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[Baltimore Orioles]

Charlie Morton sets Orioles old guy strikeout record, O’s lose 8-4 anyway

Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

The part where Morton struck out ten batters was fun. Every other part of his outing was not fun.

One week into the 2025 Orioles season, a clear pattern is starting to emerge. When they score a bunch of runs, they win. If they do anything other than score a bunch of runs, they lose. Thursday afternoon, they played another “don’t score a bunch of runs” game against the Red Sox and the result was that they lost, 8-4, falling below a .500 record for the first time since April 9, 2023.

It is still just seven games into the season. Panic overreaction is not going to solve any problems. The first seven games have, nonetheless, reinforced anyone’s feeling who was anxious about the starting rotation. No one other than Zach Eflin has pitched a good game yet.

On Thursday, Charlie Morton got his second chance of the season to show something good. In a way, he did show something good. Morton struck out ten batters in five innings. This is, according to stats queen Sarah Langs, an Orioles franchise record for a 41-year-old, and one of just eight times this feat has happened for 41+ year old pitchers in the last 20 years.

Unfortunately for Morton, there was everything else to talk about with his start. His first inning started heading south with a one-out walk to Rafael Devers. None of the called balls were anywhere particularly close to the strike zone. He could not command the fastball. The next batter, Alex Bregman, ambushed the first pitch he saw, a middle-middle hanger that was blasted out into the left field seats. The Orioles trailed, 2-0. They trailed the rest of the game.

In the bottom of the first, Cedric Mullins, batting leadoff for the first time since the end of the 2023 season, started things off awesomely, hitting his third homer of the year. Adley Rutschman followed with a single. Hey, a rally! That could be fun. Except, it wasn’t. Jordan Westburg grounded into a double play and immediately erased Rutschman.

This, too, is part of the early 2025 Orioles story. A year ago, they set an MLB record with the fewest double plays that any team has ever grounded into, just 71 over a 162 game season. They added two more to their tally today to give them seven in seven games for 2025. The luck is not holding.

The bad version of Morton showed up again for the second inning. That inning’s leadoff hitter, Wilyer Abreu, drew a walk, then recently-enriched second baseman Kristian Campbell smoked a curveball that caught too much plate and launched it into the territory that would not have been a home run in 2024 but now is again a home run in 2025.

That’s yet another early 2025 thing. One series in, Walltimore 2.0 has not helped any Orioles batter. The Red Sox hit three “not in 2024” home runs in as many games. There is budding potential for grim comedy in this bit.

Morton ultimately made it through five innings. The Sox scored a fifth run off of him by loading the bases with three singles and cashing in with a sacrifice fly. Added to Morton’s ten strikeouts over five innings: Six hits, two walks, five runs (all earned). There are days where a pitcher can allow seven runners in five innings and have a good game. Morton did not. The only good thing to be said about him is he lowered his ERA from 10.80 to 9.72.

The Orioles offense was not asleep entirely. They added a run in the third inning as Mullins started a two-out rally with a walk and eventually scored with Westburg driving him home. Heston Kjerstad and Ramón Urías combined to get another run across in the fourth. At this point, the O’s trailed, 5-3. You’d rather be ahead than behind by that margin, but still, you are in the game. What’s more, the O’s chased Sox starter Tanner Houck after just four innings. They’d have their chances against the bullpen.

Regrettably for the Orioles, they didn’t do anything with that chance. Three straight Boston relievers pitched a scoreless inning. The O’s bullpen did not match the zeroes. Keegan Akin, summoned for a lefty stretch of lineup in the seventh, gave up a double to Bregman and then a home run to Triston Casas. This was the second “wouldn’t have been a homer in 2025” dinger hit by the Sox in the game. Sheesh.

Overall, the Orioles offense had eight hits and three walks. That’s not the best, but there are plenty of games where a team with those numbers can win. They are just games with better pitching or with better luck clustering the offense. The O’s aren’t getting the pitching and they aren’t getting the luck so far in 2025. It remains to be seen whether they will ever get those things and what the team will look like if they don’t.

Gunnar Henderson is expected to make his return tomorrow as the Orioles open a series in Kansas City. That should be a good step towards having some more fun games on offense, If the pitching staff does not start fixing itself in April, that will not be so fun.

Dean Kremer will get a chance to make a better second 2025 impression than first as he starts against the Royals at 7:40pm Eastern on Friday. Seth Lugo, the 2024 runner-up for AL Cy Young, makes the start for KC. Lugo’s first start of the year was not very good, with him allowing three runs in five innings. Shoot, only three runs? We’d take that in a heartbeat. The Royals offense has a .625 OPS so far this season. Kremer needs to be the first to take advantage.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/3/24400627/mlb-scores-orioles-red-sox-game-recap-charlie-morton

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Double-A Chesapeake has a new name and a number of familiar faces from last year

Photo by Kelly Gavin/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Enrique Bradfield Jr. spent the last month of 2024 in Double-A and he’s back for more.

The hardest thing to get used to in the Orioles farm system this season for me is that the Double-A affiliate Bowie Baysox have rebranded themselves as the Chesapeake Baysox to have more connection to the greater region. They still play in Bowie. It’s just that now they’re calling themselves Chesapeake. I’m sorry in advance for any time I forget and do the old name out of habit this season.

The freshly-minded Chesapeake club received some viral fame for an alternate uniform design for the “Chesapeake Oyster Catchers.” The design spread far and wide along with some juvenile chuckling over a resemblance to part of a woman’s anatomy. The team is donating part of the proceeds to a cervical cancer charity. It was a good way to capitalize on the laughs.

A year ago, the Bowie team played to a 62-75 record. Prospects Samuel Basallo, Dylan Beavers, and Jud Fabian all spending most of the year here and hitting fairly well was not enough to help the offense overall, and even though the pitching staff was fourth-best in the Eastern League by ERA, the team as a whole just couldn’t get much going.

There’s been a lot of turnover among the hitters since the start of last season. Just three of the nine guys who played the most with last year’s Baysox are still around. It’s good for the franchise, if not for the fortunes of the Baysox, that Basallo, Beavers, and Fabian moved up.

Much more continuity with the pitching staff, as seven of the top ten guys in innings pitched are back for another round at Double-A. That is not as good for the franchise. Mike Elias has not prioritized drafting pitchers and it shows. Maybe the best pitcher he drafted to date, Jackson Baumeister, was traded to the Rays for Zach Eflin.

Below is the announced break camp roster for Chesapeake. This could differ slightly from the actual Opening Day roster that comes along later today.

Catchers​

• Creed Willems (CC’s #20 prospect)
• Silas Ardoin
• Adam Retzbach

For Willems, who got a $1 million bonus from the team out of high school in the 2021 draft, this is the last season before the Orioles have to decide whether to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He’s had a consistent pattern as a pro of struggling when he gets to a new level and then figuring things out the next year. If that plays out again at Double-A (.262/.275/.496 in 16 games after a late-season promotion last year) then he’ll remain a prospect worth some modest interest.

Infielders​

• Frederick Bencosme
• Jeremiah Jackson
• Anthony Servideo
• Max Wagner
• Carter Young

This is not a list of names to generate much excitement. Bencosme, a signing out of the Dominican Republic spent all of last season here when he was 21 years old, so it could be interesting to see how his repeat could go here. Wagner, a former second round pick, only played 25 games across all levels a year ago. Young got a seven-figure bonus in the later rounds of the 2022 draft but has yet to do much to pay off that bonus for the team.

Outfielders​

• Enrique Bradfield Jr. (#3)
• Douglas Hodo
• Tavian Josenberger
• Reed Trimble

Ever since the Orioles drafted the speedy defensive whiz Bradfield in the first round two years ago, it has felt to me like they hoped that he would be able to slide in to replace Cedric Mullins in center field after Mullins becomes a free agent. That happens after the 2025 season, so if Bradfield is going to do it, doing well enough at Chesapeake that he ends up with Norfolk by midseason is important.

Up to this point, Bradfield has been about as expected: Good batting average and great on-base percentage without much power to speak of. He steals a lot of bases. Is it going to be enough for eventual major league success?

Pitchers​

• RHP Patrick Reilly (#10)
• RHP Trace Bright (t-18)
• RHP Alex Pham (HM)
• RHP Edgar Portes (HM)
• RHP Dylan Coleman
• RHP Zach Fruit
• RHP Keagan Gillies
• RHP Dylan Heid
• RHP Preston Johnson
• RHP Daniel Lloyd
• RHP Ryan Long
• RHP Juan Nuñez
• RHP Gerald Ogando
• RHP Yaqui Rivera
• RHP Peter Van Loon
• RHP Levi Wells

This is not a typo. The entire roster of Baysox pitchers to begin the season is right-handed. Not a single lefty to be found.

The quest to be the first Mike Elias-signed amateur pitcher to make it to the Orioles continues. Brandon Young is on the 40-man roster and at Norfolk, so he’s probably got the best shot now, but if he doesn’t make it, maybe one of these Chesapeake guys will.

The highest-ranked of these pitching prospects, Reilly, arrived in a trade with the Pirates last year that sent super-utility guy Billy Cook to Pittsburgh so the Orioles didn’t have to figure out how to fit him onto the 40-man roster last winter. Cook OPSed .673 in 16 MLB games last year and is starting this year out at Triple-A. Reilly struck out 146 batters across 119.1 innings between High-A and Double-A last year.

Below Reilly in the rankings of Double-A pitchers is Bright, who is repeating the level. I thought he’d be starting the year at Norfolk. If he doesn’t get promoted within six weeks or so, that’s probably a sign that he’s not very highly regarded by the organization. This is also true about the honorable mention Pham, who, like Bright, spent all of last year in the Baysox rotation. This is the age 24 season for Bright and age 25 for Pham. It’s time to hit Triple-A.

