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Orioles offer another reminder of how bad they are at baseball in 10-5 loss to Guardians

Baltimore Orioles v Cleveland Guardians

Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images

They’re not good at hitting, and they’re not good at pitching, which makes them good at losing.

It’s hard to pick just one worst thing about the 2025 Orioles. Maybe the worst thing is the one you saw most recently. Bad pitching? Yeah, that’s it. An offense that goes dormant for whole chunks of game at a time? Actually, it’s that. There are times where the fielding and baserunning take their turns at the top. The results are all-too-frequent games of this sort, a 10-5 loss at the hands of the Guardians.

This was a mess. It did not start out that way. That’s what made the eventual descent into the plane of suck all the more frustrating. The Orioles offense stormed out of the gate hot against Guardians starter Tanner Bibee. Three batters into the game, they had three singles under their belts and a run on the board. Yay! Fun things! Later in the inning, Ramón Laureano delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0 Orioles.

We’ve seen this happen now and again this season and the question is often, can the Orioles continue to score runs after getting some early offense? The answer is almost as often, no, they can’t. As it ended up, four of the six hits that the Orioles got all game happened in that first inning. They had exactly one at-bat with a runner in scoring position for the remainder of the game.

That’s a lot of complaining about offense for a thing where I started off by saying the pitching was bad. Here’s how bad: That 3-0 lead? Orioles starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano flushed that lead away before even managing to record an out. Sugano walked the first batter of the game, gave up a single to the second, and a three-run home run to the third. It’s not much consolation that it was probable future Hall of Famer José Ramírez that hit the home run.

The second inning saw the Guardians load the bases with no one out. Sugano managed to escape this without allowing any further damage, preserving a 3-3 tie. It cost him a lot of pitches and virtually guaranteed an early exit from the game regardless of how well he went on to pitch later, but at least it was something.

Laureano helped the Orioles take the lead back. Following on the heels of a two-out error in catching a thrown ground ball that let Ryan O’Hearn onto first base, Laureano blasted a home run far back into the left field seats to put the Orioles up, 5-3. Scoring five runs is good. You should win when you score five runs! Even these jokers often do. Just, not tonight.

Sugano, ultimately, was unable to complete even the fourth inning. His defense didn’t help him, with O’Hearn botching a hard ground ball. The Guardians kept the line moving with two outs, with a walk pushing a runner into scoring position before Carlos Santana drove in the fourth Cleveland run. The Orioles decided that was enough for Sugano, who got the hook after throwing 90 pitches across just 3.2 innings. How do you give up six hits and four walks in only 3.2 innings? Very carefully.

Not many good things are going to happen when you have to turn to the likes of Corbin Martin in the fourth inning, and his low-leverage compatriots for innings after that. So it went on Monday night. Good things did not happen. One of the regular occurrences for these 2025 Orioles is getting worked over by the bottom of batting orders.

In this case, catcher Bo Naylor batted ninth and he hit a game-tying home run off Martin in the fifth inning. There was nearly a disaster starting there, as Martin walked the next batter and then hit a guy. Colin Selby relieved Martin and ended the threat, at least for the time being.

There was no fight left in the Orioles offense at this point. From the time the Guardians tied the game at 5-5, no Oriole reached base safely for the remainder of the game. You know Bibee, who gave up the three runs in the first inning? Yeah, he ended up pitching seven innings, and since two of the runs against him were unearned, it counted as a quality start. He allowed six hits and no walks. There was just no reason for this to happen. Except for this: The Orioles offense isn’t as good as it was supposed to be.

Selby did not waste any more time ending up on the list of pitchers who annoy us. He served up a dinger to Kyle Manzardo - the 16th of the season - to lead off the sixth. This gave Cleveland a 6-5 lead. They needed no more runs. They got several more, because with Martin and Selby having failed, that turned it into Grant Wolfram time. There was one time this wasn’t bad. Then his inherent Wolfram-ness set in. In the seventh inning, Wolfram loaded the bases with nobody out. All three of those guys ended up scoring, plus one more. I don’t even want to talk about it.

