O’s pitchers get smacked around, lose 19-8 to Athletics
Mama said there’d be days like this. The Orioles pitching staff had no answers for what is not a very good Oakland offense.
It was one of the most insanely idiotic games in recent memory, and everyone that watched it is now dumber for having endured it. The Orioles were obliterated 19-8 by the Athletics on Saturday, and may God have mercy on their souls.
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This was the Orioles’ worst performance of the season, and I sure hope that no other game comes close. Every orange-clad pitcher that stepped on the mound got absolutely ambushed by the Athletics’ offense, an offense that entered the day at or near the bottom of the league in all major categories. It was embarrassing.
O’s starter Cade Povich seemingly had no idea where the ball was coming out of his hand from pitch one. The rookie walked the first two batters he faced, and then served up a three-run homer to Brent Rooker. He returned for the second inning, and once again got into trouble, this time with a single and double followed by another three-run bomb.
At 6-0, the game was not lost just yet, but it was up to Povich to show who he was a little bit. Could he eat some innings and take one for the team? Apparently not. He walked the following hitter, coughed up a single, and that is when Brandon Hyde pulled the plug on his day.
Growing pains are going to come for rookie pitchers. Povich experienced a big one here. He got no whiffs on 14 swings. That’s a little alarming! And the contact that was made was quite hard (average exit velocity of 90.4 mph). There is no getting around it. He was bad. But one start does not make a career. Up to this point, the 24-year-old had been solid, even good, in his debut season. Now it’s up to him to figure out what went wrong and adjust.
Povich was not alone in his struggles on the bump. Two veterans, Dillon Tate and Cole Irvin, also stunk. Tate gave up four runs on six hits and a strikeout over his two innings of work. While Irvin gobbled up four frames, and surrendered five runs on five hits, three walks, and four strikeouts.
Tate’s outing was kind of a bummer. The Orioles likely had hopes this season of Tate returning to a late-inning role that saw him pitching in some of the game’s biggest moments. But Hyde’s usage of him would seem to indicate that that trust is all but gone. He entered in the second inning with two runners on and no outs. For the Orioles to have any hope, he needed to stem the bleeding and strand those runners. He was unable to do so, and instead the floodgates opened.