A couple of the not-currently-ranked guys made some interesting noise for themselves in spring training based on the quality of their stuff. Zach Fruit and Levi Wells are two guys who could be good prospects to jump on the wagon for now, if you’re looking to find a prospect before everybody is hyping them. Fruit did well for High-A Aberdeen a year ago, posting a 3.03 ERA over 25 games. Wells made 21 starts and had a 6.71 ERA, so that’s not very good, but the 11 K/9 is.

Nuñez was selected by the Padres in the winter’s Rule 5 draft but returned to the Orioles at the end of spring training. No team thought he was ready for MLB now, so the O’s get a chance to see if another minor league season might get him more ready.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/4/24400324/orioles-prospects-opening-day-rosters-enrique-bradfield

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles minor league recap 4/5: Basallo injured in Norfolk loss

Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The O’s top prospect exited the game with left hamstring discomfort, while Chesapeake, Aberdeen, and Delmarva all opened their seasons.

Triple-A: Charlotte Knights (CHW) 7, Norfolk Tides 6​

Well, the Orioles may have stumbled through an ugly, sloppy loss last night, but at least we can cheer ourselves up by checking in on their top prospe—

Samuel Basallo was removed from the Triple-A Norfolk game with left hamstring discomfort.

— (@rochkubatko.bsky.social) 2025-04-04T23:45:25.452Z

Oh. Welp. Everything is awful. There was no update after the game about the severity of Basallo’s injury, but if this keeps him out a while, it’s increasingly unlikely that he’ll make his MLB debut this year. Basallo was already limited to DH’ing because of right elbow inflammation.

Basallo had a single in his one at-bat before exiting, and Coby Mayo, who didn’t start, replaced him in the third and walked three times. Dylan Carlson, whom the O’s optioned back to Norfolk when they activated Gunnar Henderson yesterday, had a pair of doubles and three walks. Daz Cameron and Vimael Machín each drove in two runs.

The Tides scored the game’s first three runs and last three runs, but in between the Knights plated seven, all of them off of starter Raúl Alcantara (three) and newly acquired reliever Cody Poteet (four). But kudos to Nathan Webb and Colin Selby, who combined for three scoreless innings with five strikeouts.

Box score

Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 3, Altoona Curve (PIT) 2​

The team formerly known as Bowie won its first game under its new moniker, rallying back from a late 2-0 deficit by scoring once each in the seventh, eighth, and ninth. The Baysox went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 men on base, but still managed to rally on an Enrique Bradfield Jr. bases-loaded walk, a Reed Trimble RBI groundout, and a go-ahead homer by shortstop Jeremiah Jackson, Chesapeake’s only extra-base hit. The Baysox had only five hits but drew 10 walks.

Starter Alex Pham was a bit shaky in his Opening Day start, lasting four innings and giving up two runs, three hits, and four walks. He struck out five. The Baysox bullpen provided excellent relief, with four hurlers combining for five scoreless innings to set up the comeback.

Box score

High-A: Hub City Spartanburgers (TEX) 4, Aberdeen IronBirds 3 — 12 inn.​

If you’ve never heard of the Hub City Spartanburgers, it’s because this was the first game of their existence. They’re the former Down East Wood Ducks, newly relocated to Spartanburg, S.C. Aberdeen had a chance to spoil their debut, but blew a one-run lead in the ninth to send the game to extras. Each team plated a run in the 11th before Hub City scored the eventual game-winner in the top of the 12th.

The top four hitters in the IronBirds’ lineup were all 2024 draftees: Griff O’Ferrall, Austin Overn, Ethan Anderson, and first-rounder Vance Honeycutt. O’Ferrall and Overn each had two hits, including an Overn dinger, and Anderson drew three walks. But it was a rough night for Honeycutt, who went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. The center fielder also committed two of Aberdeen’s four errors.

True to form for the IronBirds, who led the league (by more than 100!) with 363 stolen bases last year, they swiped six more in their season debut, including two for Anderson. On the pitching side, Braxton Bragg went four innings, giving up an unearned run. Four relievers worked two innings apiece.

Box score

Low-A: Salem Red Sox (BOS) 12, Delmarva Shorebirds 1​

The Shorebirds’ season opener could hardly have gone worse. On offense they managed just four hits, avoiding a shutout only on Raylin Ramos’s RBI double in the ninth. Ramos led the team with two hits in a lineup devoid of prospects. Delmarva also committed two errors.

The Shorebirds had major issues on the mound, too. Starter Chase Allsup wasn’t terrible, giving up three runs (two earned) in 4.1 innings, but the Red Sox pounced on reliever Yeiber Cartaya, who walked six batters in two innings and gave up seven runs. Cartaya had a 1.11 ERA in six games for the Shorebirds last year, but this wasn’t a great way to begin his 2025.

Box score

Saturday’s scheduled games​

• Norfolk: at Charlotte, 6:05 PM. Starter: Brandon Young (0-0, 0.00)
• Chesapeake: at Altoona, 4:00 PM. Starter: Zach Fruit (season debut)
• Aberdeen: vs. Hub City, 7:05 PM. Starter: Michael Forret (season debut)
• Delmarva: at Salem, 6:35 PM. Starter: Eccel Correa (season debut)

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/5/24401546/orioles-minors-prospects

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Sugano impresses, Orioles offense mashes in 8-1 win over Royals

Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images

The O’s starter dazzled to earn his first MLB win, and he was supported by a lineup that succeeded despite no contributions from its two biggest stars.

The Orioles entered the day as losers of three straight. They were suffering from impotent offense and lackluster pitching, but on Saturday evening in Kansas City both sides of the ball showed up to give the O’s an 8-1 win.

Tomoyuki Sugano made his second MLB start in this one. Where his debut left some questions, this outing made it clear that he belonged at the level. For 5.1 innings, he left the Kansas City hitters flummoxed. They managed just the one run on five hits, a walk, and four strikeouts as Sugano earned his first MLB win.

Most of that damage came in the sixth inning, when Sugano turned the lineup over for a third time. In that frame, Bobby Witt Jr. led off with a solo homer. Vinnie Pasquantino followed with a single. After a strikeout, Michael Massey was hit by a pitch, and that summoned Brandon Hyde from the dugout to make a switch.

Perhaps Sugano would not have gotten the chance to face the Royals lineup a third time in a closer game. The scoreline afforded him some leeway, but make no mistake, the 35-year-old looked really good in this game. He mixed pitches. He stayed ahead in the count. He simply looked like a veteran that knew his way around an MLB mound.

Kansas City had just two baserunners through the first four innings. They led off the fifth inning with back-to-back singles, but Sugano worked out of it with ease. The sixth inning started to go a bit a sideways, but his manager ensured the righty left with a win still well within reach. It was the sort of start that this rotation needed. The unit has to go deeper than Zach Eflin and a prayer. For at least one day, Sugano proved that it was.

Meanwhile, the Orioles offense had its best showing since Monday. They smacked the Royals pitching staff around to the tune of eight runs on 12 hits, five walks, and seven strikeouts.

They did this while Gunnar Henderson had a horrid individual game. The recently-returned star went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts as the team’s DH. Obviously, the Orioles don’t want Henderson to struggle, but it’s encouraging to see the team be able to have such a good offensive night while the tip of the spear is dulled.

Gary Sánchez’s first hit of the year came in the second inning, driving in the O’s first two runs of the game. Ryan Mountcastle had singled, and Tyler O’Neill had walked to set the table for Sánchez.

Baltimore put up a four spot in the sixth inning, and they did so without a home run. Cedric Mullins and Mountcastle singled with one out. After a flyout that advanced Mullins, Heston Kjerstad singled him home. Ramón Urías knocked in Mountcastle and moved up Kjerstad with a base hit as well. Sánchez walked to load the bases, and Jackson Holliday drove in a pair with a base knock to make it 6-0.

The Witt homer briefly dented the Orioles lead, but a Tyler O’Neill triple built it right back up. Jordan Westburg had singled to lead off the frame, and then Mullins walked. O’Neill brought them both home with a shot to deep center field, and scampered all the way around to third base. At 8-1, we had our final score line.

But let’s not forget the important work of the bullpen. All three pitchers that were used turned in fine performances.

Bryan Baker needed just three pitches to get out of Sugano’s jam in the third. He got Hunter Renfore to ground into a double play and preserve the starter’s impressive stat line.

Keegan Akin contributed two innings of work. He tip toed around two walks in the seventh, and then tossed a perfect eighth to keep the score right where it was.

And it was Matt Bowman in the ninth, inducing weak contact for a 1-2-3 frame that closed out the win.

This win felt good. It was never really in doubt after the first half of the sixth inning. Brandon Hyde was able to save his “A” relievers for another night, and the relievers he did use made sure the manager didn’t have to make many trips to the mound.

The offensive performance was impressive in several ways. It happened on a bad night for Henderson, and it enabled Adley Rutschman to take a full day off. And they scored those eight runs without the luxury of a home run. Having power is important, but it cannot be your only method for scoring runs in bunches.

This win also ended a losing streak for the O’s, and it puts them in position to get back to .500 and start a winning streak tomorrow in Kansas City. That would be neat!

The finale of the series starts at 2:10 pm ET on Sunday. Cade Povich (0-0, 6.23 ERA) takes the hill for the Orioles. He will be opposed by fellow lefty Kris Bubic (1-0, 0.00). It’s supposed to be another cloudy, somewhat cold day in Kansas City, but the rain should stay away for this one.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/5...es-kansas-city-royals-saturday-box-score-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Sunday afternoon Orioles game thread: at Royals, 2:10 ET

Photo by Diamond Images via Getty Images

The Orioles look for their first series win of the year as Cade Povich takes the mound against the Royals.

Being under .500 is no fun. The Orioles can fix that today.

The O’s will look for their first series win of the year in the rubber game in Kansas City this afternoon, which would bring them back to an even-water 5-5 mark for the season. Cade Povich, who flashed good stuff but was not pitch efficient in his 2025 debut last week, will take the mound for the second time, hoping to follow the lead of Tomoyuki Sugano’s solid outing last night.

