The Baltimore Orioles not only lost 8-4 to the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday, but it was partially because of an avoidable mistake by ace pitcher Trevor Rogers in the bottom of the third inning. Guardians catcher Austin Hedges hit a ground to Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso, who tossed the ball to Rogers so he could step on first. However, the southpaw stopped short of the bag, allowing Hedges to reach first.
The latter player then advanced to third on a Brayan Rocchio single before Steven Kwan drove him in on a sacrifice fly, which opened the scoring. Orioles manager Craig Albernaz opened up about the team’s fielding mistakes by pitchers this season, via The Baltimore Sun’s Jacob Calvin Meyer.
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“Very disappointing. That’s something we still have to clean up and get better at,” he said. “We’re still going to practice it all the time, because we have to, obviously. … That’s something that we still have to address.”
Baltimore pitchers have made several errors this year, including a throwing error by Chris Bassitt in a 5-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on March 30, a flubbed ground ball by Shane Baz in a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 4, a missed grounder by Anthony Nunez in the same game, and a two-error play by Kyle Bradish in a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on April 8.
It’s no coincidence that the Orioles lost three of the four aforementioned games, including Sunday’s. While pitchers must primarily focus on locating pitches, it’s also imperative not to make their own jobs harder with defensive mistakes.
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Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers (28). © David Dermer-Imagn Images
Rogers had a 1.89 ERA through his first three starts, but he’s taken a step back over the last couple of outings. The 28-year-old allowed four earned runs on nine hits over 4.2 innings in a 4-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, and he allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits over five innings against the Guardians on Sunday. He’s now 202 with a 4.08 ERA.
Although Rogers got out of the third frame with only one run allowed in the latter contest, he coughed up four more runs in the fourth. Jose Ramirez hit a leadoff homer that traveled 408 feet to left center, Juan Brito hit a two-run double, and Rochhio hit an RBI single before he struck out Kwan to end the inning.
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Baltimore then scored four runs in the top of the fourth, but Ramirez hit another homer off Rogers in the bottom of the inning to give Cleveland a 6-4 lead. The Orioles couldn’t score any more for the rest of the contest, and they’re now 10-12.
Up next for Baltimore is a road series against the Kansas City Royals starting on Monday at 7:40 p.m. ET. Bradish will start against right-handed pitcher Seth Lugo.