Morning After Opinions - O's vs Houston

The Birds dropped their second consecutive game in this current road trip as Houston’s Carlos Correa snapped an 0-15 slump with a single to center field with the bases loaded in the 13th inning to score the game winner.

O’s starter Chris Tillman continued a solid run by recording a career-high seventh consecutive quality start. He remains 6-1 (Bundy got the loss), with a 2.61 ERA over 10 starts.

On offense, Pedro Alvarez gave us a taste of what the O’s were hoping for when they signed him, homering off Doug Fister in the fifth, and Manny Machado continued his MVP caliber season with a bomb in the sixth.

All things considered, here’s a few of my thoughts about last night:

1) O's can't squander a great pitching performance like the one Tillman turned in - 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R

2) Has Manny Machado’s homer in the sixth landed yet? That blast is best summed up by a quote from the legendary Crash Davis of Bull Durham fame:

"...anything travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don’t you think?"

3) Matt Wieters stole a base. Matt Wieters legitimately stole a base…not one of those player indifference steals either. It included a slide and everything.

4) Dylan Bundy is struggling, and while I cringed watching him intentionally walk two guys to get to last year's Rookie of the Year, you need to set up a force at home. With no outs. It's a gamble

5) Sticking with Bundy, the 2011 first round pick (4^th overall) has a 6.75 ERA over his last seven games. During that time, he’s giving up 16 hits while allowing eight runs.  In his last three appearances, Bundy has given up seven runs on nine hits in just 4.1 innings of work. This is worrisome.

6) The 13 innings showed how much having Kim on the roster is a liability. Buck clearly has no confidence in him, so the team is weakened by not having a pinch hitter or pinch runner to turn to in needed situations. Bigger picture, it’s a guy who they won’t use taking up a roster spot. While his average is high, he can’t get the ball out of the infield. 

7) The aforementioned pinch hitting scenario reared its ugly head in the 13th when the O's themselves had bases loaded with two outs. Rickard needed to be pinch-hit for, but there was not a "Delmon Young-type” option on the bench, so Buck had to stick with Rickard…who is 8-for-41 in his last 10 games and was 0-for-5 last night before his 12th inning double. With his average plummeting to .259, it may be time to shake up the order and give Reimold more starts in LF.

Fortunately, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. The Birds get a chance to get back on track tonight as Tyler Wilson (3.68) takes the mound for the O’s, with Collin McHugh (5.13) getting the start for Houston. First pitch is at 8:10 p.m.  (MASN and 105.7 The Fan).