Bring on the playoffs!
Today was the final day of the regular season, and while there was plenty of drama around the league, the Orioles game was about as chill as you could get. A solid starting pitching performance followed by a few home runs and in the end it was a 6-2 victory over the Twins and a series sweep to wrap things up.
The only real surprise for me in this game was how long starting pitcher Albert Suárez stayed in the game. There was question if he’d just go a few innings to remain available for the Wild Card round. After today, there is no question. Suárez pitched six innings with two runs allowed, both on solo home runs. It was a solid outing, but he’s been increasingly susceptible to the long ball over the last month which makes me nervous.
Suárez is now an option to start against the Yankees in the first game of the ALDS. The Yankees have a better offense than the Twins and they’ll have Gerrit Cole on the mound. But you know what? I’m not even going to think about that right now. There is absolutely no reason. Back to today’s game.
The Twins got on the board in the second inning after Suárez worked around a one-out double in the first. The elderly Carlos Santana led off the second inning with his 23rd home run of the season and 324th of his career. Suárez threw an 0-2 curveball that landed outside the strike zone, but Santana mashed it anyway to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.
The score went to 2-0 in the very next inning, another shot to start the inning. This one came from a very different kind of player. DaShawn Keirsey, playing in his sixth major league game, took a first-pitch fastball over the right field fence for his first major-league home run.
As I said, the homers are concerning. But aside from those two hits, Suárez had a successful outing. Starting with Edouard Julien after the Keirsey at-bat, Suárez allowed just two more baserunners. He walked Santana in the fourth inning and gave up a one-out single to Brooks Lee in the sixth. Lee was erased on an inning-ending double play.
Suárez threw just 71 pitches with a final line of: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K. It was an incredible season for the 34-year-old pitcher, who defied expectations over and over again in his first major-league season since 2017. He appeared in 32 games and made 24 starts. He finished the season with a 3.70 ERA in 133.2 innings. With all the pitcher injuries this season, where would this team be without him?
Twins starter Bailey Ober started off strong, keeping the Orioles off the board through four innings. After a 1-2-3 first inning, the Orioles blew a scoring opportunity in the second inning after back-to-back one-out singles from Ryans O’Hearn and Mountcastle. Cedric Mullins and Ramón Urías stranded them.
Ober didn’t allow another baserunner until the fifth inning when the first two batters of the inning singled, this time O’Hearn and Mullins. Urías flew out again, but James McCann made sure the rally wasn’t snuffed again. McCann launched the third pitch to left field where it landed 381 feet away for the Earl Weaver Special. It was McCann’s eighth home run of the season and fourth in 10 September games.
The Orioles would not need another run but they added a few more on for good measure. After the fifth inning, Brandon Hyde started resting his regulars. Jackson Holliday came in to replace Gunnar Henderson at shortstop and Emmanuel Rivera took over for Urías at third.
After Twins reliever Jorge Alcala threw a 1-2-3 sixth, the Orioles grabbed two more runs in the seventh. Once again O’Hearn and Mullins started the rally, this time with a walk and a single respectively. Rivera and McCann struck out, but Holliday worked a walk to load the bases. (Holliday also singled in the ninth to be perfect at the plate today)
That brought Jordan Westburg to the plate. Westburg had been hitless in the game to that point, but came through with a clutch single to left field. O’Hearn and Mullins scored to make increase the O’s lead to 5-2. Adley Rutschman, who went hitless in the game, grounded out to strand Holliday and Westburg.
With Heston Kjerstad and Austin Slater replacing Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn in the outfield, Seranthony Domínguez took the mound for the bottom of the seventh inning. He had what feels like a typical Seranthony outing. He walked Santana, then struck out Kyle Farmer. Manuel Margot singled to put runners on the corners, then Christian Vázquez struck out.
Lots of strikeouts, lots of baserunners. That’s what Seranthony does. With two outs, Gregory Soto replaced him and got the final out of the inning. I don’t know how Domínguez will be used in the postseason but he sure does make me nervous.
In much more fun news, Heston Kjerstad homered! In his first and only at-bat in the game, he watched two balls outside the zone and then hit a ball at 105 mph that just kept carrying and carrying until it landed 414 away on the other side of the fence. I like Heston.
Jacob Webb and Colin Selby finished out the game with two scoreless inning and with a Christian Vázquez strikeout, the regular season came to an end. Orioles win, 6-2. They finish the season with a 91-71 record. They went 5-1 over their final six games and, after a rest tomorrow, will kick off the Wild Card series in Baltimore on Tuesday.
What a season! And maybe, hopefully, the best is yet to come.