost his first decision. Orioles lose, 7-6.
ESPN Box Score
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