In all, the Guardians had 14 hits and drew eight walks. The Orioles had six hits and drew zero walks. They committed two errors. It’s hard to win like that. And indeed, they didn’t win. If they pitch like this tomorrow, they probably won’t win then either. Or if they hit like they did beyond the third inning today, that will probably also not lead to a win. There are so many more problems than they could possibly fix by trading a few rental guys away between now and July 31. If you have no confidence in Mike Elias sorting this mess out, I don’t blame you.

The series resumes on Tuesday evening with a scheduled 6:40 start time. Brandon Young and Joey Cantillo are the scheduled starting pitchers. Maybe the Orioles will end up playing the Guardians into being sellers.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/21/24471910/mlb-scores-orioles-guardians-game-recap
 
The potential trade market for Cedric Mullins

Miami Marlins v Baltimore Orioles

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

There are a lot of contenders whose center field situations are a real mess.

As of today, the trade deadline is nine days away. The path that the Orioles are to take has been made clear by the totality of their play over the 2025 season. GM Mike Elias acknowledged in his typical wordy way that the team is heading towards being sellers ahead of this deadline in a radio interview over the weekend. All that remains to figure out is who, exactly, will be sold off, and what the Orioles will get back for these players.

Over the course of this week, I’m looking at one Oriole who’s likely to be traded and teams who are probably going to be in the market for somebody at that player’s position. Yesterday, I started with Ryan O’Hearn. Today, it’s Cedric Mullins.

Back in April, as Mullins was putting together one of the best months of offense of his career and looking like he might threaten to fire off another 30 home run/30 stolen base season, “everyone” was demanding a contract extension for the longest-tenured Oriole. It would have felt good at that time.

Unfortunately for Mullins’s earning potential, since May 1, he’s batted .187/.234/.348 across 54 games, with a short injured list stint mixed in there. He’s now in the negatives in bWAR, though fWAR is more generous at a 0.8. Either way, this makes it tough to contemplate him netting a bonanza of valuable prospects some time between now and July 31.

Teams don’t care that we all have tons of good memories of Mullins, that he is an important part of the team, or any of that. Elias doesn’t care about any of that either. Whether he ought to is a topic for another day. The value that other teams think Mullins will produce relative to what they have now is what will set the market. The 2025 standings are what have set the Orioles on the seller’s path.

There is some good news about this. There are a number of contenders whose center field situations are in dire shape, so much so that even a slumping Mullins probably seems like a better bet than sticking with what they’ve got. Projection systems like ZiPS think that Mullins will finish off the rest of the season at right around his current batting numbers: .235/.307/.404, with another seven homers to come.

That’s not going to be worth anybody’s #1 prospect or probably even anybody from any team’s top 10, but the Orioles ought to be able to get something from one of these teams.

Mets​


Of any team that is either in a playoff spot now or within three games of one, no team has gotten worse batting from its center fielders than the Metropolitans. Their CF combined batting line going into Monday’s games: .220/.282/.326. Yowza. The bulk of that damage is being done by Tyrone Taylor, who brought a .572 OPS into Monday. Taylor is grading out better than Mullins in Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric, but not that much better.

The Mets aren’t deeply invested in Taylor here. He’s a 31-year-old in his second year of arbitration. He was fine last year when he was hitting about league average and now the bat has collapsed. Do something to get better, Mets! If Mullins had continued on his April pace, the Orioles might even be able to demand a really good prospect in New York’s Triple-A rotation, of which they have a couple. That’s not where we are. Uneducated guess: Whoever Mike Elias likes better of Blade Tidwell and Jonathan Santucci.

Cardinals​


St. Louis appeared in yesterday’s O’Hearn article for 1B/DH messes and they’ve got center field hitting problems too, particularly in the power department. They’ve got some of the weakest hitting (just a .075 isolated slugging) and some of the worst strikeout rates (27.5%) of any team’s CF mix.

Most of that is Victor Scott II, who is slugging just .330 on the season. Pretty bad! Scott is scoring very well on defensive numbers, however, so even with that poor hitting, he’s generated 1.8 fWAR and 1.7 bWAR. This is probably not the best match there is for Mullins.

Phillies​


Philadelphia is splitting its center field playing time between Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas, and this is what it is getting from its CF spot in the lineup: .237/.299/.321. Even worse than what I just said with the Cardinals, Phillies CFs have only hit three home runs on the season, and unlike Scott, Marsh rates quite poorly on defense. With bad defenders in the corners in the form of Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler, they need something better from their center fielder.