With the Birds facing southpaw Kris Bubic, Brandon Hyde has penned a lineup that includes just one left-handed hitter, Gunnar Henderson. That leaves Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, Ryan O’Hearn, and Cedric Mullins on the bench, with Gary Sánchez DH’ing and Jorge Mateo making just his fifth start in center field as an Oriole. My recollection is that Mateo isn’t particularly smooth in the outfield, and he also hasn’t been hitting, so starting him in place of Mullins is certainly...a choice. Benching Holliday, who’s coming off a three-hit game, is also a choice. But hey, maybe it’ll work out.

Orioles lineup:

SS Gunnar Henderson
C Adley Rutschman
2B Jordan Westburg
RF Tyler O’Neill
1B Ryan Mountcastle
LF Ramón Laureano
DH Gary Sánchez
3B Ramón Urías
CF Jorge Mateo

LHP Cade Povich

Royals lineup:

3B Jonathan India
SS Bobby Witt Jr.
DH Vinnie Pasquantino
1B Salvador Perez
LF Mark Canha
2B Michael Massey
RF Hunter Renfroe
CF Maikel Garcia
C Freddy Fermin

LHP Kris Bubic

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/6/24402391/orioles-royals-game-thread

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Defensive butchery, offensive blackout haunt Orioles in ugly 4-1 loss to Royals

Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images

The O’s rolled out an inexplicable lineup for their series finale, with predictably disastrous results.

There’s a running joke in Birdland about the Orioles’ “Sunday Forfeit” lineups, based on the club’s perceived tendency to start their backups on the closing day of the weekend and guarantee a loss. That belief, of course, isn’t particularly grounded in reality; there’s no evidence that the Orioles play any worse on Sundays than all other days (just two years ago, for instance, the O’s won 14 consecutive Sunday games).

But maaaaan, today’s lineup — in an eventual 4-1 loss in the rubber game to the Royals — was a Sunday Forfeit if I’ve ever seen one. Against southpaw Kris Bubic, manager Brandon Hyde benched youngsters Heston Kjerstad and Jackson Holliday, who have both been hitting well of late, and Cedric Mullins, who has been on fire all season.

The kicker: Bubic is a reverse splits guy, who has fared worse against lefty batters in his career (.305/.388/.513) than against righties (.262/.335/.420). Wasting the DH spot on the light-hitting Gary Sánchez while benching Kjerstad, Holliday, and Mullins certainly lends credence to the idea that the O’s weren’t putting their best lineup out there.

Worse yet, the Orioles’ insistence on getting every right-handed bat in the lineup led to an absurd defensive arrangement that put Jorge Mateo in center field for just the fifth time in his O’s career, a decision that immediately backfired in the most spectacularly brutal way imaginable.

The second Royals batter of the game, Bobby Witt Jr., tested Mateo’s defensive chops. Actually it would be generous to even call it a test. Witt swatted a hard-hit but routine fly ball to right-center field. Mateo broke late, then gave chase, lifted his glove, and...just missed it. Just flat out whiffed. The ball rattled onto the warning track and the speedy Witt easily arrived at third with a gift triple. In reality, it should have been an error. That’s a play that would have easily been made not only by Mullins but by any major league outfielder. Just not by an infielder miscast as an outfielder.

Seriously, why? Why start Jorge Mateo in center field? To get his bat (0-for-11 this season after today) in the lineup against a lefty with reverse splits? It was Hyde who, two days ago, lamented the Orioles’ ongoing defensive struggles, especially in the outfield. And then he does this? What did he expect to happen?

I hesitate to say that one play ruined the entire game for the Orioles, but it certainly set the tone. Not only did the gift baserunner promptly score on Vinnie Pasquantino’s sac fly — which would have been the third out if Witt’s fly ball had been caught — but it extended the inning and allowed for a further Royals rally against a rattled Cade Povich. Salvador Perez and Mark Canha both singled, and Michael Massey doubled them both home on a fly to right that Tyler O’Neill seemed to pull up on. The Royals had a quick 3-0 lead.

It was as if all the air was deflated from the Orioles’ balloon. They trailed for the remainder of the game and never came anywhere close to making it competitive. Their Sunday Forfeit lineup was hapless against Bubic, who threw 6.2 dominant innings and struck out eight. Mateo, Sánchez, and Ramón Laureano — the three guys who started in place of Kjerstad, Holliday, and Mullins — were a combined 0-for-8 with four Ks. Maybe next time just let the lefties start?

Gunnar Henderson continued to struggle since coming off the IL, going 0-for-4, and usual lefty-masher Tyler O’Neill took an 0-for-4 as well. The only capable O’s hitter was Ryan Mountcastle, who had three of the Birds’ five hits and was the only batter not to strike out. Mountcastle scored the Birds’ lone run in the seventh, when he led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. By then it was too late to matter.

I will give a hat tip to Povich, who recovered from his shaky first inning (for which he wasn’t entirely at fault) to throw six innings, becoming the first O’s starter not named Zach Eflin to go six. He wasn’t fooling many batters, though, as the Royals pounded 13 hits against him, eight of which had a 100+ mph exit velocity. Freddy Fermin’s RBI single in the second was the last run the Royals scored against him.

The Orioles limped to the finish, going seven-up, seven-down against relievers Hunter Harvey, Lucas Erceg, and Carlos Estévez, wrapping up their second straight series loss and falling back to two games under .500. The O’s have had quite a few ugly defeats already this year, but this one felt particularly self-inflicted.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/6/24402540/orioles-royals-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Aberdeen was the best Orioles affiliate a year ago and could be the most interesting again

Photo by Kelly Gavin/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Last year’s first round pick Vance Honeycutt starts here, along with several other prospects whose growth is key.

Of the five domestic Orioles minor league affiliates, the only one that had a winning record over its season a year ago was the High-A Aberdeen IronBirds of the South Atlantic League. That’s not to say it was a wildly successful team overall, because that winning record was exactly 67-65. They were not running away with everything.

It is almost entirely a new group of players who will be taking aim at success for this team in 2025. The break camp roster included just one batter with 100 or more plate appearances for Aberdeen a year ago, and only one pitcher who threw at least 40 innings here. The rest were either promoted, traded, or released.

None of the players on this roster have much of a shot of making it to the majors during the 2025 season, unless something particularly weird or miraculous happens. Following this team won’t have the immediate interest of, say, Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo at Norfolk. With that said, this is a team that’s starting out with a big number of prospects who will be worth following to see if they can have a positive impact on the team a year or two down the line.

Development of players who are beginning at Aberdeen will be important to show that the Mike Elias Orioles can continue to succeed in the draft even when they don’t pick in the top 5, that they can polish useful players from the third day of the draft, that they can start to have some international signing successes other than Samuel Basallo, and that they can maybe develop a pitching prospect that they signed as an amateur, like, ever.

Aberdeen’s season began on Friday along with the Double-A and Low-A teams.

Catchers​

• Ethan Anderson (Camden Chat’s #14 prospect)
• Aneudis Mordán
• Ryan Stafford

Primarily listed as a catcher, Anderson has also played both first base and left field in his early time in pro ball. He only actually caught 34 games in his college career, so questions about sticking at the position more center around how he’ll handle the grind than about his ability as a catcher, which, at least as far as the scouting reports I surveyed while making the composite Camden Chat prospects list, seems to not be in question. He has been a pretty good if not overwhelmingly great hitter.

Infielders​

• Griff O’Ferrall (#7)
• Leandro Arias (t-18)
• Aron Estrada (HM)
• Anderson De Los Santos
• Jalen Vasquez

Estrada is my current favorite lower-tier Orioles prospect, not so much because I think he’s definitely headed for big league success as because I love rooting for guys who arrive at Low-A Delmarva when they didn’t have much prospect stock and make a little attention for themselves. Still just 20 years old, the switch-hitting infielder spent the last month-ish at Aberdeen last season after earning a late season promotion. Arias, another switch-hitter, will also play this season as a 20-year-old.

O’Ferrall was the second player drafted by the Orioles last year. What’s interesting about him to me is the way that he is so against the type of player Elias has tended to draft in early rounds, typically aiming for big power potential. O’Ferrall hit eight homers across three years at the University of Virginia. This has carried over into the pros so far - no homers in 20 games after signing last year.

Outfielders​

• Vance Honeycutt (#4)
• Austin Overn (HM)
• Thomas Sosa (HM)
• Jake Cunningham

Honeycutt might be the riskiest first round pick that has been made yet in the Elias tenure. In contrast to the 2023 first rounder, Enrique Bradfield Jr., who is an elite center field defender and threat on the bases with questions about power, Honeycutt is an elite center field defender and threat on the bases with massive power but questions about whether he’ll strike out too much to be an acceptable hitter. Prospect analysts have written about how the Orioles are working on Honeycutt’s swing. Let’s hope that bears fruit.

Sosa is a product of the Orioles international pipeline, with high marks for his power potential but, like Honeycutt, concerns that he just won’t hit enough. Overn, a 2024 draft pick, is the kind of player who is praised for overall athleticism and being “toolsy” with some hope that these things will eventually translate into concrete baseball skills.

Pitchers​

• RHP Michael Forret (t-8)
• RHP Nestor German (t-8)
• RHP Trey Gibson (t-15)
• RHP Zane Barnhart
• LHP Jared Beck
• RHP Braxton Bragg
• RHP Wyatt Cheney
• LHP Riley Cooper
• RHP Juan De Los Santos
• RHP Daniel Federman
• RHP Dominic Freeberger
• RHP Blake Money
• RHP Hayden Nierman
• LHP Juan Rojas
• RHP Teddy Sharkey
• RHP Ty Weatherly

The trio of Forret, German, and Gibson probably makes the IronBirds starting rotation the one that is most interesting to follow regularly in the whole Orioles farm system. The plan needs there to be some success from this group of players. If they pitch well enough to get themselves to Double-A in the middle of this season, that will add to the excitement about them.

