Orioles fans incensed with Brandon Hyde's in-game lineup management

On Tuesday night in Toronto, the Orioles fought hard and had themselves in a good position heading into the 6th inning. After a Jackson Holliday home run game the O's a 1-0 lead in the top half of the inning, Brandon Hyde called on righty Burch Smith to get through the top of the Jays lineup.

Smith did well enough, getting the first two batters quickly but gave up a single to first baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr and Hyde had seen enough. The Jays had DH Spencer Horwitz coming to the plate, who to that point had hit .200/.250/.233 against lefties all year.

Hyde turned to the newly acquired LHP Gregory Soto in the spot, opting to play the matchup rather than let Smith try to finish the inning. For the second time in three tries in an Orioles uniform, Soto failed to get the job done.

Not only did Soto allow Horwitz to rip a line drive single into right, he went on to allow 5 runs, 4 of them earned, on 4 hits and a walk.

Orioles outmanaged by Blue Jays, Brandon Hyde embarrassed after loss

Unfortunately for Orioles' fans, the pain didn't end there. In the top of the 8th, the O's managed to load the bases with nobody out and had phenom Jackson Holliday coming up to bat. Holliday has been arguably the O's hottest hitter since his return to the majors last week and had just bashed his third homer of the year on in his previous plate appearance.

At that point, the Jays turned to lefty Genesis Cabrera hoping Hyde would take the bait, and he didn't let Toronto down. Hyde pinch hit for Holliday to gain the handedness advantage, swapping the struggling Austin Slater in for Holliday. Slater managed a walk despite his splits showing he's actually been better against righties than lefties this year.

Not to be outdone by the Holliday move, Hyde once again went back to the matchup well in Colton Cowser's spot. Like Holliday, Cowser has been on fire since the All Star break. He'd been running a 17-game hit streak entering Tuesday's game and has posted a 1.077 OPS in the second half.

Cowser does have a small difference in his splits - he's posted an .820 OPS against righties, while posting a .719 mark against lefties on the year. Both figures are above league average, however.

Brandon Hyde needs to redeem himself after loss

What Hyde saw was a left handed pitcher on the mound. If he'd looked closer, he'd have seen that Cabrera has allowed a .778 OPS to right handed hitters, and a .817 OPS to lefties.

Hyde missed the fact that not only did Cowser have the hot bat, but he was likely a better statistical option than Coby Mayo, a rookie who has posted reverse splits in Triple-A this year and who's been hitless in his limited opportunities in Baltimore this week.

The in-game roster management from Hyde has been questionable for some time. He's super analytical and that will typically work out over the long run. But these three decisions tonight, between Cowser, Holliday, and Soto, have fans absolutely incensed with his decision making.

O's fans have high expectations for this team because the talent level is so high. At a certain point, Hyde is going to have to trust his players rather than nit picking every little matchup. Tonight's loss was meaningful, dropping the O's out of first place in the AL East. If something like this happens in a playoff game though, Orioles fans will be calling for Hyde's head.