Shuffling Marsh aside for Mullins is probably easier said than done for the Phillies. He was a good player the past two seasons, putting up 3+ WAR per year, and he’s only 27. If they want to hold on to their NL East lead, they need to do something about this. Aim for Jean Cabrera, probably settle for Alex McFarlane.

Tigers​


It’s funny to find the Tigers on this list since Javier Báez was the starting center fielder for the American League in the All-Star Game, but that’s not actually where Detroit wants him to be. Báez hasn’t played center field since June 4. They’ve got him back on the infield dirt. Prospect Parker Meadows is now playing CF instead, and although he put up 2.2 bWAR in 82 games a year ago, he’s not following that up this year, batting to a pathetic .535 OPS over 33 games.

Also getting some center field time lately is Matt Vierling, who over an even smaller sample of 16 games is batting even worse. The 2023 Orioles are a good example that no matter how good you are - and the Tigers are 60-40 through 100 games - there are always weaknesses you can shore up to help your chances of winning a postseason series. Of course, they might decide they need to improve center field and that Mullins isn’t hitting well enough to help them.

Rays​


The Rays are not getting very good offense season-long from their center fielders. However, much of that struggle is Kameron Misner, who is no longer the everyday CF. The pesky Chandler Simpson, who tormented the Orioles this year, is getting the lion’s share of chances.

Players who are batting over .300 are not likely to continue doing this if they can’t threaten to hit the ball hard (Simpson’s slugging just .354) but this team is not likely to shuffle Simpson to the side for Mullins. I certainly wouldn’t. Simpson is basically what Orioles fans are hoping that prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. can be.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/22/24471571/mlb-trade-deadline-orioles-cedric-mullins
 
Orioles continue to fail at everything, lose again to Guardians, 6-3

MLB: Baltimore Orioles at Cleveland Guardians

David Richard-Imagn Images

The O’s are now 12 games under .500 as they hit the 100-game mark.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Orioles lost a game because they were bad at all aspects of baseball.

The Guardians steamrolled the O’s again, 6-3, in a game that perfectly encapsulated everything that’s gone wrong for the Birds this year. Let’s run down the checklist, shall we?

1. Lousy starting pitching — CHECK

Brandon Young entered tonight’s game with no wins and no quality starts in his six major league outings. He’d gone five innings in only one of them. Would this be the night he finally made it through the fifth again?

No, dear readers, it would not. Yet again Young fell short of five, managing just 4.1 innings, in which he gave up three runs. The first came on a solo homer by José Ramírez, which is certainly forgivable. That guy’s pretty good. Less forgivable was Young walking the No. 9 hitter, .170-hitting Bo Naylor, to lead off the fifth, with Naylor later scoring on a sac fly. In between, Kyle Manzardo delivered an RBI single in the third.

After this game, Young’s ERA sits at 7.34. And there’s a chance he’ll be, like, the Orioles’ #3 starter after the trade deadline. Get excited!

2. Awful relief work — CHECK

The sixth inning was a big ol’ struggle-fest for O’s southpaw Gregory Soto, a possible trade candidate who did his best to destroy any of his value. Soto labored for 33 pitches and just 14 of them were strikes. (In fairness, if he hadn’t been squeezed by home plate ump Tony Randazzo, his ball-strike ratio would have been...well, still really bad.) Soto issued three walks in the inning along with RBI singles by Brayan Rocchio and Angel Martínez. And also a wild pitch. And also an uncontested stolen base.

Remember, folks: Mike Elias traded two pitching prospects for Soto at last year’s deadline. He’d be lucky to recoup a fraction of that value if he deals Soto this time around.

Yennier Cano, too, surrendered a run in the seventh, giving up a walk, a single, and a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Rocchio. You’d never know the Guardians were the worst-hitting team in the league based on how they’ve throttled Orioles pitching in this series.

3. Terrible hitting — CHECK

The Orioles’ offense was Guardians starter Joey Cantillo, a lefty who’d worked almost exclusively in relief this year. So did the O’s make this barely-stretched-out, unremarkable lefty look like the second coming of Sandy Koufax? Yes, of course they did. Cantillo mowed through four hitless innings to start this evening, striking out five.

