News Orioles Team Notes

[Baltimore Orioles]

This week in the Orioles minors: Honeycutt and Anderson stand out for Aberdeen

Photo by Kelly Gavin/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Norfolk had signs of life from Coby Mayo, Aberdeen saw last year’s picks do well, and other week 2 highlights.

Each Tuesday on Camden Chat, we look back on the last week of action from the Orioles minor league affiliates, with a particular focus on the performance of players from Camden Chat’s composite top Orioles prospect list.

One belated prospect list was released in the past week. FanGraphs posted a top 50 for the Orioles system. They’ve got some different opinions than the lists that were used for my composite ranking.

Triple-A Norfolk Tides​

• Last week: 2-4 vs. Gwinnett (Braves)
• Next opponent: at Omaha (Royals)
• Overall record and standing: 6-9, tied-fifth place (6 games back) in International League East

Let’s hope that this week heralds the beginning of the Coby Mayo revival, as the slugging prospect shook off a rough start to his season with a pair of home runs across five games played. Mayo added five walks to his tally and only struck out three times. Pretty good! This was a 1.420 OPS for the week, boosting his season number to .861.

Outfielder Jud Fabian got in on the home run party, doing so in very Fabian fashion. He was just 4-21 at the week and struck out 11 times, but three of his four hits were for extra bases, including two dingers, and he walked four times. That’s a lot of the three true outcomes. Fabian is hitting just .216 through 14 games but OPSing .828. Fellow outfielder Dylan Beavers added no extra-base hits, but he had five hits and six walks in six games, plus he stole five bases.

However, it was not a good week for the pitching prospects in Norfolk’s rotation. Righty Cameron Weston made a pair of starts but only pitched 8.1 innings between them. That was still enough time to allow nine runs (eight earned) as he walked five guys and hit two batters. Brandon Young started only once and his start wasn’t very good either, with five earned runs allowed in five innings. If the fact that he struck out six and walked none makes you feel better, don’t let me stop you.

Also notable

• C Samuel Basallo - Remains on the injured list with a hamstring strain.
• RHP Kyle Brnovich - The “other” Kyle of the Dylan Bundy deal that brought Bradish to the Orioles is finally back to Norfolk after 2022 Tommy John surgery. In a long relief outing, he allowed one run in four innings, striking out five; Brnovich has 18 strikeouts in 12.2 innings for the season.

Tides season-to-date stats.

Double-A Chesapeake Baysox​

• Last week: 3-3 vs. Erie (Tigers)
• Next opponent: at Richmond (Giants)
• Overall record and standing: 5-4, third place (2 games back) in Eastern League Southwest

The injury bug bit the top Baysox prospect this week. Outfielder Enrique Bradfield raced for a triple in a game this week and came up limping from that. He was diagnosed with a hamstring strain and is on the injured list. He had a 1.032 OPS through his first six games, so it’s a doubly disappointing injury.

Next-most interesting among Chesapeake batters, at least as far as our composite ranking is concerned, is catcher/first baseman Creed Willems, who had a fine if unexciting week at the plate, going 5-18 with three doubles.

In contrast to the Norfolk pitching prospects, some Chesapeake guys can feel good about their outings this week. Patrick Reilly made two starts and allowed only two runs over 8.2 innings, though he did walk four guys. As I will say perhaps every week: Stop walking so many dudes, Orioles pitching prospects! Trace Bright allowed one run (none earned) over 5.2 no-hit innings. That’s good! He walked four guys. That’s not good.

Things did not go so well this week for Zach Fruit, who gave up seven earned runs in a no-outer. Three hits, three walks, and a hit batsman, and they all eventually scored. Yowza.

Also notable

• RHP Alex Pham - One run allowed in 5.1 innings, and unlike these other guys he did NOT walk too many dudes - just one compared to nine strikeouts. A fine start.
• OF Tavian Josenberger - Five hits in 17 at-bats, with one double, triple, and home run apiece, and a stolen base.

Baysox season-to-date stats.

High-A Aberdeen IronBirds​

• Last week:4-2 at Jersey Shore (Phillies)
• Next opponent: vs. Brooklyn (Mets)
• Overall record and standing: 5-4, tied-third place (2 games back) in South Atlantic League North

Probably more than a bit premature to call this a breakout week for Vance Honeycutt since he struck out eight times in six games, but make no mistake, this was a very good week for last year’s first round pick: Seven hits in 18 at-bats (double, triple, and homer included), and he drew seven walks, and he stole four bases. Honeycutt’s OPSing 1.004 through nine games played.

Teammate Ethan Anderson - being used more as a catcher than a first baseman so far - is above even Honeycutt’s early OPS. Anderson went 8-21 in five games, with three doubles and a homer. All of that action was enough for him to drive in eleven runs. Really, there was lots to be happy about with this Aberdeen offense: Leandro Arias had eight hits over five games and stole two bases, and Aron Estrada stole five bases while getting in nine hits over six games.

Remaining in this rotation is the trio of Michael Forret, Nestor German, and Trey Gibson. German was the guy who made two starts this week, totaling just 6.2 innings overall with four earned runs allowed. This included four walks. I refer you to my earlier statement regarding free passes. Gibson’s start went for just 3.2 innings, still enough time for him to strike out seven as he allowed only one run. Forret pitched five shutout innings with five strikeouts. I dig it.

Also notable

• OF Austin Overn - #4 in the system on that FG list, he missed both games of a Saturday doubleheader and didn’t play Sunday either. That’s weird and probably won’t have good news at the end of it. Homered and stole two bases in the three games he did play.

IronBirds season-to-date stats.

Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds​

• Last week: 3-3 vs. Fayetteville (Astros)
• Next opponent: at Carolina (Brewers)
• Overall record and standing: 3-6, sixth/last place (5 games back) in Carolina League North

I’d really like to be able to tell you something good about Keeler Morfe, the 18-year-old righty who’s the only ranked prospect on our list on this Delmarva roster to begin the season. That’s what I’d like. The reality is that Morfe started one game, pitched one-third of an inning, and walked five guys. Morfe has walked 10 of 15 batters faced in two games.

Much better things to say about Chase Allsup, last year’s fourth round pick. In a five inning scoreless start, Allsup struck out ten guys while giving up just one hit and two walks. The 22-year-old may not have much to prove at this level. Mike Elias isn’t likely to ask me, but I’d have Bright to Norfolk, Forret to Chesapeake, and Allsup to Aberdeen pretty soon here.

Shorebirds season-to-date stats.

**

The overwhelming favorite for the season’s first Orioles Minor League Player of the Week poll was Tides pitcher Brandon Young. He might have made his MLB debut by the time we speak again. Young won 85% of the vote after dropping a 0.00 ERA through his first two starts with Norfolk. He will not be a repeat winner since he stunk this week and is not going to make the poll. Who’s joining him on the list of weekly winners? The choice is yours.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/15/24408442/orioles-prospects-vance-honeycutt-chase-allsup

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Tuesday night Orioles game thread: vs Guardians, 7:05

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Can Charlie Morton finally turn in a good start for the Orioles? Let’s all hope so.

We haven’t gotten much Orioles baseball in the last few days. They have played just twice since April 9, going 1-1 in that time. At the very least, these guys should be well-rested ahead of this series against the visiting Cleveland Guardians.

The bullpen will have a new face in it since the last time we saw the O’s in action. Scott Blewett, a righty claimed off waivers from the Twins on Monday, was activated. He will replace Colin Selby, who pitched just once since being called up, and will return to Triple-A Norfolk.

But perhaps the most important person of the day is Charlie Morton. The 41-year-old has been a disaster through three games with the Orioles. At some point he has to become the dependable, 4-ish ERA innings eater that the Orioles thought they have signed this winter, right? RIGHT!?

Brandon Hyde is deploying his full complement of right-handed hitters to face the lefty Logan Allen. He is also dropping Gunnar Henderson in the order, from lead off to the clean-up spot. This could simply be a bet that Henderson is about to run into his first home run of the season, and Hyde would like some runners on base when he does it. It’s worth noting that Henderson is 0-for-7 against southpaws so far this year.

Orioles lineup​

1. Jordan Westburg, 3B
2. Adley Rutschman, DH
3. Tyler O’Neill, RF
4. Gunnar Henderson, SS
5. Ryan Mountcastle, 1B
6. Gary Sánchez, C
7. Cedric Mullins, CF
8. Ramon Laureano, LF
9. Jorge Mateo, 2B

RHP Charlie Morton (0-3, 8.78 ERA)

Guardians lineup​

1. Steven Kwan, LF
2. José Ramirez, 3B
3. Carlos Santana, 1B
4. Kyle Manzardo, DH
5. Nolan Jones, RF
6. Gabiral Arias, 2B
7. Angel Martínez, CF
8. Bo Naylor, C
9. Bryan Rocchio, SS

LHP Logan Allen (0-1, 3.60 ERA)

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/15/24408927/tuesday-night-orioles-game-thread-vs-guardians-7-05

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

The Orioles bullpen cannot save this substandard starting rotation

Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Orioles injury-riddled starting rotation has been a disaster, and a strong bullpen cannot offset the shortcomings.

