BALTIMORE — These young and inexperienced Orioles learned an essential lesson about playoff baseball on Saturday afternoon before a packed house at Camden Yards.
The little things matter oh so much in the postseason.
Every mistake is magnified, every decision scrutinized.
The quick take from the Orioles’ 3-2 loss to the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the ALDS is that it’s incredibly tough to win when scoring two runs on five hits while playing against the most explosive offense in the American League.
The longer-view here is that missed opportunities and debatable decisions usually come back to haunt teams when every moment matters.
And that’s what happened Saturday.
The mistake that’s easiest to focus on occurred in the bottom of the ninth, when rookie Gunnar Henderson led off with a single against Texas closer Jose Leclerc. On a 2-1 count to Aaron Hicks, Henderson attempted to steal and was thrown out at second by Texas catcher Jonah Heim, wiping out the potential tying run. Leclerc then retired the next two hitters, Hicks and Adam Frazier, to secure the win.
Afterward, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was asked about the failed steal attempt and said only, “a little miscommunication there.”
Henderson said the steal sign was called by Hyde. It was an attempt to be aggressive on Leclerc, who doesn’t get to the plate particularly quickly.
“We had something going right there and I thought it was a good time to try and take it,” Henderson said. “It didn’t happen. I hate that it didn’t happen.”
When asked about Hyde’s mention of a “miscommunication” directly after the game, Henderson said “I have no idea.”
“I thought it was something we had on, but, there again, I don’t know,” he said.
Missed signs – if that’s what this was – happen in baseball. But it was the ninth inning of a one-run game in the playoffs. Cue the magnification.
And add that to the Orioles inability to get something going in the seventh and eighth innings. In both frames, the Orioles leadoff hitter drew a four-pitch walk against the Rangers’ shaky bullpen, which couldn’t throw strikes initially. Yet the Orioles didn’t advance past first in the seventh, and in the eighth a nifty double play and a strikeout ended a two-runner threat.
Then there was Hyde’s decision in the fifth to pull Kyle Bradish with 84 pitches and a runner on first. Bradish had struck out nine batters, including his last two. White-hot rookie Evan Carter, a left-handed hitter who had already doubled in a run, was due up, followed by a switch-hitter and another lefthander.
So, Hyde did what he’s done much of the year. He went to southpaw Danny Coulombe, who often owns lefties, in a crucial spot. Coulombe walked Carter and then retired Heim on a ground out to keep the score at 2-1.
The decision at that precise moment worked. But it also removed the club’s ace in the fifth, prematurely igniting the bullpen parade. Ultimately, five relievers were used by Hyde, and when you pass the baton that many times, you run the risk of someone not being effective. That someone Saturday was Jacob Webb, who retired one of the three batters he faced and served up what proved to be the difference-making homer to rookie Josh Jung in the sixth.
If that parade begins in, say, the seventh, Webb may not enter the game at all.
At 84 pitches, Bradish probably could have lasted into the sixth, and maybe completed that inning. He had thrown 100 or more pitches in four of his previous six starts. He hadn’t pitched since Sunday, however, and that was a truncated, tune-up of 32 pitches and two innings. Plus, Bradish could be needed to start Game 5 as well.
But Hyde said that didn’t play a factor. What he was trying to do was win, and the game situation and Bradish’s rocky fourth inning dictated a potential move. So that meant putting in a lefty who has been excellent in this role.
“We were down 2-1, and (Bradish) just gave up two runs the inning before,” Hyde said. “And I don't think he was as sharp as he is usually. But he punched out nine and had really good stuff.”
The decision to use the bullpen early also puts a little extra pressure on rookie Grayson Rodriguez to go deep as possible Sunday, not an easy task against such a potent Rangers offense in the talented 23-year-old’s first playoff outing. Yes, the bullpen has had five days off, but most of the relievers have been going nearly non-stop for six months.
Additionally, the pitching road gets tougher for the Orioles offense after facing the Rangers’ two-headed starter combo of Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning on Saturday. Nothing against Heaney and Dunning, who limited the Orioles to four hits and two runs in 5 2/3 combined innings, but Bradish wasn’t exactly going up against the other club’s No. 1.
On Sunday at Camden Yards that changes. Lefty Jordan Montgomery, who has been Texas’ best starter down the stretch, pitches. Then Tuesday in Texas, fireballer Nate Eovaldi hopes to continue his relative mastery of the Orioles.
Game 1 should have been the Orioles to win, given the pitching matchup and the tremendous home-field advantage – a soldout crowd of 46,540 orange-towel-waving fans that were attempting to will the Orioles to their first playoff victory in nine years.
It didn’t happen, though.
And that’s OK.
There are potentially four more games remaining in this series. And one thing we’ve learned in 2023 is that these Orioles are resilient. They don’t get down often and they bounce back quickly.
But another lesson learned is that the playoffs are a different breed than the regular season. Coaches must ask more of their players. Players must require more from themselves.
With the exception of Anthony Santander’s sixth-inning homer, the offense didn’t step up at all. And all it takes is a mistake here or there to turn what could be a win into a playoff hole.