It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the O’s put together a rally, thanks to a pair of hits and a walk that loaded the bases with nobody out. Of course, being the Orioles, they biffed the golden opportunity and came away with just one run, which scored on a Jacob Stallings double play grounder. Cantillo ended up with five strong innings and his first win as a starter since last September.

One exception to the Orioles’ otherwise dreary offensive showing was Coby Mayo, making only his fourth start this month, who put together a slew of patient plate appearances and worked three walks and a single. It’s criminal that the O’s haven’t given this guy more playing time, as he’s showing the most professional at-bats of anyone on the team. And yet there’s a decent chance Mayo will be riding the bench again tomorrow. Make it make sense.

A hat tip also to Ramón Laureano, who homered, and Jackson Holliday, who contributed an RBI single. I would also applaud Ramón Urías for his two hits except that he foolishly got himself thrown out at second on a shot off the left-field wall in the seventh. Bleh. By the time All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase set down the Orioles easily in the ninth, there was little fight left in this O’s team.

**

Just another across-the-board terrible performance by the Orioles, which is becoming a near-daily ritual. There’s almost nothing else we can even say about them at this point. But I’m recapping this sorry lot again tomorrow, so I guess I’ll have to think of something.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/22/24472731/orioles-guardians-game-recap
 
Thursday afternoon Orioles game thread: 1:10 ET, at Guardians

MLB: Game One-New York Mets at Baltimore Orioles

Charlie Morton, rumored to be on the trade block, and an Orioles catcher I can’t name with certainty. | Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

The Orioles play one more at Progressive Field before heading home to welcome the worst team in baseball.

OK, this has been quite enough baseball against good teams—Baltimore just went 2-6 against Tampa, Miami (ish), Cleveland—and I’m ready to beat up on a bad team now. After today’s game, Cleveland is off to face the underperforming Royals, while the Orioles welcome to Oriole Park the worst team in the league in Colorado.

But before we get to that, we still have one more game against the Guardians. The season series ends today (Cleveland has unsurprisingly won it, with 4-2 advantage) with a 1:10 afternoon game to allow both teams to hit the road.

The Orioles can’t win the series but they can salvage their dignity (?) with a win over Cleveland and left-hander Logan Allen (6-8, 4.06 ERA). The onetime Orioles draftee debuted in 2023, posting a 3.81 ERA and 112 ERA+ in 24 games. He regressed in 2024 (5.73 ERA, 71 ERA+), and is splitting the difference now with a 102 ERA+. Allen did pitch well against the Orioles earlier this season, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings in a Cleveland win.

If rumors are to be believed, this could be Charlie Morton’s last start in the black and orange (unless he gets traded to the Giants, harhar). Morton infamously started his season with an April ERA north of nine, but got that mark down to 2.88 in five starts in June. He’s been a bit wobblier in July, with a seven-run clunker against Tampa Bay last week. His potential trade value could fluctuate depending on whether that clunker was an outlier or not.

Orioles lineup

Jackson Holliday 2B
Jordan Westburg DH
Gunnar Henderson SS
Ramón Laureano LF
Tyler O’Neill RF
Ramón Urías 3B
Coby Mayo 1B
Dylan Carlson CF
Alex Jackson C

RHP Charlie Morton

Guardians lineup

Steven Kwan LF
Angel Martínez CF
José Ramírez DH
Kyle Manzardo 1B
Nolan Jones RF
Daniel Schneeman 2B
Will Wilson 3B
Brayan Rocchio SS
Austin Hedges C

LHP Logan T. Allen

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/2...noon-orioles-game-thread-1-10-et-at-guardians
 
Charlie Morton’s clutch 6 2⁄3 innings help lead a 4-3 win in Cleveland

Baltimore Orioles v Cleveland Guardians

Ramón Urías makes the final out of the game to help Gregory Soto seal up a save and a 4-3 win in Cleveland. | Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images

The Orioles finally took one at Progressive Field behind a solid Morton, a two-run Ramón Laureano homer, and a clutch hit by Gunnar Henderson.

This was a very efficient ballgame. That’s not the sexiest word to use about a baseball game, but here it’s true. The starters gave up three runs each, the O’s went up 4-3 on a Gunnar Henderson seventh-inning single (off a lefty!), and the lead held! The Birds avoided a sweep and ended the season series with Cleveland, all in a tidy two hours and thirty-seven minutes.