It’s been a long time since the Orioles featured a dominant starting rotation. Baltimore’s last two division winners (2014, 2023) both possessed units capable of delivering quality starts, but neither bunch struck fear into its opponent.

The Orioles current rotation isn’t scaring anyone right now. The group, already without Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells, lost its top two pitchers before the middle of April. Now, without Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez, Baltimore has no idea what to expect on a nightly basis.

Dean Kremer and Charlie Morton have both disappointed early in the season. Tomoyuki Sugano has yet to inspire confidence that he can routinely retire big league hitters, and Cade Povich still needs some polish. Baltimore’s depth has been decimated by injuries with Albert Suárez, Trevor Rogers, and Chayce McDermott all ruled out as immediate reinforcements.

Brandon Young could make his major league debut this weekend. The Birds are starved for some positive momentum on the mound, and Young made significant progress at Triple-A dating back to last season. Any bit helps with a rotation this down in the dumps, but Young’s arrival will not significantly alter the current state. Kyle Gibson probably can’t save this bunch either.

The 2014 and 2023 teams possessed dominant bullpens that were capable of keeping the opponent off the scoreboard for three or four innings. Fortunately, early returns on this year’s bullpen are quite favorable. Could the Orioles ride the same strategy this year?

For argument's sake, let’s assume Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto pitch to their potential for the duration of the season. Yennier Cano and Keegan Akin have a solid track record, Bryan Baker suddenly looks like a difference maker, and everyone not named Cionel Pérez has pitched well so far.

Félix Bautista is the ultimate difference maker. The former All Star returned after missing all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Unfortunately, Baltimore’s disappointing start has not yielded many save opportunities for The Mountain.

The lack of late-inning drama has mostly kept Bautista’s early season limitations out of the spotlight, but Sunday’s extra-inning defeat brought the conversation front row center. The Orioles are not asking Bautista to pitch multiple innings or work consecutive days until further notice.

Bautista’s restrictions really prevent Baltimore from carving out a late-inning template or a clearly defined pecking order. It feels unnecessary to name a “backup closer,” but the current picture is cloudier than “O’Day, Miller, Britton.”

The Baltimore bullpen is essentially operating with one hand tied behind its back. Nobody can blame the Orioles for easing Bautista back into things, but the current circumstances will prevent the bullpen from becoming a truly dominant unit, and the Orioles need something special to offset their rotation woes.

There’s really no reason to believe a Baltimore starter will deliver more than five innings right now. Even if the bats do their part, the opponent will likely post a crooked number within that span. A winning recipe would require four relief pitchers to work within a small margin of error on a nightly basis. That’s simply not sustainable for any team.

The 2014 rotation featured Chris Tillman (3.34 ERA), Wei-Yin Chen (3.54 ERA), Miguel González (3.24 ERA), Bud Norris (3.65 ERA) and Kevin Gausman (3.57 ERA). The 2023 squad received a dominant season from Bradish (2.83 ERA), a nice year from Wells (3.64 ERA) and decent years from Kremer, Rodriguez and Gibson.

The Orioles still hold aspirations of winning the AL East, and there’s plenty of factors that could turn in the team’s favor as the temperature rises. Gunnar Henderson should get going, Colton Cowser will return, and Andrew Kittredge could bolster an already strong relief unit.

But at the end of the day, it’s hard to see this team excelling unless Eflin, Rodriguez and Bradish are taking the ball every fifth day. That level of rotation, paired with a strong bullpen, could make a run in October—if the team hasn’t fallen too far out of contention by then.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/1...struggles-bullpen-felix-bautista-brandon-hyde

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Holliday’s grand slam, Kremer’s strong start lead Orioles to 9-1 victory over Cleveland

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Orioles combined a powerful offensive showing with a stabilizing start from Dean Kremer in a 9-1 win over the Guardians.

The vibes have been less than stellar in Birdland this month, but a game like tonight goes a long way toward calming the nerves. Jackson Holliday sparked the offense with a grand slam, Dean Kremer played stopper, and the offense broke things open late in a 9-1 victory over the Guardians at Camden Yards.

Holliday’s second-inning swing took the pressure off Kremer and a struggling Orioles offense. Ryan Mountcastle sandwiched a soft single between walks to Cedric Mullins and Ramón Urías, and Holliday muscled a 1-0 sweeper over the center field fence. The “Four Bagger Hoser” sent Holliday and all three base runners to the hydration station in the Baltimore dugout for the first time this season.

The Orioles desperately needed a strong performance from a starting pitcher, and Kremer stepped up tonight. The 29-year-old limited Cleveland to only one run over 5.1 innings. He allowed four hits, one walk, and struck out a pair.

Baltimore’s injury-riddled rotation has been substandard so far this spring, and Kremer had contributed to the chaos before this evening. The righty allowed five earned runs in his first start of the season and failed to complete five innings in his last two outings.

He set the tone early tonight with a pair of clean innings to start the game. Holliday provided the four-run cushion after two frames, and Kremer made his only mistake in the top of the third. Pitching with a lead, Kremer threw a 2-0 cutter right over the heart of the plate. Gabriel Arias launched the ball 424 feet to dead center, but Kremer retired the next three batters he faced.

The long-haired hurler worked around a one-out single in the fourth and escaped his only true jam in the top of the fifth. Kremer walked Arias with one out, retired Bo Naylor, and allowed a hard hit ball up the middle by Daniel Schneemann. Kremer went into self defense mode, but Henderson appeared to have a play before the ball bounced off of second base. Regardless, Kremer generated a harmless grounder from Steven Kwan to strand runners on the corners.

Kremer left after allowing a single to José Ramirez and getting Carlos Santana to pop out. Pitching into the sixth inning represents a win for the Orioles right now, and Kremer earned his second official win of the season tonight.

Bryan Baker replaced Kremer and immediately allowed a single to Kyle Manzardo before retiring Lane Thomas for the second out. Angel Martínez nearly trimmed the lead to one with a liner to right field, but Heston Kjerstad chased the ball down and made a sliding catch to end the threat.

Baker retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh, and Gregory Soto struck out Kwan to end the inning. Soto returned in the eighth inning and allowed the first two batters to reach. Yennier Cano struck out Jhonkensy Noel for the first out, but a one-out walk allowed the tying run to come to the plate. With tensions suddenly high, Cano generated a weak dribbler from Martínez.

Cano flipped home for the second out, and Adley Rutschman fired to first for a potential inning-ending double play. Mountcastle failed to secure the throw, but Martínez was called out for running outside of the baseline. The MASN replay showed Martínez running inside the grass as Rutschman fired to first base.

Somewhat lost in the offensive outburst was the fact that Tyler O’Neill was scratched from the lineup with a sore neck. Ramón Laureano, originally not in the lineup, replaced O’Neill and hooked a solo homer inside the foul pole in left field in the seventh inning. The blast marked Laureano’s first homer in a Baltimore uniform.

Hyde labeled O’Neill “day-to-day” after the game.

The O’s stretched the lead to eight with a four-run eighth inning off a wild Triston McKenzie. Ryan O’Hearn hooked a moonshot inside the foul pole in right for a solo homer, Kjerstad plated a pair with a single to right, and Ramón Urías drove in the ninth run of the game with a sacrifice fly.

The Orioles pitched, the Orioles hit, and the Orioles won the game. The natural next step would be securing the first series victory of the season. Baltimore will look to take two-of-three with Tomoyuki Sugano on the mound tomorrow at 6:35.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/1...recap-jackson-holliday-grand-slam-dean-kremer

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

The biggest deliverers (or not) of Orioles Magic, so far - week 3 edition

Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images

Some Orioles have been coming through so far, but many have not.

It only feels like it’s been a long week of Orioles baseball because of how they played. Due to two scheduled off days and last Friday’s game being postponed to July, the O’s have only played four games since this time last week. That was still enough time for them to squeeze in the first big bullpen meltdown of the year. As glum as it felt, the Orioles are 2-2 over these four games. They haven’t shown improvement and they haven’t collapsed.

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 third week of the Orioles season:

Game 14​

• Result: Orioles beat Blue Jays, 5-4
• Orioles record: 6-8
• The biggest play: Cedric Mullins breaks tie by hitting two-run double in sixth inning (+28%)
• The biggest hero: Mullins (.291 WPA)

One notable thing that happened in this game is that the Orioles collected their first save of the year. Félix Bautista was called upon to protect the one-run lead. When he entered the game, the Orioles had an 85% chance to win. After three batters, this was down to 73% because he’d issued two walks, but Bautista protected the lead and got the save. That’s .152 WPA in the first outing. Closers who succeed get big numbers over time.

