Baltimore Orioles: Pinch-hitting nightmare spoils Bradish’s debut

The stars were aligned for the Baltimore Orioles and Kyle Bradish’s debut until a pair of pinch-hitting nightmares took center stage and ended the O’s night.

In all fairness, many things went wrong in the Baltimore Orioles’ loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. Five hits in total that all came from the 3-4-5 spots in the lineup, seven runners left on base, and a rather lackluster approach to attacking the ball.

That would’ve been enough to leave a sour taste after the stellar debut from Kyle Bradish, but what really got the boo birds out and head scratches going was the two horrific pinch-hitting calls made late in the game but the Orioles skipper.

Jorge Mateo started the evening going 0-2 with a pair of strikeouts and leaving two runners on base, so I guess it only felt right for Brandon Hyde to make a switch. The problem; was who was he going to bring in to replace the struggling Mateo?

Baltimore Orioles: Pinch-hitting nightmare spoils Bradish’s debut

After back-to-back hits from Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays to start the inning, Anthony Santander got on with a gritty walk to load the bases. At this point, Hyde made a move to bring in the “hot” Rougned Odor. A few seconds later, Orioles fans watched Odor swing horrifyingly at two sliders, and then a called third strike ended the bases loaded rally.

Clearly, Odor wasn’t the answer because, in the very next inning, he made a blunder at second, and when his name got called again, Hyde chose to sit him down as well. The O’s skipper pulled Odor and brought in Chris Owings with two on and two out. Like his predecessors before him, he left men on base, in scoring position, and struck out horribly.

What would you think if you saw a list of averages like .231, .196, and .133? Would you believe that Mateo was the .231, Odor was the .196, and Owings had the .133? Because that is what happened, and that had a dominant influence on the Orioles not being able to finish out the game. Why Brandon Hyde did what he did, we may never know. Let’s just hope game 2 goes better.