Suspect Infield Defense And Controversial Call Key Orioles Loss At Toronto

Shane Baz would not let second-base umpire Nic Lentz out of his sights as he contorted and twisted himself in the sixth inning, his outing undone by brutal infield defense and a questionable decision by Lentz. The Orioles starter was walking backwards to the visitor’s dugout at Rogers Centre at one point, anything to keep his sights on the person who most aggrieved him.

Perhaps Baz should have been glaring at shortstop Gunnar Henderson (who continues to look like third base would be more natural to him) who booted a ball and didn’t put a tag on a lead runner in the same inning; Lentz’s decision not to rule Ernie Clement out of the basepaths negated a double-play and allowed Toronto’s five-run inning to fester. Jackson Holliday, at second base, compounded Baz’s issues with an awkward lob to first base contributing to another run.

It all conspired to erase a four-run lead, to negate the Orioles chasing Blue Jays ace (and former Oriole) Kevin Gausman after five innings and prevented Baltimore from winning two straight AL East series on this road trip. This 6-4 defeat might be difficult to digest, with old issues regarding sound fielding and low baseball IQ cropping back up, as they have for years under baseball czar Mike Elias’s stewardship.

“The explanation was that the runner established a base line outside of his running path,” rookie skipper Craig Albernaz told reporters in his post-game comments about the umpires explnations. “… The umpire said Gunnar’s tag attempt wasn’t a good enough attempt ... There’s no rule about how far you have to extend.”

Henderson said: "Super frustrating, because it would have got Shane out of the inning with one run. Obviously, I have zero clue what he (Lentz) was thinking there ... I'm not going to chase him to right field when I'm trying to turn a double play there."

The Orioles had a chance to creep within a game of .500 and secure a rare winning road trip (they entered the week at Boston 9-17 away from home), but it was not meant to be. Albernaz continues to be late to assess when his starter is losing it, and all of it undermined what was a very promising scenario through five innings Sunday.

It Looked Good For The Birds Til It Didn’t

Colton Cowser’s power surge continued with a rare homer off a breaking ball, taking a slider 400 feet to center to open the scoring. Holliday, so much more at ease in the bottom of the lineup where he belongs, came out of the box blazing to reach third, Blaze Alexander, incredibly clutch the last five weeks, doubled to drive him in and Taylor Ward homered to left, just his third after hitting 30-plus with the Angels, to make it 4-0.

Baz, after not having to throw a pitch with a runner on second until the fifth, unraveled in the sixth, with an infield defense that was so sharp in the early innings letting him down. He ended up relying more on his fastball than in his last three starts, which turned his season around, and the Jays didn’t swing and miss much (eight whiffs vs Baz) and made repeated hard contract off a knuckle curve that means everything to his arsenal.

Henderson has not had a season to his standards, his fielding and decisions at short have been questionable, and the ball kept finding him in the sixth. And Baz started finding too much of the middle of the plate – a big problem until a few weeks ago - with Yohendrick Pinango taking him deep and Jesus Sanchez doubling with one out.

Henderson bobbled and dropped a routine grounder, putting Clement (seemingly always on base) on with an error and Henderson failed to put a tag on Clement on a potential double play ball, getting just the out at first while Sanchez scored.

Henderson and first baseman Pete Alonso protested with the umpires that Clement had skewed outside the basepaths, but to no avail. Baz seemed rattled by it all, and Kazuma Okamoto singled to score Clement and cut it to 4-3. (Still nothing from Albernaz).

"What killed me was the next two at bats, I got predictable," Baz told reporters, saying he would not comment on the ump decision to avoid being fined.

Andres Gimenez doubled down the right field line to tie the game, and it was time for Baz to turn his ire to Lentz, yelling his displeasure along the way. Groundball specialist Yennier Cano entered and got the desired impact, but Holliday opted for an odd lob to Alonso at first; Nathan Lukes beat it easily and it gave more time for Gimenez to come around and score, with catcher Samuel Basallo, already clearly bothered by an abdominal issue, taking a cleat to the wrist on the play but staying in the game.

"Probably should have ate that," Albernaz said of Holliday. "When stuff like that happens it spirals quicky."

The O’s threatened in the seventh but Alexander couldn’t get a bunt far enough out of the box to prevent a force at third with two on and no outs, and Ward’s double play ended the inning. Rico Garcia, nearly perfect this season, gave up a homer in the eighth, as tell as anything that this road trip has clearly turned for the worse.

Bird Seed

The Orioles say the MRI on Basallo was clean but his swings are labored and he’s constantly grimacing and he’s clearly does not seem himself. This medical staff has been under fire for years and catcher Adley Rutschman had last season marred by issues with both sides of his oblique. Seems like a very strange approach to take, especially with third catcher Sam Huff on the roster. Basallo was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 8th but had continued to catch despite his prior issues and then the collision in which he was down for several minutes grasping his wrist

Albernaz has this to say about the situation: "Sammy is learning to play through being nicked up when everything is checked out and everything is fine. Sammy is learning to play through some adversity now." Interesting with a 21-year old after Rutschman, a former first overall pick, is routinely rested far more than the industry standard for such a supposed cornerstone player. Will be very interesting to see if anything else comes up with that abdominal or wrist situation.

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