Mullins with the tiebreaker in a big situation was the biggest positive swing for the Orioles. Coming through with men on and getting two runs in is big at any point in a game, but especially later on. You could easily say that Mullins is the largest bright spot for the O’s so far this season. Perhaps even that he’s the only bright spot up to this point. If he’s going to follow Anthony Santander in having a “just before hitting free agency” season for the ages, I won’t be sad about that - only about the Orioles apparent lack of attempts to secure a contract extension with him.

Game 15​

• Result: Orioles lose to Blue Jays, 7-6
• Record: 6-9
• The biggest play: Tyler O’Neill strikes out in 10th inning with man on third and one out (-25%)
• The biggest goat: Jordan Westburg (-.207 WPA)

Falling behind in extra innings as the home team isn’t great because you’d rather give up the run, but the thing about it is that you’re going to get the Manfred Man starting right there on second base too. The Orioles got the tying run to third base with one out. All O’Neill had to do was put the ball in play and see if he could have something productive happen with the would-be tying run. He failed.

Westburg piled up the biggest negative since he took an 0-5 in the game, including a first inning strikeout with a man on third base and only one out (-7%), and flying out in the ninth inning when the winning run was on second base (-10%). Gregory Soto, who blew the three-run eighth inning lead, was just the third-worst O’s WPA for the game (-.154), behind Westburg and O’Neill. Had this lead been blown in the ninth, it would have been a much bigger negative.

Game 16​

• Result: Orioles lose to Guardians, 6-3
• Record: 6-10
• The biggest play: Steven Kwan hits two-run home run off Charlie Morton in fifth inning (-13%)
• The biggest goat: Morton (-.188 WPA)

A common theme of every one of Morton’s four starts to date is that Morton pitched badly, put the Orioles in a big hole, and did the most to make the O’s lose that game. All the options that Mike Elias had to try to improve the rotation for this season and he decided to give $15 million to the 41-year-old Morton. This is not looking like it will turn out to be a good decision.

Pretty much the lone positive for the Orioles in this game was Mullins, who was on base three times and stole a base, giving him .101 WPA for the game. Adley Rutschman had just as much impact on the game except in the negatives (-.101 WPA) for his 0-5 night.

Game 17​

• Result: Orioles beat Guardians, 9-1
• Record: 7-10
• The biggest play: Jackson Holliday hits a grand slam in the second inning to put the Orioles up, 4-0 (+23%)
• The biggest hero: Holliday (.222 WPA)

It’s never bad when the Orioles hit a grand slam. It’s especially not bad to get a grand slam that breaks a 0-0 tie early in the game. Holliday’s salami put the O’s in a strong position to win the game - the Orioles were 88% to win after that big four-run blast. He needed that. He needs some more good hitting beyond.

It is not unheard of for a team to blow that kind of lead, and goodness knows with the Orioles rotation it would be even less of a surprise. But a better version of Dean Kremer showed up in this game (the #2 positive contributor behind Holliday) and the O’s kept on scoring, so it turned into a relatively comfortable win. I say relatively because the Guardians did load the bases in the eighth when it was still just 5-1. That could have gotten worse, but it didn’t.

The best Orioles so far​

This time last week, the best hitter by WPA was Ramón Urías (0.34) and the best pitcher was Zach Eflin (0.26).

• WPA (hitters): Cedric Mullins (0.60), Urías (0.38), Ryan O’Hearn (0.29)
• WPA (pitchers): Seranthony Domínguez (0.35), Bryan Baker (0.30), Yennier Cano (0.30)
• fWAR: Mullins (1.0), O’Hearn (0.5), Cade Povich (0.4)

bWAR leaders are Mullins (0.9) for hitters and Cano (0.5) for pitchers.

The worst Orioles so far​

Through two weeks of games, the worst hitter by WPA was Heston Kjerstad (-0.46) and the worst pitcher was Charlie Morton (-0.76).

• WPA (hitters): Jordan Westburg (-0.58), Ramón Laureano (-0.51), Kjerstad (-0.40)
• WPA (pitchers): Morton (-0.94), Dean Kremer (-0.42), Cionel Pérez (-0.29)
• fWAR: Jorge Mateo (-0.5), Pérez (-0.2), Gary Sánchez (-0.2)

bWAR negatives are led by Mateo (-0.5) for hitters and Pérez (-0.4) for pitchers.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/17/24409745/orioles-best-worst-players-clutch-hitters-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Your daily Orioles trivia game, Friday 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​

Thursday, April 17, 2025
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Tuesday, April 15, 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/2025/4/18/24411078/sb-nation-orioles-daily-trivia-in-5

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Can you guess this Orioles outfielder 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​

Friday, April 18, 2025
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Wednesday, April 16, 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/2025/4/19/24411817/sb-nation-orioles-daily-trivia-in-5

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles power 5 HRs, survive a wild slugfest to beat Reds, 9-5

Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

Ramón Laureano, who didn’t even start the game, hit two home runs to help the O’s overcome a nine-walk pitching performance.

Let’s just say it: this is a game the Orioles had no business winning.

The O’s had a pitcher making his major league debut facing off against the best pitcher in baseball. Orioles pitchers allowed 13 hits and nine walks, with the Reds getting 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Had just one or two of the 365 pitches in this game gone differently, we could well be talking about another depressing Birds defeat.

And yet: the Orioles pulled it out. Thanks to a five-homer Birds attack and Cincinnati stranding a small army of baserunners, the O’s got back on track, winning 9-5. What a way to make a living.

The all-orange-clad Orioles took the field with an all-new pitcher, Brandon Young, freshly recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to make his major league debut. The shaggy-haired right-hander wasn’t exactly fooling anyone early. He gave up four hits in the first inning, but limited the damage to one run with help from his defense. After leadoff man TJ Friedl singled, Young retired the next two batters before Austin Hays, Gavin Lux, and Santiago Espinal knocked consecutive hits. Lux’s single drove in a run, but Espinal’s did not, thanks to a great throw by right fielder Tyler O’Neill to cut down Hays trying to score. Nice one! O’Neill may have the defensive range of a potted plant, but his arm is no joke.

The Orioles answered back immediately, all the more impressive because they did it against Hunter Greene, who’d entered the game as the most dominant starter in the majors this year (0.98 ERA in four starts). Leadoff man Cedric Mullins continued his scalding 2025 season with a 393-foot smash to right-center, tying the game at one. Just two pitches later, Gunnar Henderson went two feet further with a blast of his own to center. The fans in Mr. Splash’s section, still soggy from Mullins’s blast, were promptly re-doused.

How about that? Hunter Greene had allowed only one home run in 27.2 innings before today. Then he gives up two to the first two Orioles he faces. As Jayson Stark would say: baseball! It was the Birds’ first instance of back-to-back homers to lead off the game since June 7, 2022, which also involved Mullins (and Trey Mancini).

Greene clearly was off his game. The rest of his first inning saw him drill not one but two Orioles hitters, including Heston Kjerstad in the arm with a 100-mph fastball. Though he was wearing an elbow pad, Kjerstad was in obvious pain, as we all would be. He initially stayed in the game, but was pulled in the third inning with a right elbow contusion. Poor Heston just cannot catch a break.

Handed his first lead, Young immediately gave it back, coughing up a Eutaw Street blast to Jake Fraley to begin the second. Welcome to the show, Brandon. For the second straight inning, the Reds got four runners but just one run, thanks to an excellent pickoff by Young, who caught Jeimer Candelario leaning at first after walking him. The next two batters both doubled, so, you know, good thing Candelario wasn’t still on base. The Reds did take a 3-2 lead, though.

Still, the Orioles continued to hound Greene. Hunter became the hunted, you might say. Doubles by Ramón Urías and Henderson tied the game at three, and by the time the second inning ended, Greene was already at 59 pitches. Kudos to the O’s offense for putting together some really good at-bats against a very tough pitcher.

The onslaught continued in the third when O’Neill drew a leadoff walk and Ramón Laureano — Ramón Laureano, of all people! — crushed a two-run homer to left, giving the Orioles a 5-3 lead. Laureano was only in the game because he replaced the injured Kjerstad, so Greene’s master plan to intentionally knock Heston out of the game really backfired. Greene finished the inning but, at 77 pitches, he didn’t return for the fourth. This from a guy who had pitched 7.0, 8.2, and 7.0 innings in his last three games. Go figure.

