BALTIMORE – Camden Yards could smell the blood in the water, but Adley Rutschman couldn’t bite.
With two outs in the fifth inning of a second wild-card tied game, the Orioles’ franchise catcher found himself on the scene.
An Oriole occupied each base. Rutschman’s team had, earlier in the frame, scored its first run of the series on a galvanizing game-tying home run by Cedric Mullins. That explosion sent the understandably frustrated local public into total delirium. The hysteria only grew in strength when the next three Orioles arrived, loading the bases with no outs.
After 13 innings of scoreless ineptitude, the impatient sea of black and orange had reason to roar. For the first time in the entire series, the O’s had the Royals, and starting pitcher Seth Lugo, on the ropes. But instead of delivering what could have been the final blow in Wednesday’s eventual 2-1 loss, Baltimore took off its gloves, offered some water and threw a towel at Kansas City.
Anthony Santander, the author of 44 home runs in the regular season, came out with too much enthusiasm for the first out. That brought in Royals reliever Angel Zerpa. Baltimore’s next batter, outfielder Colton Cowser, went down shattered…literally. Cowser, who apparently decided to swing before the pitch, turned around with a ball that hit him in the hand as he fell to the ground.
It was one of the strangest strikeouts you’ll ever see.
Those two outs threatened to stifle the rally and dampen the excitement. A nervous crowd rolled their eyes, as if to say, “Here we go again.” But when a still-wild Zerpa started Rutschman with a couple of balls, Birdland rediscovered his voice.
In theory, it was the kind of scenario the O’s and their fans would dream of. Your local franchise catcher at the plate in a playoff game with a chance to be the hero. A raucous, desperate, passionate crowd that conjures a wall of noise. A pitcher who loses control.
The entire stadium knew that Zerpa, not wanting to go down 3-0 and risk losing the ball, had to throw a strike to Rutschman. Rutschman, who has struggled mightily since the All-Star break and his confidence has evaporated in a cloud of passivity, must have known that too. I had to be ready for a fastball. He was almost certainly going to see a hittable pitch.
On the ESPN broadcast, commentator Ben McDonald, a regular on the local Baltimore broadcast and therefore quite familiar with the club, took note of the moment and Rutschman’s role in it.
“These are the situations where (Orioles manager) Brandon Hyde wants Adley Rutschman to be more aggressive, right?” McDonald commented in his signature Cajun accent. “Bases loaded, 2-0 count, go get that fastball. If you get it, improve your swing and be aggressive.”
The heater arrived.
But Rutschman, as his club had done in every series, blinked in the spotlight.
He couldn’t pull the trigger. Zerpa’s fastball sailed into the catcher’s glove, right in the middle of the plate. Hit one.
Rutschman, upon taking the field, remained frozen in his stance for a remarkably long time, as if regret had turned him to stone. On the broadcast, McDonald groaned.
When asked after the game if he would have done anything differently with his approach during that at-bat, Rutschman responded, “I would have gotten a hit.”
Two pitches later, Rutschman hit a hard grounder to Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., the player chosen directly after Baltimore’s catcher in the 2019 MLB Draft. A half-inning later, Kansas City retook the lead with a single inside Witt’s painting. The Orioles never threatened again, nor even managed to push a runner to second base in the final four frames. Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson struck out to end the game, the series and Baltimore’s season.
In 18 innings in this wild card series, the Birds’ highly touted offense put together a miserable run. Kansas City pitched extremely well, but Baltimore helped them, going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Henderson, who hit 37 home runs during the regular season, finished both games 0-for-7 with three strikeouts. No Orioles hitter except Mullins looked comfortable or calm.
And although Rutschman’s moment of lockjaw was not the only reason for Baltimore’s departure in early October, his 2-0 rout embodied the team’s downfall.
A young, talented player on a young, talented team, at the crunch time, buried by indecision. The shine of promise – always a dangerous thing – worn down by the realities of failure, by the sheer difficulty of a very difficult sport. Rutschman, once a player with whom dynasties could be dreamed of, looked tired, as he did for most of the second half of the season. Public data on bat speed shows that Rutschman’s swing speed decreased throughout the season, implying that he was exhausted or injured. His offensive production dropped, as did his defensive metrics.
“I’ve answered this question a million times,” Hyde told the media after the game. “I think he’s a young player who was dealing with some adversity. “I think he will come back next year and I think he will be a different player.”
Hyde’s optimism is well founded. Rutschman, at only 26 years old, is still a volcano of talent. There is still a wide path for growth and glory. This is also the case for most of Baltimore’s roster, although Santander and ace Corbin Burnes are likely to leave in free agency. It stands to reason that everyone involved, from the players to the leaders to the fans, believes there is still a better day out there somewhere.
But on this particular gray afternoon of this particular October, neither the team nor its most important player could seize the moment.
A long winter awaits us.
