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The Baltimore Orioles are still waiting to clinch their 2024 postseason spot after a series loss to the Detroit Tigers on September 22. Team skipper Brandon Hyde shouldered some blame for the loss when speaking with reporters.
When asked about the decision to keep starter Albert Suarez in for the sixth inning, Hyde said he’d take it back if he could.
“Yeah, I take it back now,” Hyde told reporters postgame on September 22. “I was gonna send Suárez through (Matt) Vierling and bring in (Keegan) Akin for (Riley) Greene because he was at a low pitch count. We felt like in the dugout that his stuff was improving over the last couple innings. He snuck one over the fence.”
Suarez gave up a go-ahead home run shot to Spencer Torkelson and the Tigers never looked back in their 4-3 victory.
Baltimore had an opportunity to clinch the top Wild Card spot in the American League with a win. Now they’ll have to wait until Tuesday, and even then, are dependent upon other games across MLB.
With six games remaining, the Orioles are 86-70 and four games ahead of the Kansas City Royals for the postseason slot.
Brandon Hyde: ‘We Took Some Unfortunate At-Bats’
Hyde turned to the offense when asked about what went wrong in the series finale against Detroit.
“I thought we took some unfortunate at-bats,” Hyde said. “Meadows makes a great play, takes away a home run from Cowser. Ramón smokes that ball off the pitcher, Ramón smokes that ball in the right-center field gap in the ninth. Just didn’t seem like we could catch many breaks today.”
Colton Cowser hit a would-be 2-run shot in the bottom of the seventh that would have given Baltimore a 1-run lead. But he was robbed at the wall by Parker Meadows in a highlight play.
Cowser chalked Meadows’ robbery up to the game of baseball, and said his performance against the Tigers was a productive one.
“It’s just baseball,” Cowser said, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. “You can hit a ball 50 mph off the bat and get a hit or you can hit it whatever I hit it today, and it gets caught. It’s just one of those things. I look at today as kind of a positive. I hit two balls hard and had a walk. That’s a productive day.”
Baltimore will need more days like that from the widespread AL Rookie of the Year favorite, as they hit the road for a three-game series with Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees.
Orioles Welcome Back Jordan Westburg, Ramon Urias
The Orioles’ postseason chances increase with every player that returns from injury. For the series finale against the Tigers, Baltimore welcomed back All-Star third baseman Jordan Westburg and Gold Glove infielder Ramon Urias.
The duo combined to go just 2-for-8 at the plate, with Westburg hitting an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning.
He spoke with reporters after the game, and talked about the standing ovation he received upon his return to the field.
“I’m so thankful just to be able to play baseball again in the regular season, so to hear that from the fans was touching,” Westburg said, according to Kubatko. “I’m going to be honest, I was a lot more nervous playing my first game at Norfolk than I was today. So that was kind of encouraging to be back on a big league field and feel somewhat at home.”
In talking about the looming 2024 playoffs, Westburg called playing games at home in Camden Yards, “super important.”
“Super important,” Westburg said, according to Kubatko. “You saw the turnout today for the fans on a Sunday day game. They love baseball here. They love the Orioles. As a club, we just want to put together a good product for those fans. We want to play good baseball. We want to win ballgames, and yeah, we do want to get back here because I do think there’s a home field advantage aspect when we’re here in Camden.”
As of September 22, the Orioles are on trajectory for a Wild Card matchup with the San Diego Padres. But with five games remaining, anything can happen to change up the playoff picture.
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