We can officially say that Brandon Young outpitched Hunter Greene in his major league debut, so that’s something to hang his hat on. Young had his first perfect inning in the third, then erased a walk with a double play in a scoreless fourth. He came back out for the fifth but walked the leadoff man, bringing Brandon Hyde out of the dugout for a pitching change.

Young threw 81 pitches, giving up seven hits, three walks, and three runs. It wasn’t the prettiest debut, but he seemed to get better as the game went on. Young flashed five pitches — a cutter, four-seamer, curveball, slider, and changeup — and got all three of his strikeouts on the change. We’ll see if he gets another start or if Kyle Gibson will replace him the next time through the rotation.

It was time for the Orioles bullpen to white-knuckle it through the next few innings. Bryan Baker replaced Young in the fifth and got himself into a bases-loaded mess with a pair of walks, but retired Espinal on a liner to right to escape. Keegan Akin started the sixth and walked the first batter — the third straight Reds inning with a leadoff walk — and that turned into a run after a Candelario double and a Friedl bunt single that Ryan O’Hearn muffed at first base.

The O’s lead was shaved to 5-4, with the potential tying run at third with only one out. But Seranthony Dominguez got the desperately needed double play, with third baseman Ramón Urías niftily spearing a sharp Matt McLain grounder and turning the 5-4-3.

The seventh inning was a similar high-wire act. Elly De La Cruz led off with a single and, with one out, stole both second and third base, putting the tying run 90 feet away. Again, the Orioles somehow survived. Southpaw Gregory Soto pulled some reverse-splits shenanigans and walked both left-handed batters he faced but retired both righties, ending with a bases-loaded groundout by Candelario. Once more: exhale. The Reds went 4-for-17 with men in scoring position in this game, stranding 13 runners on base.

Tired of the walking the perpetual tightrope, the O’s set out to add some insurance runs. They did it in the seventh thanks to another set of back-to-back homers, this time from Laureano — his second of the game — and Jordan Westburg, who finally snapped an 0-for-30 drought in the most prodigious fashion. Good for Jordan, but how about that Ramón Laureano? It was his fifth career multi-homer game. The supposed lefty-masher has hit all three of his homers this year off of right-handers.

With Félix Bautista warming, the Orioles added two more in the eighth on consecutive RBI singles by the O’s — O’Hearn and O’Neill — off of Carson Spiers. The righty Spiers did yeoman’s work, throwing 94 pitches to work the final four innings, even though he had been slated to start tomorrow’s finale.

Now up 9-4, Bautista sat down and Matt Bowman started the ninth instead. But Félix didn’t get the day off he’d hoped, because Bowman was awful, coughing up a leadoff homer to Hays followed by a double and a walk. Sigh. Nothing is easy in this game. With the tying run now on deck, Bautista came in for the save situation and, fortunately, put out the fire. He struck out Fraley and retired Candelario on a grounder for two outs, and Laureano, appropriately enough, made a nice leaping catch on a Jose Trevino liner to left to seal the win.

Boy, that one was a slog. But you can’t argue with the end result. The Orioles are back in the win column.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/19/24412076/orioles-reds-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles minor league recap 4/20: Patrick Reilly exits game with sore elbow

Photo by Benjamin Linteris/MLB Photos via Getty Images

The Tides were the lone winners on the farm last night.

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 11, Omaha Storm Chasers (KCR) 1​

Cameron Weston pitched four shutout innings. He allowed just three hits but walked four, which isn’t great. Roansy Contreras picked up the win with three hitless innings.

The offense had two big innings, the second and the ninth. Chadwick Tromp, Dylan Carlson, and Terrin Vavra had RBI hits as part of the five-run second. It was a big night for Carlson and Vavra, who had three hits each. Carlson and Vavra both also had hits in the four-run ninth inning, along with Dylan Beavers and Emmanuel Rivera.

Coby Mayo smacked an RBI double for his only hit of the game, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.

Box Score

Double-A: Richmond Flying Squirrels (SFG) 1, Chesapeake Baysox 0​

It was bad news for starter Patrick Reilly, who exited the game after just one inning with right elbow discomfort. Reilly is currently the #10 prospect on Camden Chat’s composite list and had gotten off to a good start this season. It’s hard to be optimistic about elbow soreness but hopefully this is nothing serious.

The bullpen picked up the slack in a big way with just one run on four hits over the final seven innings.

The Baysox managed just three hits in this game, two from first baseman Adam Retzbach. The third was from Creed Willems. Max Wagner walked twice.

Box Score

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM) 4, Aberdeen IronBirds 3​

Griff O’Ferrall and Anderson De Los Santos homered to account for all three runs the IronBirds scored. They both had two hits in the game. Vance Honeycutt and Austin Overn both went 0-for-4. Leandro Arias walked twice.

Nestor German had a good start, going into the sixth inning for the first time this season. He pitched 5.2 innings with just two runs allowed. He struck out five and walked none. Juan Rojas took the loss with two runs allowed over his three innings pitched.

Box Score

Low-A: Carolina Mudcats (MIL) 5, Delmarva Shorebirds 2​

Jacob Cravey allowed three runs in five innings, the first earned runs he’s given up this season. Ben Vespi, little brother of Nick, pitched two innings with one hit and two strikeouts.

The offense had seven hits, evenly spread among seven different hitters. The Shorebirds scored a single run in each of the fifth and eighth innings. In the fifth, shortstop Maikol Hernández and catcher Cole Urman doubled with Urman’s hit knocking in Hernández. In the eighth, Kelvin Guerrero walked and later scored on a sac fly from Alfredo Velásquez.

Box Score

Today’s Schedule​

• Norfolk @ Omaha, 3:05 pm. Starter: Kyle Gibson
• Chesapeake @ Richmond, 1:35 pm. Starter: Ryan Long
• Aberdeen vs Brooklyn, 2:05 pm. Starter: Trey Gibson
• Delmarva @ Carolina, 1:00 pm. Starter: Sebastian Gongora

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/2...eague-recap-ironbirds-shorebirds-baysox-tides

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

No one player can rescue the Orioles rotation

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Injuries and poor performance have ravaged the starting rotation. It’s not one or two problem spots, it’s everything.

Our worst baseball fears have been realized. The Orioles starting rotation is a disaster. It’s the worst group in Major League Baseball, and no other team is particularly close. Even worse than that? There’s not much that can be done about it at this point.

During the offseason, Mike Elias and the Orioles’ front office reportedly made a push to re-sign Corbin Burnes. When that didn’t pan out, they pivoted to a focus on depth. That landed them with Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton as their rotational reinforcements, while Kyle Gibson was also added at the very end of spring training.

Sugano has been a mixed bag that has produced solid top line results (3.43 ERA), but possesses scary peripherals (3.43 K/9, 6.41 xERA) that are probably going to poke their head above the surface at some point. Despite that, Sugano is still the team’s best healthy starter at the moment.

Morton has no such positives to point to. His 10.89 ERA is the worst in MLB among pitchers with 11 or more innings thrown this season. He has a ridiculous 2.226 WHIP and over 20.2 innings has walked 15 batters. It’s all been bad.

While Morton is the team’s worst offender, it’s not as if the rest of the current rotation has been tremendous. Dean Kremer and Cade Povich both have ERAs in the mid-6s, and each of them has had just one good start in four tries.

On most teams, at least one of those four would be pushed aside for another internal option. The Orioles just don’t have much to choose from right now.

Injuries have taken a serious toll on the depth that the Orioles thought they built up over the winter. The team already knew that Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells would be out until the second half of the season following elbow surgery. They were joined on the shelf during the offseason by Chayce McDermott (lat strain) and Trevor Rogers (knee subluxation).

Since spring training started, the Orioles have gotten nothing but bad news on the pitching front. Zach Eflin is out until May with a lat strain. Albert Suárez won’t be back until June or so with a right subscapularis strain. And on top of it all, Grayson Rodriguez’s entire season is in question. The former top prospect began the season on the IL with elbow discomfort. He has since experienced shoulder issues, and is currently seeking an ominous second opinion.

Brandon Young represented one of the few healthy and viable internal options the club had. They brought him up over the weekend for his MLB debut. That went...OK. The 26-year-old only lasted four innings, but kept the O’s close in a game they ultimately won. Are the Orioles confident in him pitching every fifth game? Their confidence could be irrelevant to their needs. For now, Young was optioned back to Norfolk after the game to give them an extra bullpen arm

Gibson will probably be up sometime soon. His contract has a May 1 opt out if he isn’t with the big league club. His most recent start down in the minors was good. He lasted five innings and allowed just one earned run, albeit at High-A Aberdeen. But even if the 37-year-old Gibson can be the guy that he was in St. Louis last year (4.24 ERA over 169.2 innings), it’s akin to putting a band aid on a broken leg.

