Orioles Wilt To Yankees After Pete Alonso Blast Is Ruled Foul

The delay felt like it was 15 minutes. It was more like five.

But in it held the difference between the Orioles taking a late lead on the Yankees, or being stuck in a tie. It held the difference between a potential energizing win, and another losing streak. It may have held the difference between remaining on the fringes of the final Wild Card spot or falling well off the pace with such a challenging schedule ahead.

As MLB reviewed whether Pete Alonso’s epic blast down the left field line was fair or foul – and given the camera angles involved it felt like guesswork – and the Orioles dugout became more convinced it was a homer, the stakes just seemed to raise. And the call did not go Baltimore’s way, ruled foul on the field, and an epic meltdown ensued for a 5-3 loss at Camden Yards. The Orioles remain an utterly unsound operation (built completely in the imagine of the failure of a baseball exec, Mike Elias, who, built them).

“You definitely never know what they are going to rule,” manager Craig Albernaz said post-game, “but I was really surprised that it came back (call) stands.” Albernaz said tracking data on tablets in the dugout seemed to indicate to him and his players that it was a home run, and he bemoaned the outcome.

“It’s not why we lost the game,” he said, “but that moment was a big moment.”

Alonso, who did homer earlier in the game and is carrying this offense, thought he homered and let the ump know about it when he struck out to end the 7th and skipper Craig Albernaz went to Cam Sanders, who has wiggled out of some major jams recently but was awful Wednesday. He hit two batters and walked another (seven strikes on 18 pitches; so let’s turn down the dial with the hype on this guy) and he left with two outs and the bases loaded.

Yennier Cano, coming off a brutal week, did what he does best and got a soft ground ball but it was impossible for Coby Mayo get an out on the dribbler and another run scored when back-up catcher Yohel Pozo couldn’t locate a great pitch near his feet and at 5-3 this was pretty much over. The Orioles lost the game, and with three straight defeats, they seem to have lost whatever fleeting steam they built up over the weekend in Tampa.

Basallo Is Back

On the positive side, rookie slugger Samuel Basallo returned from a stint on the IL and started at second base for just the second time this season, and was outstanding in the field. Alonso is still dealing with a calf strain and has been DHing lately. Basallo made a diving play to his right and ranged left to make a difficult play and beat the runner to the bag and he put together quality at bats, too.

"He's really athletic over there, and he did a really nice job," Albernaz said of the 22-year-old.

But the runs just don’t come with nearly enough regularity. The O's got back into the act of double digit strikeouts - 11 times Wednesday - and they have only the utter ineptitude of the American League to thank for them even being able to continue their playoff rhetoric.

They took an early lead when Jackson Holliday, back in the leadoff spot, worked a walk to star the first and Gunnar Henderson also walked. Basallo moved them over with a blast to center for a flyout and Holliday scored on a double-steal (why catcher Austin Wells threw, who knows). It was the kind of smallball the overmatched puppet skipper doesn’t cook-up nearly enough.

Alonso, team-leading 29 homers, and rookie Dylan Beavers provided the other scoring with solo shots.

Chris Bassitt was solid enough in his second start back from the IL. Like others recently, he didn’t miss a ton of bats and yielded eight hits in 5 2/3, but he only walked one and he picked up six strikeouts. It will never be a anything but a terrible signing – he is 36 and was always an injury risk and sports a 5.08 ERA – but that’s indicative of most of what Elias has done patching a rotation together.

This starting staff has still manager to shatter every reasonable expectation despite the clown who constructed it – Elias told fans his super-power lineup would propel the Orioles to the top of the AL East; I said they'd be lucky to win 82 games – but it still hasn’t been nearly enough to keep this season from being another disaster.

The O’s are now 61-66, they are dead last in the division and after beating the mighty Rays three times in Tampa over the weekend, the tables might turn when they get to Baltimore on Friday. They face former Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole in the interim, trying to stave off a sweep by New York.

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