[Baltimore Sun] Orioles, with nothing to play for as postseason awaits, roll to 9-2 win over Twins
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MINNEAPOLIS — Welcome to Target Field, where the baseball game didn’t matter but they played it anyway.
But wait! Before you leave, what happened in Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins actually could matter for the Orioles in the playoffs. The result — a 9-2 Orioles victory to push their win total to 90 — was meaningless, but the little decisions made by manager Brandon Hyde and Baltimore’s brass were anything but. Every move was made with the postseason in mind, worrying nothing about Saturday’s scoreboard and entirely about Tuesday’s playoff opener.
It all started Friday when the Orioles called Tucker Davidson, a four-year MLB veteran left-hander, and told him to hop on a flight to the Twin Cities. The Orioles knew they would likely need a pitcher to eat innings in a pointless game this weekend, and Davidson was hungry to do just that. Later that night, Baltimore defeated the Twins to clinch the American League’s top wild-card spot and home-field advantage through the first round of the playoffs, making the Orioles’ final two games of the regular season inconsequential.
“I’ve got some innings to throw, and they need some innings,” Davidson said before the game.
Davidson joined the organization this offseason but has spent all season in Triple-A Norfolk. In 115 2/3 innings as a reliever and starter, Davidson posted a 3.89 ERA and 1.340 WHIP after recording a 5.98 ERA in 125 career MLB frames with the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Angels and Kansas City Royals.
Davidson thought he had a chance to get called up during his stellar June, but he was just “glad to be here.”
“It took a little longer than I thought it would, but I made it,” he said with a smile.
To add Davidson to the roster, the Orioles optioned Bryan Baker to the club’s spring training complex in Sarasota, Florida. That means the right-hander will not be eligible for the Orioles’ AL wild-card series or AL Division Series rosters. He cannot rejoin the club until 15 days after he is optioned, unless he is replacing an injured player.
Baker’s removal from the roster makes it more likely right-hander Matt Bowman makes the Baltimore’s roster for the wild-card series. Bowman has largely pitched well for the Orioles since they signed him to a minor league contract in mid-August, although he allowed five runs in two outings against the New York Yankees earlier this week.
The journeyman started Saturday as an opener and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to lower his ERA with the Orioles to 3.45. Davidson followed with 4 2/3 scoreless frames, inducing nine ground balls and striking out one. Relievers Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez and Keegan Akin pitched the final three innings in what are expected to be their final outings before Game 1 of the AL wild-card series Tuesday. Cano and Pérez tossed scoreless frames, while Akin allowed a two-run homer to Ryan Jeffers in the ninth.
The unimportance of Saturday’s result was clear by the lineup Hyde put out. Because Gunnar Henderson, an AL Most Valuable Player candidate, wasn’t in it.
Henderson was among a quartet of Orioles regulars who got a break Saturday, a group that included Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Cedric Mullins. Henderson had played 158 of the Orioles’ first 160 games. The only true game day off the 23-year-old shortstop received this season was June 11 — 109 days ago.
“Nice to get Gunnar off his feet,” Hyde said pregame. “Westy needs a little bit of a break, nice to be able to get him an off day today. Gunnar definitely deserves an off day today.”
Playing in Henderson’s stead is the youngster who followed him as baseball’s No. 1 prospect: Jackson Holliday. The 20-year-old has spent most of this year learning to play second base, but he played an inning at shortstop, his natural position, Thursday and started there Saturday, making one on a soft grounder but clean defense otherwise. It was important to get Holliday time at shortstop this weekend to ensure he’s ready to step in there should Henderson suffer an injury in October.
Holliday will likely be a bench player for the Orioles in the postseason. As one of the club’s fastest players, he could pinch run late in games. He could even pinch hit as one of Baltimore’s only left-handed bench bats, or enter as a defensive replacement if Hyde makes a bevy of moves in the middle of a game. While he might not get many opportunities to hit in October, he had one of his best offensive games as a big leaguer Saturday, going 3-for-4 with two walks and a double in his first start in the leadoff spot.
Ramón Urías, the Orioles’ starting third baseman, played second base, what he considers his natural position, for only the third time this season to get reps there ahead of the postseason. He has at least one hit in all five games since returning from his ankle injury last weekend.
Emmanuel Rivera manned third base and was Saturday’s star to make his case for a spot on the postseason roster. The August waiver claim recorded a career-high four hits and four RBIs with two home runs as the Orioles tallied 16 hits and scored in each of the first five innings. His first homer in the second put the Orioles up 4-0 after Ryan O’Hearn gave Baltimore an early lead with a two-run blast — his second in as many days and career-high 15th of the season as he begins to heat up heading into the playoffs — in the first. Adley Rutschman, who will presumably receive a day off Sunday, went 2-for-6 with a run-scoring single in the second and an RBI groundout in the seventh. Rivera doubled home a run in the third, Ryan Mountcastle hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth and Rivera homered again in the fifth.
If the Orioles choose to keep 14 position players and only 12 pitchers on their initial playoff roster, Rivera is a lock to be on it. But if the Orioles go with a 13-and-13 structure, the last spot on the bench would presumably go to either Rivera or Heston Kjerstad, a left-handed hitting outfielder who is 6-for-29 since returning from his concussion earlier this month.
“It’s all possible,” Hyde said about the Orioles’ playoff roster construction. “We’ll have a roster meeting when we get back to town. Everything’s on the table right now. We don’t even know who we’re playing yet. A lot of things can factor into that.”
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Around the horn
• Hyde confirmed what he suggested earlier this week: Ace Corbin Burnes will start Game 1 of the AL wild-card series at Camden Yards on Tuesday. The team Burnes will face and the time of the game have yet to be determined.
• Right-hander Albert Suárez, who would’ve been in line to start Saturday had the game mattered, will start Sunday. Hyde didn’t say how much Suárez was scheduled to pitch, but it’s likely he only throws an inning or two to remain available to come out of the bullpen in the AL wild-card series.
• The Orioles do not yet know who they will play in the AL wild-card series. The Tigers and Royals will enter the final day of the regular season tied, with Kansas City owning the tiebreaker. Baltimore will host the Tigers in the best-of-three series if Detroit wins Sunday and Kansas City loses. Otherwise, the Orioles will welcome the Royals, the club that swept Baltimore out of the 2014 postseason, to Camden Yards next week.
• The Yankees clinched the No. 1 seed with the Cleveland Guardians’ loss. If the Orioles win the AL wild-card series, they will travel to New York to face off against their division rival.
This article will be updated.
Regular-season finale
Orioles at Twins
Sunday, 3:10 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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