The Orioles don’t have one or two problem spots in the rotation. It’s the whole unit. Even if Gibson is an improvement, he wouldn’t even be replacing anyone right now. He would simply be slotting into the empty spot that exists because of the injury list.

It seems like May will at least bring the Orioles some options. Eflin resumed throwing on April 16, and he shouldn’t need a huge ramp up period, since that represented only a week off. McDermott and Rogers are essentially just starting their spring training routines. That puts them in position to be big league ready by the end of next month.

While it’s nice to have options, Eflin is the only one that is a clear and obvious upgrade. McDermott has oodles of potential, but still needs to prove it on the big league stage. Rogers feels like a pet project for Elias. Once upon a time he was good, but that was four seasons ago, and he was dreadful for the Orioles last year.

And who is to say that even more injuries won’t befall the Orioles by the time some of these potential reinforcements are fit to pitch? We might all be clamoring for the 2021 version of Matt Harvey before it’s all said and done. Just give me someone that can survive 4-5 ugly innings every time out!

If it was June or July, trades could be avenue to add. But right now, that market is quiet. Teams are still trying to figure out their plans. That’s not to say you can’t go and pull something off, but good luck being the lone team on the hunt with a rotation that is bleeding. Any team with a pitcher to deal is going to ask for the moon. Elias has never been one to pay top dollar.

The only sliver of hope the Orioles have is if the healthy pitchers they do have start to play to their career averages. Morton, Kremer, and (eventually) Gibson are 4-4.50 ERA guys. They need to pitch like it. Once Eflin is back, they need him to be the guy he has been the entire time he has donned an Orioles uniform (2.70 ERA over 73.1 innings). Pair that with Sugano continuing to tip top around hard contact and you have the mediocre, but competitive, rotation that Elias was hoping for.

That would buy the Orioles enough time to get to the trade deadline, where they can seek upgrades and give this team the type of rotation they need to actually make a postseason run.

But all of that feels like a pipe dream. July is eons away. Morton is getting worse, not better. And even if the rotation can be passable, that would require the offense to be consistently productive in order to the team to succeed. To this point, that have not shown an ability to do that.

It’s a nightmare scenario that could sink the Orioles season before summer even arrives.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/21/24412939/baltimore-orioles-starting-pitching-rotation-bad-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles minor league recap 4/21: Gibson tunes up with Aberdeen; MLB next?

He’s back (nearly!)—Kyle Gibson is is ramping up in Aberdeen. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Tides got rained out, but Chesapeake pitchers twirled a gem and Aberdeen’s Griff O’Ferrall homered for the second straight game.

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides, Omaha Storm Chasers (KCR) – Cancelled (Rain)

Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 3, Richmond Flying Squirrels (SFG) 2

Chesapeake continued a run of great pitching with a two-run, eight-hit effort over nine innings. Ryan Long turned in a solid five innings, allowing two runs on a couple of singles. Levi Wells was even better, blanking Richmond over four innings with just three hits allowed.

Baysox hitters scored three runs. Two came on a third-inning rally kicked off by Douglas Hodo and Jeremiah Jackson, who scored on a groundout and sac fly. It was one of two hits from Jackson on the day. Creed Willems doubled and scored the third run. Noelberth Romero had two hits, and Adam Retzbach and Anthony Servideo had a single apiece.

Box Score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 5, Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM) 2

The IronBirds scored early and never looked back. Griff O’Ferrall led off the game with his second home run in two games. The next inning, DH Jake Cunningham hit a homer of his own. Outfielder Ryan Stafford singled home a run. Stafford also reached with a walk. Leandro Arias had two hits. Anderson de los Santos doubled, and Vance Honeycutt and Aron Estrada singled.

A rehabbing Kyle Gibson allowed two runs (one earned) over five innings. He kept the hits to a minimum (one) and struck out five. The Orioles rotation could use him, so keep up the good work, Gibby! After Gibson, the rest of the Aberdeen pitchers were excellent. Riley Cooper turned in two scoreless innings, Teddy Sharkey threw 1.2 scoreless of his own, and Wyatt Cheney retired one batter on a strikeout.

Box Score

Low-A: Carolina Mudcats (MIL) 8, Delmarva Shorebirds 0

This was a blah effort on both pitching and offense, but starter Sebastian Gongora pitched well, striking out five in two scoreless innings. Evan Yates, a 20th rounder in 2024, was unreliable, walking six in 2.1 innings. Christian Heberholz allowed no earned runs over 1.2 innings. Grabiel Salazar allowed three runs in two innings.

The offense scattered three hits, one apiece for Braylin Tavera, Raylin Ramos and Edrei Campos.

Box Score

Monday’s Schedule

There are no games scheduled for Monday.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/21/24412840/orioles-prospects-minor-league-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles Reacts Survey: Should the Orioles give Cedric Mullins a contract extension?

Mullins has been the best Oriole so far. Does that mean they should pay the man?

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 plan for 2025 Orioles success has just not come together yet this year. The rotation is a disaster area, the offense has some crucial strugglers especially against lefty starters, and the bullpen hasn’t given anybody reason to be confident yet. One of the only unambiguous bright spots, perhaps the only one, has been the performance of Cedric Mullins.

This could end up being the last hurrah in an Orioles uniform for Mullins. The team’s longest-tenured player, going back to when he arrived in the later parts of the 2018 disaster, is set to become a free agent after this season. Mike Elias has shown no substantial interest in retaining his own free agents up to this point and he’s yet to sign any player to a contract extension that would keep them around beyond their years of team control.

This week’s survey is a yes or no: Should the Orioles extend Mullins? It’s safe to incorporate some judgment from your heart into this answer, because I’m not asking whether they will. That answer is almost certainly no. They could, though, and perhaps they should. What do you think?

A short version of the case for extending Mullins is that he’s been a solid regular player and consistent hitter for the past three reasons before this, and it’s looking like that is continuing this year. There’s a good (if optimistic) reason to believe that Mullins could keep it coming for another three years or so, enough to make it worth giving him a contract for that time.

The case against extending Mullins is if you’re a believer in the outfield prospects coming along for the Orioles. The O’s are already having a tough enough time trying to break in Heston Kjerstad, with only the injury to Colton Cowser giving Kjerstad a shot. Enrique Bradfield (still injured) could play his way into readiness next year, and beyond that, there’s Vance Honeycutt to consider in a couple of years, if he doesn’t strike out so much that he’s a bust.

What do you think?

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/22/24413983/orioles-survey-cedric-mullins-contract-extension

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Nationals 7, Orioles 0: Another horrific loss (in poem form)

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Orioles couldn’t pitch and couldn’t hit. So what else is new?

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Balmer nine today.
Baseball, sadly, is something they’ve forgotten how to play.
Their pitching is a nightmare, their hitters are a mess.
And this year’s shaping up to be a giant waste, I guess.

Like so many times this year, the Orioles’ chance of winning
Was hopelessly destroyed by the end of the first inning.
Another woeful pitcher had another woeful outing.
This time it’s Dean Kremer who had O’s fans quickly pouting.

The first Nats batter doubled, and the next one hit a blast.
Two batters in, the Birds were going nowhere pretty fast.
The night went on and Washington just piled on the runs.
Kremer gave up six tonight when all was said and done.

The Nationals, a team that can barely hit this year
Were overjoyed to face the lousy Orioles pitchers here.
This paltry offense had 14 hits, 10 for extra bases,
O’s fans watched embarrassedly with palms over their faces.

It’s hard to say what’s worse today: O’s pitching or the bats.
Against a lefty starter they just stunk. Imagine that!
A truly awful offense had a truly awful game.
A guy named Mitchell Parker held them scoreless for eight frames.

A 7-0 blowout ended mercifully at last.
Only one team came to play; the other was outclassed.
What is there to say right now? How bad can these guys get?
It’s possible we haven’t seen the worst of this team yet.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/22/24414382/orioles-nationals-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Something is rotten and it’s not clear what the Orioles can even do about it

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Whatever this is, it’s not working out so far.

There are 140 games left for the Orioles to play in the 2025 season. The way that they have played so far, this feels more like a threat than a source for optimism about time remaining to turn things around. We’re stuck with these guys for HOW many more games? Something is rotten and the O’s are going to have to figure out what it is and what they can do about it before the season gets away from them and it becomes a grim march to wait and see which Oriole gets traded away in July.

This is a feeling that is fueled heavily by the previous two games that the Orioles have played. Getting their butts kicked by the Reds on Sunday, a 24-2 demolition, was tough to stomach. The Reds offense was a mess and the O’s had no business making them look like that. Add into it last night’s 7-0 loss to the Nationals, in which the O’s had no signs of life at the plate while piling more onto the season lowlight reel with defensive miscues, and there’s a strong pull towards believing in dire scenarios about this club.

