Baltimore Orioles: Cavan Biggio Makes History At Camden Yards

A visiting player made history at Camden Yards on Tuesday night, while the Baltimore Orioles have us all counting down the innings before it’s all over.

I’ve always been a firm believer in the idea that bad baseball is better than no baseball at all. I still believe it, but last night’s loss by the Baltimore Orioles really tested that as the Toronto Blue Jays mounted a late-game comeback to take game one of a three-game series and send the Orioles to a 49-102 record.

In the process, Toronto rookie Cavan Biggio hit for the cycle, joining Jeff Frye (2001) and Kelly Gruber (1990) as the only players in franchise history to achieve the storied milestone. His cycle marks just the second time in MLB history that a father and son have both hit for the cycle in their careers, with Gary and Daryle Ward being the only other duo. Cavan’s dad, Craig, recorded his with the Houston Astros in 2002.

Biggio also became the first visiting player ever to hit for the cycle at Camden Yards, as pointed out by MLB.com’s Joe Trezza. The rookie is now slashing .230/.361/.425 with 14 home runs, 15 doubles, 42 RBI, and is a perfect 13-13 in stolen bases in 89 games as a rookie.

After striking out in the first inning against Chandler Shepherd, Biggio homered in the third inning (scoring Bo Bichette), singled in the sixth, doubled in the eighth, and tripled in the ninth to break a 5-5 tie. He scored three times and even swiped two bags to add to his impressive evening. Toronto would go on to win by a final score of 8-5.

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It wasn’t just this one loss or watching a rookie hit for the cycle at Camden Yards that hurt, it was just the timing of it all.

With 11 games remaining on the regular-season schedule for the Orioles, I’m just ready for the season to be over with. Many of you have probably felt this way for a long time now, and I tried to fight the feeling for as long as possible by finding any small storyline to grab a hold of, but everything seemed to come to a head last night.

After an impressive stretch by Baltimore’s bullpen (3.41 ERA over the month of September, 6th lowest in the majors), Richard Bleier, Miguel Castro, and Paul Fry did their part in continuing the hot stretch (3 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K), but it all came crashing down with Mychal Givens returning to his pre-All-Star break form. Givens allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits, including a home run, in 2/3 of an inning, giving us yet another bullpen collapse to watch.

It’s almost over, folks. No more Chandler Sheperd or Tom Eshelman starts, no more staying up late thinking the Orioles are going to win only to watch the bullpen collapse, and no more watching Chris Davis go 0-4 with three strikeouts. I guess that sometimes, no baseball is better than bad baseball.

The Orioles and Blue Jays will battle in game two of the series tonight at 7:05 pm. Dylan Bundy toes the rubber for Baltimore, while Toronto counters with the veteran Clay Buchholz who is making just his fifth start this year since the first week of May.