Showalter explains why Britton didn't pitch in MLB loss

Omnisports

October 5, 2016 4:29 AM

Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter explained his decision not to pitch Zach Britton in his team's wildcard loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Showalter opted for Ubaldo Jimenez instead of Britton to pitch in the bottom of the 11th.

The result was an Edwin Encarnacion walk-off home run and a 5-2 loss to end the Orioles' season.

"He was fine, he was fine," Showalter told reporters, putting to sleep any possible injury concerns for Britton, who converted a perfect 47 of 47 save opportunities in the regular season.

"I considered a lot of things during the course of the game. Our guys did a good job getting set point. We just couldn’t finish it off.

"I like the job that Darren [O'Day] can do, I like the job that Brad [Brach] could do, I like the job that Mychal [Givens] could do, I like the job that [Brian] Duensing could do and it looked like it was one of those that was going to be more than one inning.

"Nobody's been pitching better for us that Ubaldo. There are a lot of different ways to look and it but that's the way we went and it didn't work out."

Seemingly, Showalter made a mistake by holding back a pitcher who allowed four earned runs all season for a save situation that never existed.

"There are a bunch of decisions to make over the course of a game and our pitchers pitched real well the whole game to hold that club to two runs at that point," Showalter said.

"Maybe it would have been a little different if we were playing at home - there are a lot of different ways to look at it."

Omnisports