The question that the Orioles face is what can they do about it? It is an answer that every person involved is going to have to come up with for themselves. General manager Mike Elias needs to examine the gap between what he thought would happen and this and figure out if his analytics process is generating bad information. Manager Brandon Hyde and the coaching staff must assess whether they are pushing the right buttons to get players in the best position to succeed. The players who are underperforming have to have some internal motivation to be better than they are.

The starting rotation​

Elias screwed this up over the offseason. There’s no getting around it. Exactly what alternative strategy might have worked out better is a matter for some debate. There are hypothetical alternatives that look good right now (sign Nick Pivetta or Jack Flaherty) and others that don’t (trade for Luis Castillo or Dylan Cease).

This is both the worst thing going on right now and the one that might have the easiest solution. Three of the five guys in the Opening Day rotation have been pretty bad so far. That’s Charlie Morton, Cade Povich, and Dean Kremer. The 41-year-old Morton might just be cooked. Elias only needs to recognize that the $15 million is a sunk cost. Either Povich or Kremer could be sent to the minors once a better alternative presents itself. Some patience may be warranted for Kremer, who is still plenty young enough where the sudden deterioration from his big league track record is notable and could change in time.

Other pitchers are coming. The Orioles signed Kyle Gibson late in spring training. He could arrive as soon as Saturday. The team is staying positive about the injured Zach Eflin, suggesting he might be back in a couple of weeks. A little farther out, Trevor Rogers just had the start of his rehab assignment announced. A month from now, your least favorite starting pitcher probably won’t still be starting. Which is no guarantee that anyone will be any happier with Gibson or Rogers. I feel even worse about where the O’s are just knowing these are the hoped-for reinforcements.

The manager​

The Hyde haters are never far off. Sometimes it doesn’t even take a loss to bring them out of the woodwork. There are people who have been piling years of complaints at his feet, most of which I don’t even think are reasonably his fault. A lot of it seems to boil down to not liking the fact that the Orioles did not win a game in either of the last two playoffs. I don’t like that being true either.

Hyde kept everyone moving in a positive direction even in the middle of those losing years, allowing the team to find players who were able to contribute to winning big league teams. As the prospects arrived and the team did find success, Hyde had a team full of players looking to establish themselves in one way or another and it all seemed to be working great until around the All-Star break of last year.

For the most part, I don’t think Hyde is part of the problem, but I am increasingly wondering how much he is part of the solution. It is plausible that for as much leadership that Hyde has shown, maybe his brand of motivation doesn’t work when the situation is “the team has been good and everyone needs to keep his edge for the team to keep being good.” There are ample examples so far this year of the Orioles not just playing bad, but playing stupid. Bad is not something Hyde can directly attack. Stupid is, and so far he and his coaches are not fixing that.

The lineup​

When we were all waiting through the crappy Orioles years for the star players to be drafted, develop, and arrive, the imagined combination of Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson turned out to be the big ones. It’s no coincidence to me that these two guys being on the scene and showing out as stars led the O’s to a 101-win season in 2023, and a just-as-hot pace over the first half of last year. The plan for Orioles success in 2025 ran through them. There was no other way.

So far, they ain’t got it. Rutschman is batting .200/.297/.375, while Henderson is hitting just .213/.250/.410. The only good thing there is to say here is that at least they’re hitting for power when they do hit it, but I don’t think there’s going to be any reversal of fortunes for the 2025 team unless these guys get it going.

For Henderson, you can perhaps suspect that his missing the last month of spring training means he still needs some time to adjust for the season. Rutschman is an increasingly-agonizing mystery. Last year, you could (and I certainly did) write it off as he was secretly injured. This rationalization does not fly now that an offseason has gone by and the results still aren’t there.

Other players get some share of the blame as well. Jordan Westburg is not far removed from an 0-30 streak that has his batting line in an even more hopeless place. Tyler O’Neill had seven hits in the first four games and has gotten just six hits over his next 13. Ryan Mountcastle, sitting on a .589 OPS, is not doing very much to validate the Orioles sticking with him rather than trading him to make room for Coby Mayo or even signing a free agent.

And the bench, oy vey, the bench. Elias spent $8.5 million to make Gary Sánchez the backup catcher. That may not turn out to be the offseason’s worst move (Morton, obviously) but it was the weirdest and it still looks weird. Why this dude? He’s OPSing .299 and everyone knew his defense is bad anyway. Another backup signing, Ramón Laureano, was in the failure box until he hit two home runs in Saturday’s game, but unless he improves his .200 average or .231 OBP, he’ll be headed back for bust territory. Jorge Mateo has one hit in 17 at-bats.

Unlike the starting rotation, there’s nothing much to do here with internal personnel moves. You could make it Mayo time, but he’s only batting .230 with Triple-A Norfolk so he might not solve the “boom or bust” problem. Jud Fabian fans might like to see him get a shot. He’s hitting .224. Batting average does not tell us everything about a player’s quality but when the number is that low in the minors, you need a lot to balance that out for a player to be doing good things, and projecting that to happen while jumping to MLB is a tough sell for me.

Cionel Pérez​

It’s not totally fair to single out Pérez for criticism in this way, except for his being the only underperformer in what’s otherwise been a decent bullpen to this point. That said, the bullpen has not been tested in many high-leverage situations due to the team’s other problems, so we can’t be sure what the Orioles have here quite yet. As for Pérez, he’s pitched in eight games and his ERA is 11.32. There’s an easy and time-honored baseball tradition on what to do with the worst guy in your bullpen after an uninterrupted stretch of bad outings: Get rid of him.

What makes the Pérez thing feel worse is that the Orioles roster decisions over this past offseason saw them go out of their way to get rid of Danny Coulombe, declining an available and cheap team option for 2025, to keep Pérez instead. Coulombe has not allowed a run in his first ten games. The common trend of curious Elias offseason moves that are not paying off runs through this as well.

**

If it was easy, they would have figured it out by now. The Orioles season hasn’t gotten away from them yet, but the longer it takes them to turn things around, the more of a miracle the eventual turnaround must be. They’ve got to figure out what needs to change, what they can change, and act on that to get out of the rut.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/23/24414662/orioles-2025-record-struggle-lineup-starting-rotation

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles comeback attempt falls flat as Nationals eke out 4-3 win

Brad Mills-Imagn Images

Baltimore third loss in a row saw the Birds tie the game and surrender the winning run in the same inning.

A valiant comeback attempt fell short Wednesday night in DC, as the Orioles dropped their third straight game, losing 4-3 to the Nationals.

Trailing 3-1 in the 7th, the O’s were briefly able to give Birdland some hope by grinding out two runs to tie the game at three. The rally started in the 7th against Nats reliever Jose A. Ferrer. Cedric Mullins led off the inning with a left-on-left single slapped into left field. Adley Rutschman then worked a six-pitch walk before Ferrer hit pinch-hitter Ryan Mountcastle to load the bases.

Tyler O’Neill then had an opportunity to make his first big splash (seemingly) since his Opening Day home run, facing former Oriole Jorge Lopez. O’Neill instead lifted a sac fly to right field and Mullins’ head-first slide beat the throw of RF Dylan Crews to the plate. With the O’s now down 3-2, Heston Kjerstad tried to blast them into the lead, jumping on a fastball from Lopez, but his flyball died on the warning track in left-center for the third out.

Jordan Westburg kept the spirit of the comeback alive with a lead-off triple against Lopez in the 8th. As Westburg’s shot down the line nestled into the right field corner, this writer found himself hoping that the clutch hit might be the spark the Orioles needed to steal this game. The bottom of the O’s lineup couldn’t use Westburg’s spark to ignite a full-blown rally, though, instead settling for a tie after another sac fly from Ramón Urías.

After the bats worked hard to tie the game, Gregory Soto worked just as hard to give the lead back in the bottom of the 8th. Pinch-hitter Alex Call led off the inning by dumping a single into center in front of a charging Mullins. Soto then got ahead of James Wood 1-2, but couldn’t put the big lefty away, eventually issuing an eight-pitch walk.

Nathaniel Lowe nearly grounded into a well-timed 5-4-3 double play, only for the lumbering 1B to beat Jackson Holliday’s throw to Mountcastle at first. That gave the Nats runners at first and third with one out, and allowed Luis García Jr. to break the tie on a sac fly to Mullins that brought home Call.

The Orioles had the makings of a potential game-tying rally in the 9th, only to come up short. Against Nats’ All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan, Gunnar Henderson led off the inning with some hustle, beating out an infield single on a ball bounced up the middle. Adley Rutschman then continued his streak of bad luck, lining a ball up the middle that had an xBA of .710, only for it to nestle into the glove of a leaping Nasim Nuñez at SS.

Mountcastle moved the tying run to second base with a one-out single to left, but an O’Neill strikeout meant it once again all fell on Kjerstad to be the hero. Silent J coudln’t better his result from the 7th, popping up to third to end the game.

