The division-leading Toronto Blue Jays came to Camden Yards this week boasting the best starting rotation in the American League. And if their rotation resembled a neatly stacked deck primed for the postseason, the Orioles' playoff chances are hinging – or unhinging – on a rotation more similar to a deck of cards strewn wildly across a table.
It has been easy to place blame on the Orioles rotation. It has been wildly inconsistent – and is without anchor Chris Tillman for likely at least another 10 days. Each of the three starting pitchers the Orioles sent to the mound against the AL East front-runners this week spent his share of the season under fire.
But in going head-to-head with some of the best starting pitching in the league, the Orioles rotation couldn't be blamed for the team's fifth straight series loss to a division opponent after Wednesday's 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays.
Despite a rocky first inning, right-hander Yovani Gallardo gave the Orioles their third straight quality start against a dangerous Blue Jays batting order, following strong efforts by left-hander Wade Miley and right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez with a six-inning, three-run outing Wednesday night.
"I was really impressed with that, really proud of them," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "But it's tough. It's kind of frustrating. We've got some quality starting pitching and we were in them. The tack-on runs were tough."
But with 29 games left in the regular season, the Orioles are four games behind Toronto in the division race and tied with the Detroit Tigers for the second and final AL wild-card playoff spot. This week's series against the Blue Jays was just an indicator of the inconsistency they've displayed all season.
Gallardo (4-7) appeared to be on his way to pitching his way out of the team's shaky starting rotation after stumbling into a three-run hole just five batters into the game.
But by the end of the night, you couldn't have asked more of the Orioles rotation. Gallardo went much deeper than he did in his previous start, a 1 1/3-inning outing Friday at Yankee Stadium that was the shortest start of his career. Gallardo righted himself against a Blue Jays lineup full of land mines, retiring the final 10 batters he faced.
Gallardo walked off the mound after six innings having given the Orioles their third quality start this series and his fifth quality start in six outings. Instead of the starting rotation, the team's slow-arriving offense and some bullpen failures were to blame.
"I look more at the body of work," Showalter said of Gallardo. "If you told me coming in that he would have held them to three over six, I'd have liked our chances. We didn't really score a lot of runs all three games and that's really a tribute to their starting pitching as much as anything."
The Orioles entered the series banking on Miley, Jimenez and Gallardo, all of whom have experienced varying struggles in Orioles uniforms, while Toronto sent a trio of starters with sub-3.50 ERAs — Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez — to the mound for one of the most pivotal division series in the regular season's final weeks.
"All three of the guys, believe me, they intentionally lined these guys up," Showalter quipped Wednesday before facing Sanchez, whose 2.99 ERA entering the night was third best in the AL. "I wish we had that luxury."
But the Orioles rotation couldn't be blamed for this series loss — their first in three series against Toronto at Camden Yards this season — as each starter recorded a quality start. Include Kevin Gausman's seven scoreless innings Sunday in New York, Orioles starters have a 3.04 ERA over the past four games, which is exactly what you want down the stretch.
"It's tough," Gallardo said of the series loss. "You're always trying to win the series no matter what team it is. But going into the series, we knew it was going to be big. It was going to be important just because the guys on the other side, they're in the lead for the division. That is our ultimate goal, to be in that spot. But you know what? We have another month ahead of us. It's definitely tough, but the only thing we can do now is get ready to go on Friday and start off fresh."
Gallardo fell behind early in an ugly way. Orioles nemesis Jose Bautista sent Gallardo's first delivery of the night into the left-center seats. And after issuing a two-out walk to Michael Saunders, Gallardo hung a full-count slider that Russell Martin parked in the first row of the right-field stands above the grounds crew shed.
The Orioles rotation's struggles in the first inning are evident. Countless times through this season, an Orioles starter has struggled in the first inning before finding his footing. The Orioles have an unsightly 5.35 ERA in the opening inning, when they have allowed 25 homers.
"It's frustrating," Gallardo said about falling behind. "It's never easy for these guys to come from behind, especially in the first inning, giving up three runs in the first inning. But after that, I was just able to put up zeroes and make pitches whenever I had to and get some ground balls and get out of some tough jams."
But to Gallardo's credit, he found his groove after escaping a one-out bases-loaded jam in the third. After he allowed back-to-back singles to Bautista and Josh Donaldson to open the inning — and both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch — Gallardo struck out slugger Edwin Encarnacion and then issued an intentional walk to Saunders with first base open.
Gallardo then induced a double-play ball to third baseman Manny Machado, who stepped on the third-base bag and threw across the infield to trigger Gallardo's escape. Martin was the first of 10 straight batters retired by Gallardo to end his night.
Gallardo left with the Orioles trailing 3-1 and the game within reach, but his bullpen didn't help as Mychal Givens allowed a run in the seventh and Brad Brach yielded a solo homer to Saunders in the eighth.
Jonathan Schoop hit a two-run homer in the ninth, but the Orioles offense scored just nine runs in three games against the Blue Jays this series.
The Orioles didn't have many chances against Sanchez — they were 0-for-3 against him with runners in scoring position — but couldn't take advantage of a rare opportunity to break through in the fifth. They rallied with two outs on singles by Hyun Soo Kim and Schoop, an inning kept alive when Donaldson booted a grounder by Machado, allowing Kim to score. Chris Davis loaded the bases with a walk, but slugger Mark Trumbo harmlessly flied out to right to end the threat.
That was the Orioles' only real chance against Sanchez, and the Blue Jays' insurance runs off the Orioles bullpen made Schoop's ninth-inning homer moot.
"I thought [Gallardo] gave us a solid chance there," Showalter said. "Their starting pitching was tough the whole series. That's why they're leading the league in pitching."