Today, I confess that I was watching to see if I could detect signs that veteran starter Charlie Morton is trying to pitch himself off the team and get flipped to a contender, but the evidence is mixed. Morton allowed three runs over 6 2/3 innings, which isn’t wow in the box score, but two were on solo home runs by lefty Steven Kwan, the other on a pair of singles, a walk, and a sac fly to the top of the order. When it came to Cleveland’s No. 4-9 hitters, Morton held them 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts. He also threw a season-high 107 pitches. What a pro.

As for the Orioles, facing more of their Kryptonite—an unremarkable lefty starter—in Cleveland’s Logan Allen, they kicked off the scoring early, then settled into a deep slumber for six innings.

The good part—a three-run rally in the first inning—goes like this: Jordan Westburg, getting a rare start as the leadoff hitter (why not?—whatever works against a southpaw), reached on an infield single. With Ramón Laureano at the plate, Westy executed a hit-and-run, taking off speedily for second—but he didn’t need to. Laureano cranked his 14th home run of the season, tying Jackson Holliday for the team lead.


The Orioles added a run when Tyler O’Neill singled (welcome back to the fight, Mr. Canada) and Ramón Urías hit an RBI double that scored him. No disrespect to Mr. Reliable, but this was a blown play by Cleveland centerfielder Angel Martínez, who broke in and then watched Urías’s drive sail over his head. All good, we’ll take the runs.

Then, as we’ve seen too many times, the offense went into a slumber, with just two hits off Allen between the second and seventh innings (a pair of singles by O’Neill, 2-for-4 today, and Henderson). Urías missed a home run by a foot. If you asked the broadcasting booth’s Dave Johnson, an overly wide strike zone by home plate ump Phil Cuzzi was partly to blame (“He’s having a bad day out there,” said Johnson of the man in black). But them’s the breaks!

Meanwhile, against the O’s Morton, Cleveland clawed back to a tie in the third and fifth innings. Morton hung a curveball that Steven Kwan mashed into the bleachers, a ball Morton didn’t even bother to turn around to watch. Then he allowed two straight singles and a walk, earning a mound visit. But with the bases loaded and one out, Morton limited the damage. One fly ball sailed to the warning track, dazzling Laureano in the sun, but the O’s talented outfielder twisted around his body and made the off-balance catch. Cleveland cut the gap to 3-2 on that sac fly. But a shallow fly ball was tracked down by O’Neill with no problem, and the inning was over.

Morton erased the side swinging in the fourth, all on curveballs: third baseman Will Wilson fanned on a big one dropping out of the zone, shortstop Brayan Rocchio swung over another low-and-away, and catcher Austin Hedges got caught staring at a third. It was ice-cold by the 41-year-old Morton.

Then, just as the booth was commenting how Steven Kwan has hit Morton well in his past, the outfielder took Morton deep for a second time today, and we had ourselves a tie ballgame in the fifth.

Now, I don’t know how much you know about Alex Jackson, the sixth man to don the catcher’s mask for the Orioles given a rash of injuries, but the backup backstop came through today on both sides of the plate. In the sixth, Jackson did his pitcher a huge solid by throwing out Ramírez in a timely strike-‘em’-out, throw-‘em-out double play. Then he doubled in the seventh inning to drive the starter Allen from the game and kick-start a rally.

After Jackson’s double, Cleveland put in another lefty, Erik Sabrowski. Sabrowski walked Westburg, giving himself a lefty-lefty matchup in Gunnar Henderson. Earlier today, the MASN broadcast booth had talked about Henderson being frustrated at the plate lately, but I admit, I didn’t see anything wrong with him! In a big two-out situation, Gunnar came through, breaking the 3-3 tie with an RBI single.

With closer Félix Bautista on the shelf with a sore shoulder (everyone please crack open your Jobu shrines and feed him some rum), we needed the backend bullpen to step up. And today, it did. With two on, two out, Seranthony Domínguez rung up the 39-year-old Carlos Santana, pinch-hitting in the No. 7 spot, on a diving monstrosity of a pitch. (Poor Jacob Stallings, now behind the plate. I’d hate to catch Domínguez. But it was a great inning for him!)

