Orioles come disastrous starter, take down Red Sox for first win of 2020

See, now I’m glad baseball is back.

The Orioles recorded their first win of the 2020 season with a satisfying 7-2 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park this afternoon, led by Alex Cobb’s successful return to a major league mound.

A day ago, the expected return to action of the Orioles was hardly worth the wait, as they were impressed by the fifth inning. We collectively ask ourselves: How horrible could the Orioles’ 2020 season be?

Put a pin in that thought for now. Today, the Orioles gave their best, proving they are capable of looking like a competitive major league team when they get some big hits and strong shooting performance. Who knows?

Today’s contest got off to a much more promising start than last night’s parody, thanks to a shaky start from left-handed veteran Martin Pérez in his debut with the Red Sox. Austin Hays, being displaced, threw an opening single to the right side that was wide open, then advanced to third when Hanser Alberto doubled in the corner of left field.

With two runners in scoring position and no one out, I was absolutely certain that the Orioles were going to waste the opportunity, because, well, I’ve seen a lot of Orioles games. And they almost did, as Jose Iglesias was fueled on an outside pitch and Anthony Santander lined up to the right, too shallow to hit Hays, who was unable to score anyway. Quickly, there were two downstairs.

But Renato Núñez assured that the O’s would not leave empty-handed. He broke a double height of the Green Monster to take the two riders home and give the Birds their first lead of the year. For good measure, Núñez advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Rafael Devers cushioned Pedro Severino’s slow roll to third.

The fun continued in the second. New Oriole Pat Valaika stroked his first hit to get out of the box, and Cedric Mullins took a four-pitch walk. (Walking like the number nine hitter on four pitches? Martin Pérez is an honorary Oriole.) With one out, Alberto continued with his left-handers pounding an RBI single to the center, and Iglesias followed with a base hit to the left that brought Mullins home.

The Birds, however, shot out of a larger rally when Alberto lost count of the number of outs, taking off from second base in a routine pop-up window inside the box and easily doubled. Sigh. Still, the Orioles had bet Alex Cobb to a 5-0 lead.

And how was old Cobb, you ask? Considering he hadn’t released a regular-season release in almost exactly 15 months, since April 26, 2019, his third and final start to that year, you would have been excused for thinking he might be a little rusty today. But you would have been incorrect, friend! Cobb was looking pretty good this afternoon, he finally looked like the pitcher the O’s thought they were signing when they gave him that four-year, $ 57 million contract in 2018.

Cobb’s fastball had precise command; the right-hander was tapping the corners of the strike zone as he mixed with his split finger to keep the Sox hitters guessing. By my count, he scored 10 changes and misses as part of his six-strikeout outing. Cobb wasn’t perfect, but he showed a knack for making the right pitch at the right time to get out of some jams. Cobb abandoned a single by JD Martinez in the first, then left two on base in the second by retiring Tzu-Wei Lin on the ground.

After a perfect third, Cobb picked up his defense in the fourth. He seemed to smell Mitch Moreland for the first out, but Severino allowed three to attack under his glove and over the top, putting the runner up front. Two hitters later, Alex Verdugo’s single put two on board. But Cobb bent down and induced a pair of bearings to escape unscathed.

Across the mound, Perez settled down after those first two rocky innings, keeping the Orioles hitless in innings three to five. But he was no match for Cobb, who crossed a fifth 1-2-3 and brought his bleacher to sixth. With one out, Moreland finally got Boston on the board with a solo home run in the front row of seats to the right, and that ended Cobb’s afternoon.

His bottom line: 5.1 innings, one run, four hits, six strikeouts and, most delightfully, zero walks. How refreshing to see an Orioles pitcher hitting hitters and racking up outs. Very encouraging 2020 debut for Cobb, who has a lot to prove this year. It was exactly the type of start the Orioles needed from a pitcher after their 13-run flop on Friday.

The Birds’ bullpen almost made a mess, and O’s sloppy defense didn’t help. Paul Fry recorded a quick start, but then delivered singles to Verdugo and Jackie Bradley Jr. In the last blow, Verdugo aggressively tried to get to third position and should have been dead meat, but Santander’s shot made a jump Valaika couldn’t. corral. The next hitter, Kevin Plawecki, dribbled a play through the middle that Alberto gave him a setback, but he squeezed the shot twice and couldn’t get there on time first. One run scored, making it a 5-2 game and presenting pinch hitter Xander Bogaerts as the potential draw run.

Fortunately, Miguel Castro cleaned up the mess with a dominating hitter appearance, striking out Bogaerts on three pitches to end the inning. And the Os got those two runs in the seventh in Santander’s two-run double against Dylan Covey. Also noteworthy: Singlin ‘Hanser hit another hit in the ninth, completing a 3-for-5 performance.

From there, the O’s stood firm. Richard Bleier and Mychal Givens combined to record the game’s last nine outs with relatively little drama. With that, Cobb was officially the winning pitcher, giving him his first win since September 4, 2018 against Seattle. Congratulations Alex!

The Orioles are in the win column, folks. And as Stacey has just pointed out, “They are on their way to going 30-30. I’m not trying to rub it or anything.”