Ortiz vs. Red Sox: 'That was a tough one'

BALTIMORE -- Not until arriving at Oriole Park on Friday did Luis Ortiz learn he’d be starting later that same night.

The rookie right-hander was originally slated to take the ball at Triple-A Norfolk, where he’d spent all but one day this season, opposite the Tigers’ affiliate from Toledo. Instead his phone rang, and not 18 hours later Ortiz found himself in Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde’s office, on the receiving end of a pep talk, and an afternoon away from facing the defending World Series champs.

There, the Orioles’ skipper relayed how Ortiz fit into a pitching plan slapped together out of necessity. With Andrew Cashner unavailable to pitch because of a blister and their bullpen gassed, the Orioles had little choice but to summon Ortiz, whom Hyde encouraged to, “Be aggressive in the strike zone, let the defense play, attack these guys. Make the most of this opportunity.”

Only when speaking to reporters later did Hyde admit an uncomfortable truth.

“I have no idea what to expect,” he said.

It was with this as a backdrop that Baltimore headed into its third consecutive loss -- a 13-2 defeat during which it allowed six home runs to the Red Sox.

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The issue was a late decision because of Cashner, and it set off a storm of 11th-hour roster reshuffling. Several days after a hot spot emerged on his right middle finger during a start in Houston, Cashner threw a bullpen to gauge the severity of the issue. The session only dimmed the outlook for Cashner, who has also battled leg soreness and illness in recent days.

All of which made the club’s decision to allow Dylan Bundy, who would’ve been on regular rest Friday, to throw a strenuous bullpen on Wednesday something of a gamble. It proved costly when Hyde needed three relievers to finish Thursday’s 12-3 loss to Toronto, negating the preference to make Friday a bullpen day. It ended up being one anyway.

The parade began with Ortiz, who walked five and allowed four runs across 3 1/3 innings in his second MLB start. Trey Mancini’s solo home run in the first off Eduardo Rodriguez provided an early lead, which Ortiz promptly gave back via a Brock Holt two-run shot to begin the second. From there, Boston put on a derby that spared only Josh Rogers, who was recalled from Norfolk earlier in the day with Ortiz and ate up the final 4 1/3 innings.

“That was a tough one. It was tough to come back up here and not do so well,” said Ortiz, who was optioned back to Norfolk after the game. “Me facing them for the first time, they're really good. Real disciplined hitters.”

The outcome was largely decided by the time Rogers entered in the fifth, in relief of Dan Straily. Christian Vazquez homered off Ortiz in the fourth, before Straily surrendered four long balls of his own over 1 1/3 innings, the last a J.D. Martinez solo homer -- his second of the game -- that stretched Boston’s lead to 11-1. The outing ballooned Straily’s ERA to 9.13; he’s given up 19 home runs across 45 1/3 innings this season. His struggles continue to confound an Orioles club starving for reliable pitching depth.

“I didn’t want to bring Rogers in with guys on base, and was hoping Dan could get through the inning for Luis, and it just didn’t happen,” Hyde said. “Once the game kind of got out of hand, we needed him to kind of suck it up because I didn’t know how long Josh was going to be able to go, and that’s all we had left.

“We had very limited options tonight, honestly. We ran into some tough luck with Cashner getting the blister. I don’t know what else we could’ve done.”