Questionable Bullpen Decision Costs Baltimore Orioles in Loss to Rockies

It has been a whirlwind of a couple of days for Luis De León.

On Monday night, De León, one of the Baltimore Orioles’ top pitching prospects in their farm system, was removed from his phone as he watched a movie on Netflix. His roommate then came to him and let him know his phone had been ringing, only for him to realize shortly after that he was called up to the Orioles, according to Jake Rill of MLB.com.

The very next day, his contract was officially selected by Baltimore and he was added to the team’s active roster ahead of Tuesday night’s contest against the Colorado Rockies. 

It was already a hectic 24 hours for De León, who would be making his major league debut upon his first appearance. That opportunity came in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game.

However, his first career spot of relief was not exactly what Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said it would be prior to the game. Albernaz had indicated the 23-year-old may not see a leverage spot in his first outing.

"We’re not going to ambush him and throw him in the fire right away," Albernaz said, according to Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner.

In some way, that would end up being the case. 

De León took the mound for his first career outing to start the bottom of the seventh inning, with the game tied at two runs apiece. Though he wasn’t exactly thrown “in the fire,” it definitely held some weight of being a crucial moment in the game. Unfortunately for him, things would not go his way. 

A high popup that De León yielded against his first batter of his career went to shallow right center, where second baseman Jackson Holliday ended up dropping the ball, breaking the Orioles’ 10-game streak without an error. 

After earning his first career strikeout against the next batter, De León allowed a two-run home run to TJ Rumfield of the Rockies, which put Colorado out in front 4-2, as the score would hold for the remainder of the game and put an end to Baltimore’s four-game win streak.

Ultimately, De León ended up being the losing pitcher in the loss.

Albernaz’s decision to ride De León in that spot, despite the error not doing him any favors, is definitely an interesting one to note. Debuting a pitcher in such a leverage spot, against the heart of the Rockies’ order, made little sense for a team that is looking to keep pace in the American League Wild Card race. 

Albernaz backed down when addressing the decision to use De León in that spot, claiming he had no pause to use him then.

“It’s a tie game, was a string of lefties for him, and also where we’re at in the season and in the bullpen, that’s who we had out there,” Albernaz said. “We’re more than comfortable going there with him, and he threw the ball extremely well.”

De León tossed just 15 pitches in his lone inning, allowing the two runs with just one of them earned due to the error. He plans on giving his first strikeout baseball to his mom, who resides in the Dominican Republic, per Andy Kostka.