Pivotal play at plate doesn't go O's way on night Baz goes distance

ARLINGTON -- Leody Taveras didn’t have an answer when asked if he successfully avoided a tag at the plate that would have resulted in the Orioles scoring the game-tying run in the ninth inning on Friday night at Globe Life Field.

“I didn’t see, honestly,” Taveras said. “I couldn’t tell if I was safe or not.”

Replay officials stood by home-plate umpire John Libka’s out call on the field. That was the pivotal play as the Orioles fell to the Rangers, 2-1, to open a three-game series against two teams in the thick of the playoff race.

Orioles manager Craig Albernaz remained baffled by the call at the plate afterward.

“I don’t know. I don’t understand how it stands, though,” Albernaz said. “It’s either confirmed or overturned, you know? There was pretty blatant evidence of where the glove was, and it’s either you have him tagging him or you don’t have him tagging him. The stands call to me was pretty frustrating because there’s enough cameras and there was a perfect view of the play to have it either confirmed or overturned. But the stands thing was really, really frustrating.”

To add to the frustration is the loss came on a night in which starter Shane Baz had his best stuff, throwing his first career complete game (in eight innings). Baz retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced and came within one strike of throwing an immaculate inning in the fifth.

Things turned in the sixth. Rangers catcher Elias Díaz reached on a check-swing roller to the right side that Baz couldn’t field. Two batters later, Rangers leadoff man Joc Pederson sent a first-pitch cutter up in the zone a Statcast-projected 414 feet over the right-field wall.

That gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead and ended Baz’s homerless streak that had reached 43 1/3 innings. The last long ball he had given up was June 23 to the Angels’ Nolan Schanuel. Baz entered with the third-longest active streak among MLB starters without allowing a homer, trailing only the Yankees’ Max Fried (46 IP) and the Marlins’ Eury Perez (41 1/3 IP).

But Baz wasn’t too frustrated with the home run.

“I’m probably going to replay that dribbler in my head all night. That’s more what I’m upset about,” Baz said, referring to Díaz's single. “It’s just one of those things where if I field that ball, it’s a tie game, then we have a lot better shot.”

Baz finished strong, retiring eight of the final nine batters he faced. He allowed two runs on three hits with one walk and tied a season-high with nine strikeouts over eight innings. He became the fourth MLB starter to shoulder a loss in a complete game this year, and the second to do it at Globe Life Field against the Rangers, joining the Mariners’ George Kirby on April 7.

But it looked like the Orioles might have had some late magic in the ninth when Taveras reached on an infield single to start the inning against Rangers closer Jacob Latz. Two batters later, Christian Franklin roped a one-out double down the right-field line for his first career hit.

Taveras was thinking of scoring from the moment it left the bat. But the Rangers’ relay from right fielder Brandon Nimmo to second baseman Nicky Lopez to Díaz at the plate beat Taveras. However, it appeared that Taveras may have avoided the tag by Díaz, but there wasn’t conclusive evidence showing so.

As Taveras said, it’s difficult to know if the glove or another body part is touching you in the heat of the moment.

“You don’t know exactly when those things happen like that so close,” he said.

Latz finished it off after that, striking out pinch-hitter Christian Encarnacion-Strand on four pitches.

It was a tough loss given the circumstances, especially with the Orioles trying to hang in the playoff race after being sellers at the Trade Deadline.

“It’s tough, a loss is a loss right now, especially against this team and where we’re at right now,” Albernaz said.