Then the notoriously unreliable Gregory Soto had himself the ninth inning. Well, the notoriously unreliable Soto earned himself a save today, his first (!) of the season. Soto struck out Brayan Rocchio and pinch-hitter David Fry, then allowed an infield ground ball to Steven Kwan that trickled over to third base. Urías picked it, fired all the way across the diamond from foul territory, and just beat the speedy Kwan. His defense is so solid.

Kudos are deserved by several Orioles today. Charlie Morton played the series stopper with a gritty 6 2/3 innings. Gunnar Henderson reached base three times against a trio of lefties and drove in the winning run. Ramón Laureano hit a two-run homer. Ramón Urías hit an RBI double and played great defense. Unsung catcher Alex Jackson doubled to start the winning rally and threw out a basestealer, and Gregory Soto earned his first season save. (Most Birdland Player voters, you have your work cut out for you.)

This team still hasn’t figured out the art of winning baseball this season, but every now and then, they deliver a gem like this. You love to see it.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/2...-2-3-innings-help-lead-a-4-3-win-in-cleveland
 
Orioles minor league recap 7/26: Basallo goes 5-for-5 in Norfolk loss

Baltimore Orioles v Pittsburgh Pirates

Photo by George Kubas/Diamond Images via Getty Images

After missing 12 days, the O’s #1 prospect returned with a vengeance.

Triple-A: Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies) 7, Norfolk Tides 6​


Adley Rutschman was rehabbing, but it was a different catcher who stole the show as #1 prospect Samuel Basallo was an incredible 5-for-5. Playing first base in this game, Basallo smashed his 20th homer, doubled twice, and singled twice. This was Basallo’s first game in 12 days due to the All-Star break and then an oblique injury. I’d say he’s feeling good! His Triple-A OPS is up to 1.019. It’s going to be tough for the Orioles to keep him in the minors much longer.

As for Rutschman, he went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts at the plate, and had some trouble behind it. The IronPigs stole four bases against him without being caught, including one by the opposing catcher, Garrett Stubbs. It’s hard to say how much of that was Adley’s fault, as minor league pitchers probably aren’t the best at holding runners. Dylan Beavers drew three walks from the leadoff spot. Heston Kjerstad was 0-for-5.

The Tides put up a good offensive showing against Phillies #6 prospect Mick Abel, scoring five runs against him, including a Vimael Machín three-run homer. Norfolk led this game 5-1 at one point, and carried a one-run lead into the eighth, but the IronPigs scored two runs off Levi Stoudt in their last at-bat to steal away the win. Preston Johnson struggled in relief, giving up four runs in 1.1 innings. Nate Webb and Elvin Rodríguez each worked 1.2 scoreless frames.

Box score

Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 7, Altoona Curve (Pirates) 0​


Have yourself a day, Trey Gibson! The right-handed prospect pitched a brilliant game for the Baysox, working seven shutout innings in which he allowed only two hits, didn’t walk anyone, and struck out eight. Simply brilliant. Gibson lowered his ERA to 1.96 in eight starts at Double-A. Lefty Riley Cooper finished the combined shutout with two hitless innings.

The Baysox bats gave their pitchers plenty of run support, pounding out 13 hits and going 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Not bad for a lineup where five of the nine hitters are batting under the Mendoza line. Three Baysox — Reed Trimble, Cole Urman, and Luis Valdez — collected three hits apiece, including a double for each of them (and two for Urman). Trimble finished a home run shy of the cycle and also drove in three.

Box score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 15, Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox) 12​


Yes, you read that score correctly. The two teams combined for 27 runs and 26 hits in a blistering slugfest, a rarity for High-A baseball. The IronBirds pulled off the unusual feat of scoring at least one run in every inning, while the Dash compartmentalized their scoring into just two innings — six runs apiece in the seventh and the ninth. Aberdeen led this game 11-0 at one point and had to hold on for dear life as Winston-Salem brought the tying run on deck in the ninth.

As you can imagine, quite a few IronBirds hitters had a great night. Ethan Anderson led the team with four hits (all singles) and drove in three. Aron Estrada and Thomas Sosa each went 3-for-4, including a triple for Estrada and two doubles for Sosa. The IronBirds, in addition to their 14 hits, also drew 13 walks. Griff O’Ferrall and a rehabbing Jud Fabian each had three.

It was a less successful game for Aberdeen’s pitching staff. Two hurlers, Ty Weatherly and Devin Kirby, combined to give up 11 of the 12 runs. But starter Juan Rojas looked good, tossing five scoreless innings.