This group of pitchers generally has a wide variety in their pitch arsenal and their development is probably going to depend on how many of those pitches can actually be useful for getting out higher-level hitters. German and Gibson have added a little velocity since getting into the Orioles system to help out their cause.

Since Elias has mostly not spent his high draft capital on pitching prospects, guys like this are going to need to be the ones to break through. (The earliest Elias-drafted pitcher so far has been Jackson Baumeister, who was traded to the Rays for Zach Eflin last July.) German was picked in the 11th round, Forret in the 14th, and Gibson was an undrafted free agent after 2023’s draft.

The future of the Orioles looks better if guys in those rounds are getting turned into big league starters. The thing is that it hasn’t happened yet, and Elias has been around for six years now. If a reliever like Cooper (whose heavy metal tattoos and high-velocity fastball got some spring training attention) or Sharkey wants to show something, that would be fun too. The big league bullpen is also headed for some substantial turnover in the near future.

Missing from any of the affiliate break camp rosters is lefty starter Luis De León, who spent last year mostly with Aberdeen and was notable for walking way too many dudes. He’s still got his backers in the prospect ranking world (#11 in the system) but as far as the Opening Day roster he is nowhere to be found.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/7...berdeen-roster-vance-honeycutt-michael-forret

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles chase Diamondbacks’ Gallen early and Zach Eflin dominates in a 5-1 win

Ryan O’Hearn rounds the bases on a night he racked up six total bases against Arizona’s Zac Gallen. | Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

All those complaints about O’s starting pitching and hitting with RISP? Not a thing today…

You know what? The Orioles have faced criticism lately for being inconsistent at the dish, their manager Brandon Hyde blamed specifically for over-playing the matchups (otherwise how else to explain a Sunday lineup featuring light-hitting shortstop Jorge Mateo in center field?).

But on Monday night, the Birds convincingly answered both criticisms in a late-night win in Arizona. For one thing, against Arizona right hander Zac Gallen, the righty-lefty matchups worked brilliantly. From the top of the lineup, Gunnar Henderson went 2-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Adley Rutschman singled, walked, and drove in a run. Ryan O’Hearn, who’d entered with a .375 career average off Gallen, homered and doubled. Heston Kjerstad also went 1-for-4, putting together several good AB’s.

More importantly, the Birds put up runs when they needed to. For four innings, they’d nicked but couldn’t draw blood off a fallible Gallen, putting traffic on the bases three times early on against the Arizona starter and settling for one, one, and no runs. But with a two-run lead in the fifth and Gallen on the ropes, the Birds finally got the breakthrough hit they needed. Ryan Mountcastle put a great swing on a low slider for a two-RBI single that made it 5-1 Baltimore.

O’s starter Zach Eflin took the run support and didn’t look back. Other than the fourth, where Arizona manufactured a run on two singles, an error, and a sac fly, Eflin barely broke a sweat. Six innings of one-run baseball on 73 pitches from our No. 1? We’ll take that any time. Eflin has been convincing and consistent in his starts so far. (Now to get the other starting pitchers to up their game, too…)

Meanwhile, the Orioles were hovering around Zac Gallen all game—I worried maybe they wouldn’t deal a knockout punch. I’d been nervous, too, about tonight’s rightfielder du jour, 1B/DH Ryan O’Hearn. But O’Hearn has been a Gallen-killer in the past, and he was again tonight. With a 2-0 count in the first inning, O’Hearn got a hanging curveball and blasted it into the stands.

In the second, the Orioles did produce more runs for their starter, but they left a lot on the table. Gunnar murdered a hanging cutter for a double and Rutschman singled him home to make it 2-0 Baltimore. Then they loaded the bases with two outs, but Mountcastle’s flyball out fell about ten feet short of being a grand slam.

At least the Birds were pushing up Gallen’s pitch count, which was up to 60 after just 3 1/3 innings, and 77 before five were through. Fatigue got to Gallen in the fifth inning, which, happily for Baltimore, was a mess. Henderson led off with a single and his first of two stolen bases. Adley walked. Gallen fell behind 3-0 to O’Hearn, who grounded out, then he walked Jordan Westburg on four pitches. Cedric Mullins made it 3-1 with an RBI groundout.

Now, keep in mind that Arizona has a Top 10 bullpen in WAR, ERA and FIP. With two on and two out, the coaches called an impromptu meeting at the mound to get Gallen out of there and put the game in surer hands. They weren’t quick enough. Ryan Mountcastle delivered the night’s biggest hit, a two-out single off a ball he had to scoop nearly out of the dirt, making this a 5-1 game. After 4.2 innings on 96 pitches with seven hits and five runs allowed, Gallen’s night was done.

Unhappily if you like suspense, but happily if you like wins, O’s pitchers didn’t allow this game to get close. After Gallen was yanked, Eflin came out and pitched another inning, just because he could. Yennier Cano pitched a nasty seventh, striking out two (yes, he struck the pose—twice). Lefty Gregory Soto looked pretty devastating in a scoreless eighth. Nice to see, too: he threw 12 pitches, ten for strikes.

And the Mountain, Félix Bautista, got a chance to pitch the ninth inning after about a week off. It was great to see, period, but especially great when Bautista had batters late on his fastball and swinging foolishly through his slider. The dangerous Josh Naylor nearly lost his helmet whiffing on one of those. The Mountain may not be fully “back,” but even like this he’s brutally effective. Time for hugs!

For that matter, this Orioles team has obvious flaws, but plenty of room for improvement and potential to get there. And tonight they showed a lot that was positive. Let’s keep it going in Game Two!

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/8/24403576/mlb-scores-orioles-diamondback-5-1

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles Reacts Survey: Has the start to the season changed how you feel?

Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images

There’s a new over/under after 11 games are in the books. Can the Orioles end up with the over?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Baltimore Orioles fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The Orioles are 5-6 through their first 11 games of the season. That’s just 6.8% of the games on the schedule. There’s a lot of baseball left to go and a lot of time for the O’s to change the trajectory that they’ve managed over the first couple of weeks.

Do you think that they can do it? The pessimistic case for the 2025 Orioles has gotten a lot of support over these first handfuls of games. The starting rotation is looking like it could end up being a real mess, and that’s before even considering a possible Zach Eflin absence that’s in the air as of this writing.

The Opening Day starter, who pitched very well for the Orioles after being acquired at the trade deadline last year, was pulled from last night’s start despite a modest pitch count because of shoulder fatigue. If Eflin has to hit the injured list, there’s a high chance that we won’t enjoy who is coming along to replace him for however long he’s out.

In the team’s early games, it’s had a disappointing lack of power hitting against left-handed pitchers and some distressing lack of hitting when the righty reserves are put in there against lefties. It’s not great.

One can also easily argue that we have not yet seen the best of these Orioles. There was no Gunnar Henderson for the first week, and his first series back was rocky. Once he settles in, the nightly offensive potential is much higher. Even the struggling starting pitchers should be better than this, and the ones who aren’t should be shuffled farther towards the periphery once May rolls around and theoretically Kyle Gibson will be added in the early part of the month and Grayson Rodriguez arrives later on.

Where does it leave you feeling about the team? We’ve got a new over/under after the first 11 games in the survey below: 85.5. To hit the over, the Orioles must go 81-70 from this point on. Is that asking too much? It would have them in the wild card picture but could still end up with the disappointment of not making the playoffs, depending on how the rest of the league plays. Under is 80-71 from here on, or worse. That feels entirely possible too.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/8/24403774/orioles-season-expectations-win-total-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Charlie Morton stinks again, Orioles offense can’t mount comeback in 4-3 loss

Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images

There was some really weird umpiring, some really bad luck, and some really poor situational hitting along the way.

Some time in the 2025 Orioles season, the team will manage to win consecutive games. Or at least we can only assume that this will happen at some point. It is not guaranteed, just as tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. What is certain is that it did not happen on Tuesday night as they played the Diamondbacks. Once again this year, the day after scoring a bunch of runs, the Orioles couldn’t manage to do much of anything the next day. The O’s had their share of chances in the game, but it all ultimately amounted to a waste of a game as the O’s fell to Arizona, 4-3.

It could have all gone differently. That’s true of every baseball game, of course. The Orioles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as they loaded the bases against Arizona’s starter, Merrill Kelly, who has had his share of struggles to begin the 2025 season. Batting with the bases loaded, Cedric Mullins delivered a two-run single to put the Orioles on the board.

There were still men on first and third with only one out. Unfortunately, Tyler O’Neill grounded into a double play and snuffed out the rally before it could go any farther. This was one of two double play ground balls hit by the Orioles in the game; Heston Kjerstad hit into a game-ending double play with the tying run on first in the ninth. For those scoring at home, that’s 14 double plays grounded into in 12 games played. It’s well past ridiculous.

Orioles starting pitcher Charlie Morton has also had his share of struggles to begin the 2025 season. Like Kelly, he showed them off to begin this game. Staked to that 2-0 lead, Morton hit the first batter he faced, walked the second, and then walked the third. Yeah, he loaded the bases with no one out. Morton got a double play ball of his own, picking up two outs as one run scored, and he escaped the inning with no further damage and the O’s still held a 2-1 advantage.

Kelly settled down after that rocky first inning and cruised through the next five innings. The only Orioles baserunner in this time reached on a fielding error. These stretches from the offense are disheartening. They should be better than this! Yet so far in 2025, they have not been better than this, or at least not for two games in a row.

Morton did not cruise. He allowed a game-tying home run to Corbin Carroll to lead off the third inning, then ran into more trouble that he could not escape in the fifth. Morton walked his first batter, Garrett Hampson. Take note: This is one of those guys who you should not walk because he’s bad. His career OPS is .663.

