Baltimore Orioles: Keegan Akin Debuts in Loss vs Nationals

After winning six consecutive games to sweep both the Phillies and the Nats, the Baltimore Orioles came back down to earth with a blow-out loss to begin at-home series against the World Series Champs.

The Baltimore Orioles had a few costly defense gaffs that gave the Nationals a lead in the second inning. Unfortunately, the O’s struggled to do anything to make up ground in the game.

Despite the sad 15-3 loss, there were a few highlights for the Birds.

The first came in the first inning. Anthony Santander showed up Stephen Strasburg again with a solo home run to right field. This was Santander’s fifth home run of the season, but his 20th RBI – which put him at the top of the MLB pile with three other players: Aaron Judge, Charlie Blackmon, and JT Realmuto.

A few pitches later Strasburg came out of the game with throwing-arm issues – most likely due to nerve inflammation.

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Another highlight from the Birds offense came from Hanser Alberto who know stands alone at the top of double list. He hit his 10th of the season and earned an RBI scoring Austin Hays in the seventh.

Orioles pitching struggled to contain the Nationals, who apparently did not want to lose a fourth consecutive game to the Birds. Tommy Milone pushed his ERA to 4.00 after pitching four innings giving up nine hits and six runs.

The pitching highlight came in the fifth when Keegan Akin debuted and threw for three innings. Akin is the first of the highly-touted prospect pool to be called up. The Michigan native gave up two hits and three runs, walking one and striking out one. On a completely unrelated side note, my daughter plays fast-pitch softball with girls who graduated from his Akin’s high school in Midland, Michigan. Let’s watch him strikeout Luis Garcia courtesy of MLB.com:

The final highlight of the game came in the ninth inning when the Nats clearly had the win. With one out remaining, Brandon Hyde gave the ball to Bryan Holaday. He saw three batters before ending the game on a Howie Kendrick fly-out to center field. I don’t know about you, but I certainly enjoy the rare occasions when position players get to pitch.

The Orioles take on the Nationals at 7:35 ET at Camden Yards. Hopefully, the Birds can reverse their trend of losing at home and overtake the Nats today.  Asher Wojciechowski faces Patrick Corbin. Wojciechowski is 0-2 on the season and Corbin is 2-0. It’s time to add a one to each of their records. Go, Os!