Orioles rally to take late lead before giving up go-ahead homer in 5-4 loss to Braves
When he played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Kevin Pillar crushed Orioles pitchers more than any other team he played regularly. Pillar, now a part-time player for Atlanta, pinch-hit against Baltimore’ s Danny Coulombe, one of the club’ s best relievers, in the eighth inning Saturday and gave Orioles fans déjà vu, blasting a two-run homer to propel the Braves to a 5-4...
When he played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Kevin Pillar crushed Orioles pitchers more than any other team he played regularly.
New team, same story.
Pillar, now a part-time player for Atlanta, pinch-hit against Baltimore’s Danny Coulombe, one of the club’s best relievers, in the eighth inning Saturday and gave Orioles fans déjà vu, blasting a two-run homer to propel the Braves to a 5-4 win.
“It sucks,” Coulombe said. “Put the ball in the middle of the plate, and he put a really good swing on it. What can you do? That’s baseball.”
Pillar — who entered slashing .321/.353/.515 with an .868 OPS in 360 plate appearances against the Orioles — completed the scoring in a back-and-forth game that included several lead changes, as both teams came back from down one to take one-run leads of their own.
Adam Frazier hit a two-run single in the fourth inning to give the Orioles an early 2-1 lead after the Braves took an early lead in the third. Atlanta (23-11) scored one run in both the fourth and fifth to take a 3-2 lead, but Anthony Santander’s RBI double in the sixth followed by an RBI groundout from Frazier gave the Orioles a one-run advantage.
Starting pitcher Kyle Bradish bent but didn’t break, allowing three runs on five hits in five innings as he dueled against Braves star Spencer Strider, but the same couldn’t be said for the Orioles’ bullpen. After Cionel Pérez retired four straight batters, Bryan Baker and Coulombe both struggled for the second straight outing.
The Orioles (22-11) will look for their eighth straight series victory Sunday. Despite the loss, the 22-11 start is tied for the second best in club history.
No Cano
The Orioles had a one-run lead in the eighth inning, and manager Brandon Hyde didn’t go to his usual setup man.
That’s because Yennier Cano, who has emerged this season as one of the Orioles’ best bullpen arms, was unavailable to pitch because of workload management, Hyde said after the game. Since he was promoted from Triple-A in mid-April, Cano has pitched more than any other Orioles reliever, totaling 14 scoreless innings in 11 appearances while allowing just two hits.
The right-hander pitched 1 1/3 innings Sunday, one frame Tuesday and two innings Thursday — his longest outing by length and pitches (32) this season.
“We were staying away from Cano tonight just because of his workload the last series and two innings a couple days ago,” Hyde said. “Unfortunately, that’s just part of the game. Other guys have to pitch in those spots, and Danny’s done a great job for us so far this year, and [he made] just one bad pitch.”
In the seventh, Baker relieved Pérez after the left-hander’s best outing of the season and immediately allowed two straight runners before inducing an inning-ending double play. Baker, who allowed three base runners and got just one out Thursday, then surrendered a leadoff double to Austin Riley.
After a lineout, Hyde called on Coulombe, the veteran lefty who Baltimore traded for at the end of spring training. Coulombe entered with a 2.38 ERA in 11 1/3 innings, but he also stumbled Thursday by allowing two runs in 2/3 of an inning. He missed his spot on his 1-0 fastball to Pillar, who deposited the center-cut heater 405 feet to left field. Pillar, 34, entered with a career OPS of .704 — far worse than his .868 mark against the Orioles, the highest of any team he’s tallied more than 100 plate appearances against.
“Life of a reliever, you’ve got to have a short memory,” Coulombe said.
Hyde also didn’t turn to closer Félix Bautista in the eighth as he did at times last season, citing the health of the also-frequently used right-hander.
“We’ve got five months to go, so health is important, and not overusing guys is important,” Hyde said. “Right now, I’d prefer not to use Félix before the ninth inning, and maybe as we go along, we might change. Cano, he’s pitched a ton for us so far. We have other guys in the bullpen that have been throwing the ball well, and they’re going to get opportunities.”
This story will be updated.
Orioles at Braves
Sunday, 11:35 a.m.
TV/Stream: Chs. 11, 4; Peacock
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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