That’s Morton in 2025 for you. He got people’s hopes up of escaping the inning by retiring the next two batters, got some good luck as Pavin Smith doubled into the corner and had it bounce over the fence so Hampson had to stop at third. Then, after getting people’s hopes up further by getting two strikes on Josh Naylor, Morton couldn’t seal the deal. Naylor hit his own double and the two ultimately decisive runs of the game scored.

The final line for Morton: Five-plus innings, four hits, five walks, four runs all earned. The $15 million 41-year-old has an 8.78 ERA through three starts. He will have at most 29 more regular season chances to show that Mike Elias was not one of the world’s biggest idiots in opting to sign this guy.

It was Mullins who finally broke the streak of futility by doubling to lead off the seventh inning. Two of the next three O’s batters reached base, setting up the bases loaded with just one out for Jackson Holliday. Tying run in scoring position, go-ahead run also on base. Not bad. The young O’s second baseman sliced a fly ball that headed for left field.

Arizona’s left fielder, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., sprinted in to attempt to make the catch. The ball was sinking hard for the grass and as Gurriel reached for it, there was no clarity on whether or not he caught the ball. It might have been a catch or it might have been “Carl Crawford tries to catch Robert Andino.” No umpire on the field made any signal as to whether the ball was caught. Mullins, at third base, went back to think about tagging. Gurriel uncorked one of the most wild outfield throws towards home ever seen and Mullins scored easily.

However, that was not the close of the play. The runner who started at second base, Tyler O’Neill, did not go back to tag and was around third base, thinking about trying to follow Mullins home. As Arizona collected the wild throw, the catcher threw down to second base. At this point, O’Neill was ruled out, with the umpires collectively deciding after the fact that the ball had been caught on the fly after all.

“What happens if no umpire actually calls out on an ambiguous possibly trapped ball?” is not something that one expects to encounter in an MLB game, because umpires generally are competent at this aspect of their jobs. This is the Laz Diaz crew, though, so things are always prone to get weird. (Diaz, it should be noted, was the first base umpire in this game and thus the farthest away from any of the direct action.)

The Orioles challenged the outcome of this play. It’s not clear to me what they hoped to change, since I’m assuming that “it’s not fair that no umpire made a signal” is able to be reviewed in New York. The outcome after a lengthy replay determined that Mullins’s run would count but so would the double play. Manager Brandon Hyde didn’t seem to be all that upset with the umpires about the final resolution. Apportion the blame as you see fit amongst the umpires, the third base coach, and O’Neill. So, after all that excitement, the Orioles trailed, 4-3.

They gave themselves another chance in the top of the eighth inning. Adley Rutschman singled with just one out. He was subbed out in favor of pinch runner Jorge Mateo. With speed now on the bases, Mateo stole second base, then, in the same plate appearance, stole third. Still just one out with Ryan Mountcastle at the plate. Mountcastle found a way to put the ball in play... except it was just a little dribbler right back to the pitcher’s mound. Mateo was going on contact and he was hung out to dry.

I would have liked to see Mateo really try to score instead of stopping. He’s fast enough he might have made it interesting. That’s not how it went. Mateo got a little rundown going and this let Mountcastle get to second base. The tying run remained in scoring position with two outs. Jordan Westburg struck out. Another opportunity wasted.

In the ninth inning, the Orioles got the tying run on base after O’Neill was hit in the elbow guard by a pitch from Arizona’s closer, Justin Martinez. He is one of these modern MLB relievers who throws 102 even though you’ve never heard of him. Martinez struck out Mullins to begin his inning and closed out the game with Kjerstad hitting into a double play.

Back at it tomorrow as another pair of starting pitchers who’ve stunk so far in 2025 will take the mound for each team. It’s a 3:40 scheduled start time, with Dean Kremer set to pitch for the Orioles and Brandon Pfaadt for the Diamondbacks. Look for some offense, but do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/9/24404393/mlb-scores-orioles-diamondbacks-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Wednesday afternoon Orioles game thread: at Diamondbacks, 3:40 ET

Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Things seem pretty bleak in Birdland right now, but the O’s can salvage a .500 road trip with a win today.

Last night in Arizona the Orioles had a chance to win consecutive games for the first time all year. Due to another disappointing offensive performance, another too-short outing from a starter, and some seventh-inning chicanery, they once again failed.

Today the news got worse when Zach Eflin, the Birds’ only competent starting pitcher so far, was placed on the 15-day injured list with a lat strain. His absence throws the Orioles’ rotation into further chaos and will make it that much harder for the O’s to put together an extended winning stretch.

While Eflin is out, somebody — or preferably multiple somebodies — will need to step up. Will that person be Dean Kremer? I’m not betting on it, but it’s his turn to pitch this afternoon, so might as well start somewhere. We’re not asking for much. Just a halfway decent outing that ideally will be backed by some O’s run support. Kremer faced the Diamondbacks once last year, giving up six runs in 5.2 innings, though some sloppy defense behind him didn’t help matters.

A victory would give the Birds their first series win of the year and salvage a 3-3 road trip. It would also build some momentum as the O’s head into a nine-game homestand, their longest of 2025. Let’s go, guys, give us some good news for a change.

Orioles lineup:

SS Gunnar Henderson
C Adley Rutschman
DH Ryan O’Hearn
RF Tyler O’Neill
CF Cedric Mullins
1B Ryan Mountcastle
LF Heston Kjerstad
3B Ramón Urías
2B Jackson Holliday

RHP Dean Kremer

Diamondbacks lineup:

RF Corbin Carroll
SS Geraldo Perdomo
1B Pavin Smith
DH Josh Naylor
3B Eugenio Suárez
CF Alek Thomas
LF Jake McCarthy
2B Tim Tawa
C Jose Herrera

RHP Brandon Pfaadt

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/9/24404743/orioles-diamondbacks-game-thread

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Your daily Orioles trivia game, Thursday edition

Think you can figure out what Orioles player we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.

Hello Orioles fans! We’d like to introduce you to our brand new Camden Chat In-5 daily trivia game. The objective is to guess the correct active OR retired Orioles player in as few guesses as possible. Full game instructions are at the bottom. Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in this Google Form.

Today’s Camden Chat In-5 Game​

If you can’t see the game due to Apple News or another service, click this game article.

Previous Games​

Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Monday, April 7, 2025

Play more SB Nation In-5 trivia games​

NFL in-5
MLB in-5
MMA in-5

Camden Chat In-5 instructions​

The goal of the game is to guess the correct Orioles player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED PLAYERS each week. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. The game will appear in the No. 3 slot of the Camden Chat layout each day this week and as noted above, will appear in this article exclusively.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media. We won’t go into other details about the game as we’d like your feedback on it. How it plays, what you think of it, the difficulty level, and anything else you can think of that will help us improve this game. You can provide feedback in the comments of this article, or you can fill out this Google Form.

Enjoy!

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/10/24405259/sb-nation-orioles-daily-trivia-in-5

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

The biggest deliverers and hinderers of Orioles Magic, so far (week 2)

Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Who’s come through in the big moments so far, and who hasn’t?

In a foolish and uncharacteristic burst of optimism, I started this weekly series last week with the idea that, through the year, I’d be chronicling a variety of fun individual Orioles moments from exciting wins. One week later, it seems more like I may have saddled myself with the curse of having to write about a bunch of disappointing stuff week after week. That’s the magic of Orioles baseball.

This series looks at each Orioles game, the most crucial play that happened in it and who was involved, and the Oriole who contributed the most positive to a win or negative to a loss. These determinations are made using the Win Probability Added stat, which you can find in game logs on Baseball Reference or FanGraphs.

Here’s how things went over the second week of the Orioles season:

Game 7​

• Result: Orioles lose to Red Sox, 8-4
• Orioles record: 3-4
• The biggest play: Alex Bregman hits two-run home run off Charlie Morton in first inning (-18% to Orioles chance of winning)
• The biggest goat: Morton (-.321 WPA)

There are a lot of ways to manage to lose a baseball game. One of the simpler ones is if your starting pitcher stinks on a given night. As the time-honored Earl Weaver wisdom says, “Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.”

This also works for negative momentum. If a guy comes out and is bad, the team is in a hole that it’s tough to dig out of. Morton putting the Orioles in a 2-0 hole before even recording an out was a big one. Things didn’t improve from there. He took a big negative overall and deserved no better.

Game 8​

• Result: Orioles lose to Royals, 8-2
• Record: 3-5
• The biggest play: Maikel Garcia hits go-ahead two-run single off Dean Kremer in fourth inning (-15%)
• The biggest goat: Adley Rutschman (-.140 WPA)

One of the runs on this crucial play had been scored as unearned due to an earlier fielding error by Gunnar Henderson. (WPA only credits the pitcher or batter and does not wade into whether fielders “deserve” penalties or bonuses.) Kremer was not able to pitch out of the jam. Classic Orioles-era Jake Arrieta kind of stuff.

Rutschman takes the biggest goat despite having a 1-4 night because in his most crucial at-bat of the game, when he batted with a man on, one out, and the Orioles trailing by only a run in the eighth inning, he grounded into a double play. The GIDP continues to be a struggle for the 2025 Orioles.

Game 9​

• Result: Orioles beat Royals, 8-1
• Record: 4-5
• The biggest play: Gary Sánchez hits two-run, two-out single with 1-2 count to give Orioles 2-0 second inning lead (+17%)
• The biggest hero: Tomoyuki Sugano (.237 WPA)

Bad starting pitching hurts and good starting pitching helps. If a team is staked to an early lead and the starting pitcher holds the lead for a number of innings, he will get the most credit in the game. In this case, Sugano pitched 5.1 innings and the only run he allowed was a solo home run in the sixth, by which time the Orioles led, 6-1.

Sugano comes out as the biggest hero because he gradually and successfully deprived the Royals of opportunities to mount a comeback. After his initial shaky and cramp-shortened start against the Blue Jays, this was an encouraging second outing for the Japanese pitcher.