After being outscored 31-2 over their last two games, the low-scoring affair was at least a small whiff of fresh air for Orioles fans. Starter Tomoyuki Sugano finally reminded Orioles fans what an effective starting pitcher looks like, going seven strong innings for the second start in a row.

Early on, it looked like the gravity of the rotation’s massive struggles was going to bring down Sugano as well. He started his evening by giving up a solo HR to the Nationals’ budding star, Wood. Sugano tried to beat Wood with a sinker in on the hands, and instead, the 22-year-old Maryland native turned on the pitch and smashed into the right field seats.

The 1st went from bad to worse for the 35-year-old rookie with two outs in the inning. Nats’ clean-up hitter Keibert Ruiz bounced a hard-hit single past Jackson Holliday at second to extend the inning. Sugano then hung a 2-0 curveball to former All-Star Josh Bell, who Bell-ted it almost 400 ft. for a two-run homer.

Sugano could’ve been shaken after allowing a three-run 1st inning, but the former MVP of the NPB locked in to keep the Orioles in the game. The seasoned Japanese righty set down the next nine hitters he faced. He rolled three groundouts in the 2nd, a pair of grounds sandwiched around a flyout in the 3rd and started off the 4th with a lazy fly to left and a ground out to first base.

Dylan Crews broke up the streak with a single up the middle before Sugano got José Tena to ground out to end the 4th. The Crews single was one of only two hits the Orioles’ only reliable starter allowed after the 1st. He worked a clean 5th inning, including picking up his only strikeout with a 3-2 sweeper at the knees to Wood.

Nathaniel Lowe led off the 6th with a single, but was erased on a fielder’s choice hit to first base. Ruiz then hit a loud fly ball that Mullins caught on the warning track in center before Bell smashed a ground out to first base. Sugano finished his evening with another couple of easy groundouts in the 7th before getting a slicing flyout to right to close out his second straight excellent outing. Sugano finished with a final line of 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 K and 0 BB—his second consecutive start with 7 IP and 0 BBs.

Still, when the pitching isn’t imploding, this team still hasn’t shaken off the clutch-hitting woes that plagued them to end last season. The O’s finished Wednesday’s game 1-for-12 with RISP, with the only hit coming on an RBI single from Rutschman in the 3rd. Baltimore actually outhit Washington 10 to six, but couldn’t get enough big hits to cancel out the Nats’ big flies.

**

The loss drops the Orioles to 9-14 and seals their fifth series loss in eight series this season. Mullins, Rutschman each had two hits on Wednesday, but the O’s only managed one extra-base hit—Westburg’s triple in the 8th. Baltimore will try to pick up a consolation win tomorrow when Cade Povich faces off against Nationals’ ace MacKenzie Gore.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/23/24415282/orioles-nationals-mlb-scores-game-recap-april-23

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles finally win low-scoring game, beat Nationals 2-1

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Cade Povich was brilliant, and the bullpen locked things down, while the lineup was quiet outside of one inning.

Are they allowed to win like that? The Orioles ended up on the right side of a pitching duel in D.C. Cade Povich bested MacKenzie Gore and led the O’s to a sweep-avoiding 2-1 win at Nationals Park on Thursday night.

This is not the type of game that the 2025 Baltimore Orioles have been able to win. Literally. Prior to tonight, these Orioles had not won a single game in which they scored fewer than five runs. Much of the blame there is on a horrendous starting pitching staff, and a little is the fault of a streaky offense. Tonight, the pitchers led the way.

Cade Povich entered this game under as much pressure as anyone on the staff. The 25-year-old struggled mightily in his previous start. While he has not been the worst performer of the group, he has been bad enough and he is inexperienced enough that a demotion could be on the table. But that won’t happen right away given how good Povich was on this night.

It was among the finest showings of Povich’s young career. Over 6.2 innings he allowed just one run on four hits, a walk, and five strikeouts. He was a Gunnar Henderson error away from completing seven innings.

Povich was peppering the strike zone. He stayed ahead of the Nationals hitters constantly, and he used the sweeper liberally. Coming into the game, the sweeper had been the southpaw’s second or third-most used pitch, accounting for 18% of his offerings. Tonight, more than half of his pitches were sweepers, and it looked good. He had an extra tick or two of velocity on it, and got a whiff rate of 42% on the pitch.

For Povich, the key part of his formula tends to be walks. When he avoids free passes, he can survive the hard contact he is prone to because his stuff is just good enough. When he puts men on base, things fall apart fast. He gave up just one walk in this one, and was rarely even deep into counts. Across his 6.2 innings he threw just 87 pitches.

From there Brandon Hyde was able to turn to his A-squad in the bullpen. Yennier Cano threw one pitch to wrap up the seventh inning. Gregory Soto worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning. And Félix Bautista recorded his third save of the year, although he did allow the tying run to get all the way to third base (infield single, stolen base, advanced on an out) before closing things out.

There was far less to talk about on the offensive side of things. The Orioles did not fare too well against Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore, and they did nothing against the bullpen. But on a night where Povich and the relievers were so good, they did enough.

Both of the O’s runs came in the fifth inning. Ramón Laureano doubled with one out. Ryan O’Hearn, getting a rare start against a left-handed pitcher, singled in Laureano and advanced to second on the throw home. That savvy baserunning put him in position to score on a Cedric Mullins single up the middle to give the good guys a 2-1 lead that they would hang on to.

That fifth inning included three of the Orioles’ four total hits on the night. Throughout the entire game they worked two walks and struck out 13 times. The only other time they seemed close to scoring was in the second, when Ryan Mountcastle walked and Jordan Westburg singled to put two runners on with no outs. But the next three hitters failed to even advance them a base.

The 2-3-4 hitters of Adley Rutschman, Henderson, and Mountcastle combined to go 0-for-10 with two walks and four strikeouts. The team needs more out of the middle of its order. Heston Kjerstad had a tough night, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

But let’s not nitpick. The Orioles were due for a win like this. For the second straight night, the starting pitching was quite good. It gave the offense a chance to win the game. That didn’t work out on Wednesday, but it did on Thursday. Given how bad the team has looked recently, we’ll take it and hope that they can build upon it.

Next up is a trip to Detroit. Brandon Young (0-0, 6.75 ERA) will make the second start of his MLB career. He will be opposed by former number one overall pick Casey Mize (3-1, 2.22 ERA). First pitch is 6:40 p.m. from Comerica Park.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/24/24416119/mlb-scores-orioles-nationals-game-recap-cade-povich

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles-Tigers series preview: Two teams going in opposite directions

Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

The Tigers face the Orioles with a trio of young, talented, homegrown starting pitchers. Must be nice.

Two years ago, the Orioles were the envy of baseball, riding a young, talented roster to a 101-win season and AL East title. The Detroit Tigers were perpetual losers, muddling through a stalled rebuild and missing the playoffs for a ninth straight year.

Look where we are now.

The two teams’ fortunes seemed to reverse at nearly the exact same moment — about halfway through the 2024 season. The O’s, after starting 57-33, played sub-.500 baseball for the rest of the year and were swept out of the playoffs in two games. The Tigers, meanwhile, were an out-of-nowhere sensation, recovering from a 37-46 start to erupt in the second half and storm into the postseason.

This year, each team has continued its momentum from last season, for better or for worse. As the two clubs meet in Detroit this weekend, the Tigers (15-10) are tied for the best record in the AL. The Orioles (10-14) have the third-worst.

As an Orioles fan, you can’t help feeling jealous about the team the Tigers have been able to assemble. All three of their starting pitchers in this series were drafted and developed by Detroit — including the reigning AL Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal — and all are having fantastic starts to the 2025 season.

Skubal was a ninth-round pick in 2018 whom the organization molded into arguably the game’s best pitcher. Casey Mize was the first overall pick in 2018, and Jackson Jobe went third overall in 2021. It turns out you actually can have success drafting pitchers in the first round, something Mike Elias has never done with the Orioles. No Elias-drafted pitcher in any round has ever made it to the majors for the Birds.

The Tigers supplemented their homegrown core of starters by re-signing Jack Flaherty, who dazzled in the first half of 2024 for Detroit before he was traded to the Dodgers. Flaherty has a 2.63 ERA in five starts, though the O’s won’t face their former teammate in this series.

The Tigers also boast a fantastic bullpen made up mostly of other teams’ castoffs, including former O’s prospect Brenan Hanifee, who has a 1.54 ERA in 10 games. Detroit can mix and match with a stable of live arms, including lefties Tyler Holton (1.54 ERA) and Brant Hurter (2.45) and righties Will Vest (0.84) and veteran Tommy Kahnle (0.96). Kahnle, Vest, and Hurter each have multiple saves this year.