Box score

Low-A: Lynchburg Hillcats (Guardians) 5, Delmarva Shorebirds 2​


The Shorebirds offense couldn’t get much going in this one, other than a two-hit night from Nate George. Catcher Yasmil Bucce chipped in with a sac fly, but he had to leave the game with an injury in the top of the seventh. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious for Bucce, who’s been having a breakout campaign for Delmarva.

The Shorebirds alternated between effective and ineffective pitchers on this night. Their first and third pitchers, Carson Dorsey and Randy Berigüete, gave up all five runs and issued five walks. But their second and fourth pitchers, Joe Glassey and Adrián Delgado, each worked two scoreless innings of relief, with no walks and two strikeouts apiece.

Box score

Saturday’s scheduled games​

  • Norfolk: at Lehigh Valley, 6:35 PM. Starter: Roansy Contreras (6-2, 4.19)
  • Chesapeake: at Altoona, 6:30 PM. Starter: Nestor German (3-4, 4.50)
  • Aberdeen: vs. Winston-Salem, 7:05 PM. Starter: Luis De León (1-3, 4.54)
  • Delmarva: vs. Lynchburg, 7:05 PM. Starter: Chase Allsup (1-10, 6.37)

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/26/24474713/orioles-minors-prospects-samuel-basallo
 
Sunday afternoon Orioles game thread: vs Rockies, 1:35

MLB: Colorado Rockies at Baltimore Orioles

Lexi Thompson-Imagn Images

The Orioles look to build on one of their most dominant wins in recent memory.

The Orioles took care of business last night, but it only counts as one win. Baltimore needs another victory over the Rockies this afternoon to secure the weekend series.

Hopefully they won’t need 18, but the Birds will need to score some runs with Tomoyuki Sugano set to start. Sugano has regressed after a successful first two months in a Baltimore uniform. The 35-year-old rookie has one more audition to motivate a contending club to make a play before the trade deadline later this week.

Baltimore should be able to build on a dominant offensive performance with Austin Comber on the hill for the Rockies. Gomber is 0-4 with a 6.03 ERA.

The Orioles will need to do it without Jackson Holliday. Jordan Westburg—back in the lineup after taking a pitch off the hand—will play second base, with Ramón Urías taking third. Coby Mayo will start at first base against the left-hander Gomber, and Gunnar Henderson will round out the infield at short.

Tyler O’Neill will attempt to continue his recent power surge as the designated hitter. Dylan Carlson, Cedric Mullins, and Ramón Laureano will makeup the outfield from left to right.

Alex Jackson—fresh off a Happy Gilmore homer—will catch Sugano.

Orioles lineup

  1. Jordan Westburg 2B
  2. Ramón Laureano RF
  3. Gunnar Henderson SS
  4. Tyler O’Neill DH
  5. Ramón Urías 3B
  6. Cedric Mullins CF
  7. Coby Mayo 1B
  8. Dylan Carlson LF
  9. Alex Jackson C

Starter: RHP Tomoyuki Sugano

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/27/24475384/orioles-rockies-game-thread
 
Sugano goes six strong, O’Neill homers again in Orioles 5-1 win over Rockies

Colorado Rockies v Baltimore Orioles

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Tomoyuki Sugano fired six innings of one-run ball, and Tyler O’Neill homered in his third consecutive game during a 5-1 win over the Rockies.

The Orioles failed to match the dominance of Saturday’s 18-0 win, but Baltimore played solid baseball again today. Tomoyuki Sugano tossed six innings of one-run ball, Tyler O’Neill homered in his third consecutive game, and the Orioles took the series with a 5-1 win at Camden Yards.

Baltimore quickly erased a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the second. Cedric Mullins took a one-out walk, and Coby Mayo followed with a double off the left-field wall. Dylan Carlson made the most of a Sunday start by slapping a base hit to left field. Buck Britton continued his aggressive antics as the third base coach, and both runners scored on the solid piece of hitting.

The Birds doubled their lead one inning later. Henderson muscled a single to right field before stealing second, and Tyler O’Neill followed with another big blast. O’Neill homered in his third consecutive game—this one a 433 blast over everything in left field—to provide Baltimore a 4-1 advantage.