Game 10​

• Result: Royals beat Orioles, 4-1
• Record: 4-6
• The biggest play: Michael Massey hits two-run double off Cade Povich to extend Royals first inning lead to 3-0 (-16%)
• The biggest goat: Povich (-.216 WPA)

Measures like Fielding Independent Pitching, which try to take out defensive quality or struggle that are outside of a pitcher’s control, really like Povich through his first two starts: a 1.32 FIP and 3.17 xFIP.

In this outing, Povich gave up 12 hits over a six-inning start and I think it’s ultimately fair to say Povich got rocked and my opinion is that he was lucky to not get rocked harder than he did. One more bit of good fortune for Povich: MLB changed the scoring on that “Jorge Mateo doesn’t catch the routine fly ball” play that was scored a triple so that it’s now an error on Mateo. This lowers Povich’s ERA from 6.10 to 3.48 because now some of the runs are unearned.

Game 11​

• Result: Orioles beat Diamondbacks, 5-1
• Record: 5-6
• The biggest play: Josh Naylor puts two men on with none out in fourth inning with single off Zach Eflin (-14%)
• The biggest hero: Eflin (.189 WPA)

Despite being on the wrong end of the biggest play, which was made worse by Cedric Mullins committing an error that put Naylor into scoring position as the tying run, Eflin is the biggest hero for the game because he didn’t break. Arizona only scored one run in that fourth inning and Eflin got out of it with a 2-1 Orioles lead intact.

Eflin pitched six good innings and that makes him the hero. It sucks that he came out of the start with what was first called shoulder fatigue and is now diagnosed as a grade 1 lat strain. The Orioles rotation without him looks pretty bad.

Ryan Mountcastle had the best single positive play for the Orioles, driving in two runs with a single that put the O’s ahead by the final 5-1 margin. This was +13% on its own.

Game 12​

• Result: Diamondbacks beat Orioles, 4-3
• Record: 5-7
• The biggest play: Naylor breaks 2-2 tie by hitting two-run double off Morton in the fifth inning (-23%)
• The biggest goat: Heston Kjerstad (-.312 WPA)

It’s bad if your starting pitcher is bad, and Morton was bad in the first inning and bad in the fifth and that’s why he takes a big negative WPA again (-.255). His season total, as we’ll see below, is also bad.

However, Kjerstad takes the cake because, in addition to hitting into the game-ending double play (-17%), he also failed to positively contribute when batting with two on and none out in a two-run game in the seventh inning, hitting into a lineout (-9%). He was 0-4 overall, with those two crucial negatives dragging him way down.

This game featured the chaotic “Tyler O’Neill is doubled off second base because the umpires never actually signaled that a catch was made” play. That one goes as a -.14 to Jackson Holliday, the batter. That’s another case of WPA kind of being unfair. WPA is not about fair. It’s about the cold rationality of win expectancy tables.

Game 13​

• Result: Orioles lose to Diamondbacks, 9-0
• Record: 5-8
• The biggest play: Pavin Smith hits two-run home run off Dean Kremer in the fifth inning, turning 2-0 deficit to 4-0 (-11%)
• The biggest (hero/goat): Kremer (-.181)

A common theme in this week’s edition, that I fear may continue to be common, is that when the starting pitcher is bad, the Orioles lose and it’s mostly because the starting pitcher is bad. In this case, it’s also because the O’s offense put up goose eggs in the runs column every inning even though Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt (it’s pronounced fought) has historically not been very good. Everybody is lost right now, or at least that’s what it feels like.

The best Orioles so far​

After the first week, the best WPA by an Orioles batter was Ramón Urías (0.35) and the best by a pitcher was Yennier Cano (0.15). The Oriole with the best fWAR was Jordan Westburg (0.6).

• WPA (hitters): Urías (0.34), Ryan O’Hearn (0.33), Cedric Mullins (0.21)
• WPA (pitchers): Zach Eflin (0.26), Seranthony Domínguez (0.23), Tomoyuki Sugano (0.21)
• fWAR: Mullins (0.6), Cade Povich (0.5), Westburg (0.4)

By bWAR, the top Orioles are Eflin and Mullins, both at 0.6.

The worst Orioles so far​

After the first week, the worst WPA by an Orioles batter was Jorge Mateo (-0.33) and the worst by a pitcher was Cionel Pérez (-0.22). The worst fWAR belonged to Mateo (-0.3).

• WPA (hitters): Heston Kjerstad (-0.46), Jackson Holliday (-0.38), Jordan Westburg (-0.28)
• WPA (pitchers): Charlie Morton (-0.76), Dean Kremer (-0.58), Pérez (-0.25)
• fWAR: Mateo (-0.4), four players tied at -0.2

By bWAR, it’s a three-way tie at -0.4 between Morton, Kremer, and Pérez.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/10/24404606/orioles-best-worst-players-clutch-hitters-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Can you guess this Orioles shortstop in today’s in-5 trivia game?

Think you can figure out what Orioles player we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.

Hello Orioles fans! We’d like to introduce you to our brand new Camden Chat In-5 daily trivia game. The objective is to guess the correct active OR retired Orioles player in as few guesses as possible. Full game instructions are at the bottom. Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in this Google Form.

Today’s Camden Chat In-5 Game​

If you can’t see the game due to Apple News or another service, click this game article.

Previous Games​

Thursday, April 10, 2025
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Play more SB Nation In-5 trivia games​

NFL in-5
MLB in-5
MMA in-5

Camden Chat In-5 instructions​

The goal of the game is to guess the correct Orioles player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED PLAYERS each week. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. The game will appear in the No. 3 slot of the Camden Chat layout each day this week and as noted above, will appear in this article exclusively.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media. We won’t go into other details about the game as we’d like your feedback on it. How it plays, what you think of it, the difficulty level, and anything else you can think of that will help us improve this game. You can provide feedback in the comments of this article, or you can fill out this Google Form.

Enjoy!

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/11/24406012/sb-nation-orioles-daily-trivia-in-5

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles Reacts survey: Pessimism reigns after disappointing week

Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images

The last few days have not made it feel like the Orioles are on the cusp of turning things around.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Baltimore Orioles fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The start of a baseball season is a time for nearly-infinite optimism for all but the most helpless teams and their unfortunate fans. A team’s strengths seem unbeatable, a team’s weaknesses can be rationalized away, and you can imagine relatively smooth sailing to the playoffs and beyond. Then the season begins and for some, the dose of reality is instantly cruel and pitiless.

For the Orioles, reality has been cruel. Even someone who was feeling anxious about the starting rotation is probably surprised about how bad it’s gone so far, with should-be-mediocre guys like Dean Kremer and Charlie Morton both sporting ERAs north of 8. The fact that the one good pitcher through a few starts, Zach Eflin, is now on the injured list, is also bad. It may be a week before the O’s need to try to replace him due to juggling off days, but at the moment, it’s unclear who that replacement might be.

Then there’s the offense. My goodness, the offense. They’ve been bringing the idea of “feast or famine” to a whole new level, and they have yet to manage “feast” two days in a row. Gunnar Henderson is so far looking like he needed a longer injury rehab. Colton Cowser hurt himself and his replacement, Heston Kjerstad, isn’t hitting. The bench is bad. Tyler O’Neill hasn’t homered since Opening Day and Ryan Mountcastle hasn’t homered since last July 29.

On Tuesday, we asked if people were feeling over or under for a win total of 85.5 after the games that the Orioles have played. Since that survey was posted, they lost another couple of demoralizing ones. Here’s how people were feeling:

I’m guessing if there was another survey going right now, it would have an even higher percentage hitting the under. And it must have taken a lot to actually get a majority answering in the negative, because I’ll tell you after doing polls on this site for a long time, an optimistic answer usually wins, even when it doesn’t make any sense to me.

It’s not just Orioles fans who are suddenly having reduced expectations for the team. The FanDuel sportsbook, which was used to provide the over/under number for this question, has gone down from an 86.5 win o/u before Opening Day to 84.5 now.

The Orioles have not even played 10% of their games yet, so there’s time for things to turn around. It’s going to take sustained good play that they haven’t had yet. The O’s still haven’t even won consecutive games in 2025. Now they need to play 81-68 for the rest of the season - an 88-win pace - just to end up with 86 wins for the year, which might not even be enough to make it into the postseason. The hole they’re in isn’t deep yet, but they’re definitely in a hole.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/11/24406080/orioles-reacts-fans-guess-win-total

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Saturday Bird Droppings: Rain, rain, go away

Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Series against the Blue Jays, a new prospect list, and rotation concern.

Good Morning Birdland!

The Orioles got an extra day of rest on Friday, when rain throughout the night wiped out the opener of a weekend series with the Blue Jays. The weather will be only slightly better today, which could be why the teams agreed to a double-header on July 29 instead of right now.

Hopefully the O’s are playing better by then as well. They can’t get much worse. Over their eight games, they are 2-6 and rarely even look competitive. These two games against the division-leading Blue Jays would go a long way towards tightening things up in the AL East.

Speaking of the division, no one is running away with things just yet. The Yankees look like the best team, thanks to their +15 run differential. But most of that came in one weekend against the Brewers. They are 4-6 over their last 10 and appear to have some pitching woes. If the Orioles can get their act together soon, a run at the AL East title is fully within their reach.

But let’s go one step at a time. Get a win against the Blue Jays tonight, and then the next win feels more possible. At least the starting pitcher instills some confidence. Tomoyuki Sugano will be on the bump. He has made two starts, including one against these Blue Jays, and looked at least competent in each. That may be a low bar, but Zach Eflin is the only other Orioles pitcher to match it.

First pitch is 4:05 from what will be a cloudy and possibly soggy Camden Yards.

Links

Baltimore Orioles Top 50 Prospects | FanGraphs
This prospect list looks quite a bit different from the one over at MLB Pipeline. Austin Overn, a fourth-round pick last year, is up at fourth, above names like Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Vance Honeycutt. Elvin Garcia, an international signing out of the Dominican Republic, is fifth.

