Craig Albernaz pinch-hit the 22-year-old catcher against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night for Luis Robert Jr. who knocked in three RBIs during his first eight at-bats as an Oriole.
Craig Albernaz made what was considered to be a questionable decision during the Baltimore Orioles' Thursday opener against the AL East rival Boston Red Sox.
During the seventh with two runners on and the game tied, Albernaz allowed Carlos Narváez, who has been hitting .164, to face off against left-handed reliever Erik Miller instead of pinch-hitting fellow catcher Samuel Basallo who is batting .229.
Moreover, the first-year manager removed the hot hand in Luis Robert Jr. from the batter's box for Basallo in the next inning. Robert Jr. knocked in three RBIs during his first eight at-bats with the team.
Following the matchup, Albernaz explained his confidence in Narváez's slight OPS advantage of .486 against left-handed pitching over Basallo's .466 even though Narváez has recorded a 32.3% strikeout rate against lefties.
"Miller is as tough as it gets left-on-left, and we knew that they were gonna have Whitlock or one of their righties go through the top [of the lineup]," he told Steve Melewski, according to Jacob Calvin Meyer of The Baltimore Sun. "And Narváez, even today–he didn’t get the results he wanted–he made a setup adjustment, and it looked a lot better. To have a lefty take down Miller is an extremely tough task."
That decision unfortunately cost Baltimore the game as the Red Sox came out on top 6-5 in front of the Camden Yards faithful.
Adley Rutschman struck early with a solo homer versus his former club to give Boston a 1-0 advantage. Pete Alonso responded that same inning with a sacrifice fly to drive in Blaze Alexander for a 1-1 tie.
The Orioles carried over that momentum into the fourth, going up 3-1 as Robert Jr. and Alonso launched back-to-back home runs. Right-hander Brandon Young held on until the sixth when Rutschman crushed his second solo shot of the night.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa joined in the action during the seventh, tying it at 3-3 and forcing Young out of the matchup.
Although Baltimore started gaining traction when Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Dylan Beavers walked, Narváez flew out to spoil the rally. As a result, Nick Sogard reclaimed the lead for Boston with a two-run shot to right center off Yennier Canó in the eighth.
Garrett Whitlock posed another problem for the Orioles when he recorded a pair of punchouts on Alexander and Jackson Holliday while forcing a groundout by Basallo to end the inning.
Each team exchanged runs in the ninth when Roman Anthony went yard to left center while Encarnacion-Strand brought the Orioles within one with a homer of his own. Still, it wasn't enough when Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman generated a flyout from Leody Taveras and got Beavers down swinging to record his 31st save of the season.
Now, the Orioles will have their sights set on evening the series tonight at 7:05 p.m. EDT when Shane Baz takes the mound against left-hander Ranger Suárez.