Baltimore’s bats went relatively silent after that, but Colorado never got going at the dish.

The Rockies had struck first on Sugano’s only mistake of the day. Sugano left an 0-1 cutter over the heart of the zone, and 23-year-old rookie Warming Bernabel smacked the first home run of his major league career. The big fly proved to be an outlier on the day.

Sugano retired the final two batters of the inning before facing the minimum in the third and the fourth. He stranded runners on the corners with a strikeout to end the fifth, and he added two more K’s in a clean sixth inning.

The 35-year-old tied his MLB high with 8 strikeouts over six frames. He allowed four hits, one run, and threw 63 of 91 pitches for strikes.

Nothing is guaranteed for the Japanese hurler beyond today. Sugano does not profile as any club’s Plan A in the postseason, but the rookie could eat some innings for a contending team in need of pitching depth over the final two months.

It’s unclear whether Sugano will continue his MLB career beyond this season. He would likely relish the opportunity to pitch for a playoff team. Sugano probably envisioned the Orioles chasing a World Series when he signed a one-year, $13 million deal in the offseason, but the dream never materialized for Sugano or the O’s. Regardless, he did his part in what may or may not be his final start in an Oriole uniform.

The Orioles were trending toward a save situation before tacking on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Ramón Laureano got things started with a single, and Henderson punched a ball to the right side. Henderson sprinted to first to avoid a double play, and he jogged to second when the throw skipped out of play.

Colorado reliever Jaden Hill followed with a wild pitch, and Hill failed to step toward home as the ball skipped by. Henderson broke for third and did not stop. The shortstop rounded third and dove home for Baltimore’s fifth run of the day.

Henderson paired his hustle play with a pair of web gems in the field. He finished 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. The team may be trending in the wrong direction, but Henderson’s approach remains full throttle.

Yennier Cano, Andrew Kittredge, and Seranthony Domínguez all posted zeros out of the bullpen, and the Birds secured the 5-1 win.

The Orioles moved to 47-58 on the season. That’s not good, but it’s not Colorado’s 27-78 either. Adley Rutschman and Keegan Akin are set to return as the Birds kick off four games in three days against the Blue Jays.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/2...s-game-recap-tomoyuki-sugano-gunnar-henderson
 
Monday night game thread: vs. Blue Jays, 6:35 pm

MLB: Baltimore Orioles at Athletics

Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

Guess who’s back? That’s right, Keegan Akin!

If you were missing Adley Rutschman, I have some good news for you: he’s back! Rutschman has had a disappointing season, but was putting together a very nice month of June when he had to go on the injured list. It would be a really nice end-of-season story if he can stay in the form he was in from June 1st through 19th, when he hit .309/.381/.509 in 63 plate appearances.

I do question his immediate return to the cleanup spot, but maybe I’ll be proven wrong. He splits the lefties of Gunnar Henderson and Ryan O’Hearn. I’m always happy to see Coby Mayo in the lineup and hope the Orioles are timing Ryan Mountcastle’s return to the team with the trade of Ryan O’Hearn, so that a spot remains for Mayo on most nights.

The Orioles are facing Chris Bassitt, whose 3.88 ERA and 1.301 WHIP aren’t super impressive. But a lot of that is coming out of one bad start against the Red Sox when he gave up eight runs in just two innings at the end of June. He has mostly been very solid. Bassitt faced the Orioles back on March 20th and pitched six innings with one run allowed. Let’s hope he’s worse tonight.

Zach Eflin is pitching for the Orioles. He had a cromulent return from the IL last week against the Guardians with five innings and two runs. I hope for more tonight as he either builds a case for extension or value for trade. I’m team extension, weirdly.

The Blue Jays are really good. I know, I hate it too. At least if the Orioles win I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Orioles lineup

  1. Jackson Holliday (L) 2B
  2. Jordan Westburg (R) 3B
  3. Gunnar Henderson (L) SS
  4. Adley Rutschman (S) C
  5. Ryan O’Hearn (L) DH
  6. Ramón Laureano (R) RF
  7. Colton Cowser (L) LF
  8. Cedric Mullins (L) CF
  9. Coby Mayo (R) 1B

Blue Jays lineup

TBD

Let’s go O’s!

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/7/28/24476212/orioles-blue-jays-monday-lineups-game-thread
 
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