Orioles players give playoff bonus share to Harlem Park Elementary/Middle, helping fund outdoor classroom | The Baltimore Banner
Good on ya, Orioles, for helping out a local school. Their support for Harlem Park is not too new, as the team featured the school’s name through 2024 as part of the adopt-a-school program.

Ranking early-season concerns for 6 playoff hopefuls | MLB.com
Another call out of the rotation stinking. I get it. They have been bad. But what exactly did we expect? Ultimately, it is on the lineup to score runs. They have score three or fewer runs seven times in 13 games. The Orioles are 0-7 in those games.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Cade Povich turns 25. The lefty has been thrust into a rotation role the last two seasons, and is still trying to find his footing in MLB.
• Shintaro Fujinami is 31. He spent half of the 2023 season in Baltimore as a hard-throwing reliever that struggled to throw strikes.
• Burch Smith celebrates his 35th birthday. He was part of the Orioles bullpen last season, and had some moments of brilliance, but flamed out.
• Brad Brach turns 39 today. Alongside Zack Britton and Darren O’Day, Brach was one of the Orioles’ most crucial relievers in close games from 2014 through ‘17.
• The late Charley Lau (b. 1933, d. 1984) was born on this day. The catcher played seven seasons, split up into two stints, with the Orioles from 1961-63 and then from ‘64-67.
• It’s a posthumous birthday for Mel Held (b. 1929, d. 2024). He tossed seven innings for the Orioles in 1956, his only MLB experience.
• The late Bill Wight (b. 1922, d. 2007) was born on this day. He had a three-season run with the Orioles from 1955-57 as part of their pitching staff.

This day in history​

2010 - Orioles’ second baseman Brian Roberts heads to the IL with a strained abdominal muscle. He will be replaced by Julio Lugo.

2016 - The Orioles remain unbeaten, beating the Blue Jays 9-5 to move to 7-0 on the young season.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/1...es-news-rain-postponed-al-east-blue-jays-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles battle back for emotional 5-4 victory in Anthony Santander’s return to Camden Yards

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

The Orioles overcame early offensive woes and a rough outing from Tomoyuki Sugano in a come-from-behind 5-4 win over Anthony Santander and the Blue Jays.

Reeling from a pair of defeats and consecutive days off, Baltimore appeared on its way to another set of postgame quotes discussing the length of a major league baseball season.

Tomoyuki Sugano struggled in his second matchup against Toronto, and the O’s failed to produce a base runner until the fifth inning, but the Orioles eventually found some magic in their all-orange uniforms. Heston Kjerstad shifted momentum with a two-run homer, Adley Rutschman tied the game, and Cedric Mullins came up clutch during his T-shirt give away

Félix Bautista closed things out after a drama-filled ninth, and the Orioles secured a 5-4 victory over Anthony Santander and the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.

Sugano never looked sharp in the abridged outing. Bo Bichette ambushed the first pitch of the game and laced it into left-center for a leadoff double. Vladimir Guerrero quickly followed with a run-scoring double to the same location, and Sugano found himself on his heels before viewers had an opportunity to adjust to the color-rush uniforms.

Sugano retired Anthony Santander in his first at bat back in Camden Yards, but Andrés Gimenéz put runners on the corners with a broken-bat single to left. The Jays could have capitalized further, but George Springer popped out for the second out, and Sugano eventually retired Will Wagner after throwing 25 pitches in the first inning.

The trouble continued in the second after a one-out walk. Alan Roden moved Nathan Lukes to third with a single to right, and Bichette brought him home with a sharp single to Tyler O’Neill in right field. Sugano, to his credit, responded by generating an inning-ending double play from Guerrero.

After saluting the crowd in the first inning, Santander entered the batter’s box with an all-business approach in the third. Sugano grooved the former Oriole the type of fastball that a power hitter like Santander wasn’t going to miss. Santander notched his first homer of the season, first homer as a Blue Jay, and first homer as a visitor at Camden Yards on a ball that cleared the scoreboard in right field.

Meanwhile, the Orioles failed to reach base in the first four innings. Cedric Mullins finally broke the streak with a one-out walk in the fifth. Heston Kjerstad, in the lineup against the dominant righty Bowden Francis, snapped Baltimore out of its funk with one swing of the bat.

Francis finally threw a splitter that did not drop below the knees, and Kjerstad launched it 409 feet to center field. The two-run blast trimmed Toronto’s lead to one while breaking up an impressive rhythm on the mound. The feel-good vibes continued as Kjerstad and Mullins took a trip to the 2025 edition of the homer hose.

Francis countered with an inning-ending strikeout of Mountcastle, but momentum continued to shift toward the home team when Bryan Baker entered and notched Baltimore’s first pitching strikeout during a scoreless sixth.

Bowman retired Jackson Holliday before receiving a generous strike three call against Gunnar Henderson. Unfazed, Rutschman stepped to the plate and delivered a game-tying blast to right field.

Rutschman knew the ball was gone from the time it hit the bat. The two-time All Star admired his work for a moment or two before mustering a bat flip in the direction of the Orioles’ dugout.

Ryan O’Hearn followed with a two-out walk and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Jordan Westburg ripped a ball to the hole in short. The play could have resulted in a go-ahead single, but Bichette made a tremendous play and fired to first. Fortunately for Baltimore, Guerrero failed to squeeze the ball at first base. The outcome placed runners on the corners for Mullins.

Mullins worked the count full before ripping a ball to the gap in left-center. Roden struggled to corral the ball at the wall as both runners scored and Mullins raced to third base.

Baker returned for the top of the seventh but allowed a leadoff double to Lukes. Yennier Cano replaced Baker and surrendered a single to Roden but erased him with a 4-6-3 double play. The grounder allowed the fourth run to score, but Cano retired Guerrero to end the inning.

Gregory Soto delivered a 1-2-3 eighth, and Bautista took the mound in the ninth with a one-run lead. Bautista retired Wagner before walking Alejandro Kirk on four pitches. Pinch-runner Myles Straw stole second, and Bautista issued his second walk of the inning to Lukes.

Both runners advanced when Roden trickled a ground ball to first base, and the Blue Jays turned over the order with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Bautista surprised Bichette with a first pitch slider and moved ahead 0-2 after a 97 MPH sinker.

Bautista spiked a splitter in the dirt, but Rutschman made a strong block to keep the tying run at third base. Bautista went back to the slider in a 1-2 count, and Bichette went down swinging to end the ball game. Rutschman practically started his fist pump before the ball hit his glove, and the backstop continued to show emotion as he hugged his All-Star closer.

The Orioles needed a win like this, and they got it. The Birds will look to keep the good vibes going tomorrow with Cade Povich on the mound at 1:35.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/1...kjerstad-rutschman-mullins-bautista-santander

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles minor league recap 4/13: Mayo homers, Young roughed up as part of four doubleheader day

Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images

It was a busy day of baseball on the farm.

There was a whole lot of minor league baseball yesterday. All four teams were rained out on Friday, which meant four doubleheaders on Saturday. Yes, eight games. All games were seven innings.

Triple-A: Gwinnett Stripers (ATL) 6, Norfolk Tides 1 - Game 1​

The Orioles will need a fifth starter next week, and Brandon Young could be the next man up. If that’s the case, yesterday was his last start before his promotion. It wasn’t a banner effort. The good news is he struck out six batters without a walk in five innings. But he also gave up five runs on six hits. He did retire eight in a row to start the game before things went south.

The offense was held to just four hits. Their only run came on a solo homer from Coby Mayo, his second of the year. Mayo also walked twice. Dylan Beavers also had one hit and two walks. Jud Fabian went 0-for-3.

Box Score

Triple-A: Tides 6, Stripers 2 - Game 2​

Raúl Alcantara started, and Kyle Brnovich relieved in this win for Norfolk. Each pitcher allowed one run. Alcantara walked two and allowed five hits. His run was a hit by pitch who moved up on groundouts and scored on a single. Brnovich allowed three hits and his run scored on a solo homer.

On offense, TT Bowens was in the middle of two multi-run innings. In the second, he homered for the first run. Then Maverick Handley doubled to knock in Livan Soto. In the fifth, Handley doubled again and Dylan Beavers singled to set the table for RBI singles from Dylan Carlson, Vimael Machín, and Bowens.

Fabian went hitless. Coby Mayo did not play. Old friend James McCann is playing for the Stripers. In this game he had a single and a walk.

Box Score

Double-A: Erie SeaWolves (DET) 18, Chesapeake Baysox 2 - Game 1​

This one was ugly. The SeaWolves jumped on starter Zach Fruit immediately. Fruit loaded the bases on two walks and a HBP to set the table for a Justice Bigbie grand slam. Three more batters reached before Fruit was pulled. All three scored, two after Fruit left the game. Fruit’s line was an ugly 0.0 IP, 3 H, 7 R, 3 BB. Erie continued to pile on against the relief crew with Edgar Portes being the hardest hit. He allowed six runs in 1.1 innings.

Both Baysox runs scored in the second inning. Max Wagner singled and later scored on a balk. Anthony Servideo doubled in Douglas Hodo III, who had reached on a fielder’s choice. The team had just five hits, two from Servideo.

Box Score

Double-A: Baysox 4, SeaWolves 3 - Game 2​

Trace Bright was the anti-Fruit in game two. He pitched 5.2 innings without allowing a hit. He struck out three batters and walked four. Four walks is disappointing, but you can get away with it when there are no hits. Bright did allow one unearned run. It scored when one of his walks came in to score on a throwing error from Frederick Bencosme.

The Baysox scored four runs despite having just five hits. Walks played a big part. Two runs scored in the second inning when Hudson Haskin tripled in Hodo and Servideo, who had walked. In the fourth, Hodo walked again and scored on a Servideo double. Then Haskin walked and scored on a single from Adam Retzbach.

