We knew, facing Atlanta’s pair of aces, Max Fried and Spencer Strider, that runs would be at a premium in this series. So you’ve got to treat any runs you do score like the little pearls that they are.
Which is why, with the Orioles having bravely scratched four runs off Strider and the bullpen and clinging to a 4-3 lead in the eighth, it was maddening and bad and terrible to see Brandon Hyde send out Bryan Baker for a second inning of work after the usually excellent righty looked gravely command-challenged the inning before.