The starting right-hander fanned a season-high 10 batters on Tuesday, but it was not enough to overcome a 3-1 deficit against the New York Yankees.
Shane Baz had his best outing yet for the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday against the AL East juggernaut New York Yankees, striking out a season-high 10 batters through 6.1 innings of work.
However, his efforts were wasted with the Orioles' offense only mustering a single run in the third inning when Coby Mayo took New York starter Carlos Rodón deep to left field for a solo home run, spoiling the shutout.
Still, the 27-year-old Baz put on a masterclass on the mound. He would utilize his ultimate strikeout pitch, the knuckle curve, and the fastball. He expressed his confidence in the location and command over both pitches to the media following the matchup.
"The locations were really good today. If you go back and watch, all of those are probably like middle-down," Baz said, according to MLB.com. "They’re not glove side or arm side, they’re just down. And I think it just makes it really hard to hit that and my fastball when they’re kind of playing off each other in that lane. It was just good tonight. The command of it was really good."
Baz's knuckle curve proved effective in the first when he finally got Trent Grisham down swinging after the center fielder fouled off a changeup and four-seamer. Nonetheless, those two pitches were key in retiring Ben Rice and Luis García Jr. and limiting the traffic to one baserunner after Heliot Ramos drew an eight-pitch walk.
Baz kept dealing in the second, inducing a flyout from Spencer Jones and turning to the knuckle curve once again to get Jazz Chisholm Jr. chasing. He also gave rookie George Lombard Jr. a true taste of major-league pitching, fanning him on a 96-mph sinker.
The Yankees made Baz pay in the third though when his changeup came back in the zone to Grisham who crushed it to right field, giving New York a 1-0 lead.
Even as Mayo answered back to tie it at 1-1, Baz took the blame when reliever Josh Walker surrendered an RBI single in the seventh to Grisham who drove in Jones and Lombard Jr. to seal Baltimore's fate.
Despite the loss, Baz has compiled a 4.02 ERA and 1.35 WHIP while notching 132 strikeouts in 145.2 innings pitched during his first season as an Oriole following the five he spent with the rival Tampa Bay Rays.
His performance has also garnered praise from Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz who highlighted the value he brings to the team while acknowledging the mistake pitch to Grisham.
"Outside of that, he was outstanding," Albernaz said. "It was good to see him back out there pounding the strike zone with really good stuff."
However, Baz can't do it all himself. As a result, if the Orioles want a decent shot at making the postseason, the offense has to do its part as well and back up their starting rotation.
Baz should get his next opportunity to take the mound during the Orioles' upcoming series later in the week against his former club who they last played on Monday.