Box Score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 12, Jersey Shore BlueClaws (PHI) 3 - Game 1​

Michael Forret had a great start for the IronBirds. He pitched five shutout innings with one hit and three walks allowed. He struck out five batters. He threw 76 pitches.

Every IronBirds hitter reached base at least once, and all but Jalen Vasquez had a hit. Vance Honeycutt reached base three times with a single, double, and walk. Cleanup batter Ethan Anderson doubled twice, walked, and drove in three. And Anderson De Los Santos hit his first home run of the year.

Box Score

High-A: BlueClaws 8, IronBirds 7 - Game 2​

The IronBirds had a 7-3 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning when the BlueClaws scored five runs against relief pitcher Ty Weatherly. Weatherly followed Blake Money, who had given up three runs in four innings. Two of those runs were unearned thanks to a fielding error from left fielder Luis Valdez. Money struck out four and walked one.

Valdez had two hits from the bottom of the lineup and knocked in three. Anderson singled and stole his sixth base of the season. Vasquez made up for his hitless game one with two hits in the nightcap. Honeycutt was hitless but walked twice. Griff O’Ferrall doubled and walked as the leadoff batter.

Box Score

Low-A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (HOU) 8, Delmarva Shorebirds 6 - Game 1​

Keeler Morfe lasted just one-third of an inning, which isn’t what you want to see. He faced seven batters and walked five of them. He struck out one and another batter reached on an error. Honestly, it’s impressive that five walks and an error in a third of an inning only resulted in three runs. His relief pitcher, Trent Turzenski, got a double-play ball to get out of the inning.

The Shorebirds offense outhit the Woodpeckers and also picked up seven walks. Every starter reached based at least once. Fernando Peguero reached base four times with two singles, a double, and a walk. Leadoff batter Braylin Tavera hit his first home run of the season.

Box Score

Low-A: Woodpeckers 6, Shorebirds 0 - Game 2​

Starting pitcher Eccel Correa allowed nine hits and five runs in 3.2 innings. Four relief pitchers combined to allow just one more run on two hits, but the damage was done.

The offense had just five hits in the shutout, two from Kevin Guerrero. Guerrero’s double was the team’s only extra base hit. Tavera singled, walked, and stole his first base. He also had his first caught stealing of the year.

Box Score

Today’s Schedule​

• Norfolk vs. Gwinnett, 1:05. Starter: Cameron Weston
• Chesapeake vs. Erie, 1:05. Starter: Patrick Reilly
• Aberdeen @ Jersey Shore, 1:05. Starter: Nestor German
• Delmarva vs. Fayetteville, 2:05. Starter: Sebastian Gongora

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/13/24407178/orioles-prospects-minors-recaps-coby-mayo

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Gregory Soto blows lead in the eighth, Orioles fall to Toronto in extra innings, 7-6

Old friend Anthony Santander continues to hit his former team well, and the O’s bullpen could not hold a 6-3 lead. | Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

The Orioles and Jays traded runs off the starters before the Jays closed the gap off the bullpen and O’s hitters failed to push across the winning run late.

Ahead of the 2020 season, Major League Baseball adopted a new rule that all pitchers, including relievers, would have to face a minimum of three batters. As a result of that decision, on April 13, 2025, the Baltimore Orioles lost a 7-6 game to the Toronto Blue Jays in extra innings.

OK, maybe I can’t prove that, but what I can tell you is that, prior to the three-batter minimum rule, an Orioles team holding a 6-3 lead in the eighth inning would never have allowed a disastrous Gregory Soto to keep throwing up meatballs and let this become a tie game. Soto’s terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad 0.2 innings went like this: Double. Wild Pitch. RBI Double. Single. Sac Bunt. RBI groundout. Then Yennier Cano let in a single, the tying run charged to Soto.

In extra innings, the Blue Jays scored the winning run off O’s reliever Matt Bowman, the last man cut by the Orioles in spring training. Bowman was fine, I guess. Even after he allowed a one-out single to left, Baltimore still had life as Toronto held the ghost runner at third in a sign of respect for defensive replacement Ramón Laureano. But the seventh run scored anyway on a tough-luck dribbler to third. Then two Orioles struck out in the bottom of the tenth. It was lame.

This game felt completely different before that disastrous eighth inning. The Orioles really like hitting off José Berríos, and Sunday was simply more proof. They scored a run off the Toronto starter in each of the first four innings, leading O’s Hall of Famer Brian Roberts to quip from the MASN booth, “It kind of feels like Berríos is dying a slow death out there.” If a bit exaggerated, it’s true that when a starter gives up four runs on seven hits, including two home runs, and lasts just five innings they will usually lose.

The Orioles offense looked pretty nice at that point, mixing in small ball and long balls. Their first run scored on a Gunnar Henderson leadoff single (his first of three hits on the day), a Ryan O’Hearn rocket single to right, and on a wild pitch. Their second came when Ryan Mountcastle blasted a Berríos slurve over the left-field wall for his first HR of the year (sweet revenge on the wall that has been so mean to him over the last few seasons).

The third run came during a shenanigan-filled third inning after the studly Gunnar led off with a triple over the glove of a stumbling Anthony Santander (we miss him, but not those lumbering plays in right field). Adley Rutschman hit a ground ball to Gold Glove second baseman Andrés Giménez, who daringly threw home. But he’d picked the wrong runner to try that on: a fired-up Henderson slid in just ahead of the tag, and Oriole Park went crazy. (See what I mean about this feeling like a completely different game?)

A chance for more was squandered when Jordan Westburg got rung up on a bad called strike by home plate ump John Bacon. Standing up for his hitter, skipper Brandon Hyde was ejected after making a two-finger gesture and shouting “Two times!” in reference to two blown calls against Westy (that, or perhaps the umpire had tried repeatedly to microwave a foil-wrapped Ding Dong).

The Orioles had one more big blow left in the tank against Berríos: Tyler O’Neill muscled a changeup over Walltimore, Mr. Canada’s second four-bagger this year, to make it 4-2 Orioles. Color man Brian Roberts announced, “You hang it, we bang it.” The booth was on fire today. Despite allowing two more hard hits, Berríos wriggled out of the inning without further damage.

As for O’s starter Cade Povich, today’s outing will end up being a footnote to the relief pitching fiasco, but overall, he pitched well. The Orioles still have training wheels on the rookie, who was lifted after 76 pitches over 4 2/3 innings by a cautious Robinson Chirinos, looking the part in his first game as interim manager. But still, even while allowing seven hits himself, Povich kept the damage to a minimum, holding Toronto to two runs and walking just one batter.

Too bad the bullpen couldn’t protect the lead. Keegan Akin pitched the sixth, but he didn’t pitch it well. Facing the bottom of the Toronto order, Akin surrendered a two-out double, an RBI single, and a four-pitch walk. It was 4-3 now, and with a different ending to this game, Seranthony Domínguez’s pumping three straight 96-97 mph fastballs past Bo Bichette would have been a signature moment.

Same the Orioles’ two-run rally against Toronto’s Nate Sandlin, capped off by a costly error by Toronto first baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr. that allowed Heston Kjerstad (he looked good today) and a mad scrambling Ryan Mountastle to score, sliding into home. Actually, Mountcastle kind of belly-flopped. It was funny. Those probably should have been the winning runs—I’m not mad or anything.

Less-incompetent relief pitching would also have allowed us to appreciate the work of the O’s defense in a key moment in the ninth: after Yennier Cano allowed a leadoff double in the ninth to Anthony Santander, the speedy Nathan Lukes was put in to run for him. But Lukes leaned a little far, Adley Rutschman fired alertly to second, and Gunnar fired a bullet to third to freeze the runner.

Even after all that, the Birds still had a good chance to win in regular innings after Adley hit a two-bagger with one out in the ninth. But Ryan O’Hearn struck out in a big spot and Jordan Westburg’s sinking flare was nabbed on the run by Lukes, making up for his baserunning blunder in a big way.

Thinking back to the Mountcastle and O’Neill home runs, the Gunnar triple and home-plate slide, Adley and Gunnar’s alert throws to nab the pinch-runner at third, and of course, a 6-3 lead in the eighth, this really felt like a game the Orioles should have won. There is no Most Birdland Oriole today, but you just may have thoughts about who the Least Birdland one was, and also about whether, not just the starting rotation, but also the bullpen needs some bolstering, too.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/13/24407701/mlb-scores-orioles-blue-jays-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Podcast: Early Orioles woes remain unresolved

Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Orioles almost made everybody feel better about them.

Are you looking for a podcast about your favorite baseball team? Unless you’ve found your way onto this Orioles website by mistake, you’re in luck, because I have a new episode every Monday and Friday about the ongoing 2025 Orioles season. Episodes are 20-25 minutes in length and usually feature me reacting to the current trajectory of the team while looking ahead to what’s coming next.

Today’s episode includes this bit in which I am trying to will myself into believing that Dean Kremer is due to pitch better than he’s done so far in 2025:

The Wednesday Orioles starter is Dean Kremer, another guy with an ERA over 8. It’s 8.16! He’s allowed four home runs in 14.1 innings. Even more than Charlie Morton, another 8+ ERA guy, since Morton is 41 and Kremer’s only 29, you can expect better than this. I didn’t have high expectations for Kremer, but still, his previous two years: 4.12 ERA in 2023, then 4.10 ERA last year. Those aren’t great numbers, but that guy should be your #4 or #5 starter. Kremer shouldn’t stink this much and probably is due to look like he’s done the last couple of years. Maybe he’ll start to do it against this Guardians team that has a few good hitters and also a whole lot of junk in its lineup.

You can listen to the whole thing here:

If you’d like to subscribe so that it drops right into your podcast feed, you can find it on Apple, Spotify, or whatever place you like to get your podcasts. Thanks for your support!

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/14/24407793/orioles-podcast-2025-dean-kremer