On offense, the Tigers are middle of the pack. Their best hitter so far has been another former #1 overall pick, first baseman Spencer Torkelson, selected one spot ahead of Heston Kjerstad in 2020. Coming off a miserable 2024 season, Torkelson has rejuvenated himself with a team-leading seven home runs and .944 OPS. Left-handed slugger Kerry Carpenter, who has a career .896 OPS against righties, is always a threat, and journeyman utility guy Zach McKinstry has had a sensational start to 2025, slashing .311/.416/.459.

On the other end of the spectrum, Riley Greene has struggled and $140 million man Javier Báez is in his fourth year of being an albatross for Detroit, but Orioles pitchers tend to help slumping hitters boost their stats. The Birds’ two worst starters are pitching in this series, along with a guy making just his second MLB appearance. No doubt the Tigers are licking their chops.

Game 1: Friday, 6:40 PM, MASN2, MLBN (out-of-market)​

RHP Brandon Young (0-0, 6.75) vs. RHP Casey Mize (3-1, 2.22)

In the last 10 years, Mize is one of only two pitchers (along with Paul Skenes in 2023) to be selected with the #1 overall pick. The 2018 draftee made it to the bigs two years later and was a solid starter by 2021, but Tommy John and back surgery knocked him out of commission until last season. So far this year he’s bounced back well, carrying a sub-1.00 WHIP in four starts. His 4.01 FIP and .194 BABIP indicate he’s due for regression, but what are the odds of it happening against the Orioles? I’m not holding my breath.

Young will be making his second major league start, something that didn’t seem to be in the Orioles’ plans when they optioned him the day after his first one. But an injury to Cody Poteet allowed the Birds to call Young back up before his mandatory 10-day minor league stint, and here he is again. In his debut last Saturday, he gave up seven hits and three walks but got a bit better as the game went on. Given the state of the rotation, the O’s will be more than happy if they get five serviceable innings out of Young.

Game 2: Saturday, 1:10 PM, MASN2, MLBN (out-of-market)​

RHP Charlie Morton (0-5, 10.89) vs. Jackson Jobe (2-0, 2.70)

Well, it’s Charlie Morton day. I don’t know whether to throw up my hands or just throw up. Morton is one of three pitchers to have lost all five of his starts this year, and his 25 earned runs allowed are the most in baseball. He has 15 walks in 20.2 innings. The 41-year-old’s collapse has been fast and dramatic, and on any team with a functioning pitching staff, he would have been jettisoned by now. The Orioles are not that team, and so we all continue to suffer through his outings.

Going against him is a pitcher who was 5 years old when Morton made his major league debut. The 22-year-old Jobe, drafted out of high school in 2021, rocketed to the majors in time for the Tigers’ playoff run last year, making a couple of forgettable postseason appearances. He made the rotation out of spring training this year and has acquitted himself well so far in four starts, though his 10:14 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 20 innings could use improvement. The live-armed Jobe throws five different pitches and his best one is the slider, which has held opponents to a .115 AVG and .154 SLG.

Game 3: Sunday, 1:40 PM, MASN2, MLBN (out-of-market)​

RHP Dean Kremer (2-3, 6.84) vs. Tarik Skubal (2-2, 2.83)

Welp. The Orioles couldn’t avoid him forever. Last year the O’s were lucky enough to miss Skubal in both of their series against Detroit, but the 2024 AL Cy Young winner is slated to face — and no doubt dominate — them in the weekend finale. Last year he won the AL pitching triple crown by leading in wins (18), ERA (2.39), and strikeouts (228), amassing a league-best 6.4 bWAR. Already this season he has two scoreless outings of 6+ innings. The Orioles can’t even hit against mediocre lefties, let alone great ones. So unless this is the world’s biggest reverse lock, the Birds’ chances of winning this game are slim to none.

That may have been the case even without Skubal, considering the Orioles’ starter is Kremer, who has a 6.84 ERA and an MLB-worst 36 hits allowed. Kremer has run hot and cold before but has finished the last two seasons as a league average-ish starter, so his disastrous start to 2025 is a bit mystifying. (As is true for many of his teammates, for that matter.) As with Morton, though, the Orioles have no real options to replace him, so they’ll just have to keep riding Kremer and hoping he’ll figure things out.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/25/24415012/orioles-tigers-series-preview

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Saturday Bird Droppings: Let’s play two

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

A doubleheader in Detroit, Mullins is mashing, and Bautista brings it.

Good Morning Birdland!

The Orioles were supposed to start a series in Detroit yesterday, but rain throughout the day postponed that game. So, instead, the Birds will play two against the Tigers today. Game 1 starts at 1:10, Game 2 at 6:10. That is a long day at the park for the players, coaches, team staff, stadium staff and reporters, but these organizations simply can’t afford to give up the gate of a weekend game, it seems.

These Tigers are the class of the American League at the moment, if only by mere percentage points. The area they really excel in is run prevention. The 82 runs they have allowed are the fewest in the AL and the third-fewest in all of MLB. That, theoretically, puts the onus on the Orioles pitching staff to hold up their end of the bargain and keep the game close for the lineup. Good luck with that.

It is entirely possible that we watch Charlie Morton’s final start for the Orioles today. The 41-year-old has a 10.89 ERA over five starts. Another stinker could be cause for a change, and with Kyle Gibson nearing a likely debut, Morton might be the odd man out.

Admittedly, that would be an extreme decision. Morton’s contract is guaranteed, and the season is only a month old. You can’t get him back if you do decide to cut him. And he has enough of a track to suggest he will bounce back. But that has not been evident yet this season, and the Orioles have zero wiggle room to support someone playing so poorly.

Hopefully Morton makes the decision for them and instead twirl a gem this evening in Detroit. He is certainly “due” doe a better outcome.

Links

This O’s leader is ‘at his best right now’ | Orioles.com
The Orioles would be in an even worse mess if Cedric Mullins wasn’t playing like an all-star. The guy has a 203 OPS+! During his 30/30 season in 2021 he “only” OPS+’d 137. He is hitting so, so well.

Cubs Backed Out Of Offseason Luzardo Trade After Medical Review | MLB Trade Rumors
This is not Orioles-specific, but we do know that the O’s once eyed Jesús Luzardo as a target, and they also nixed the signing of Jeff Hoffman over the winter due to a bad physical.

Félix Bautista cherished ‘different feeling’ of closing a tight game on the road. It felt like old times. | The Baltimore Banner
I figured Bautista would have faced a few of those close games by this point in the season. But the nature of the Orioles struggles have meant few save opportunities, let alone one-run games in the ninth inning.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• The late Nate Smith (b. 1935, d. 2019) was born on this day. The catcher played in five games for the 1962 Orioles.

This day in history​

Very little has happened in Orioles history on this day, according to Baseball Reference. So, instead, here are a few things that have occurred beyond Birdland:

1958 - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Royal Blue makes its final run from Washington D.C. to New York City. Royal Blue was the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.

1964 - Taganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

1981 - The world’s first human open fetal surgery is performed by Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.

1986 - The Chernobyl disaster takes place in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/2...rade-rumors-detroit-tigers-double-header-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Saturday evening game thread: at Tigers, 6:10 (Game 2)

Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images

The Orioles will need something different from Charlie Morton if they want to split the doubleheader

The Orioles fell to the Tigers in game one of today’s doubleheader in a loss similar to one of their losses in Washington, where they had plenty of baserunners but couldn’t get them in. If you missed that game, you can read Mark Brown’s recap before you settle in to watch this game.

Charlie Morton was originally scheduled to start, but it was announced that Keegan Akin will start instead. He’s operating as an opener, so we’ll still be seeing Morton after Akin comes out. Sorry to get your hopes up.

If the Orioles want any chance to win this game, they need Morton to be less bad than he has been in literally any other game he has appeared in this year. Maybe coming into the game in the second or third inning will do the trick?

The original starter for today for the Tigers was Jackson Jobe, but now they are sending Keider Montero to the mound. Montero has made two starts this year and has a 7.71 ERA in 9.1 innings. I guess the Tigers didn’t feel the need to send their big gun out to face the offensively challenged Orioles.

Orioles lineup

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

Tigers lineup

1. Gleyber Torres (R) DH
2. Riley Greene (L) CF
3. Justyn-Henry Malloy (R) RF
4. Spencer Torkelson (R) 1B
5. Colt Keith (L) 2B
6. Zach McKinstry (L) LF
7. Tomás Nido (R) C
8. Jace Jung (L) 3B
9. Trey Sweeney (L) SS

Let’s go O’s!

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/26/24418148/orioles-tigers-saturday-lineups-game-thread

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Sunday afternoon Orioles game thread: at Tigers, 1:40

Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

Can the O’s avoid a sweep? That might depend on how Dean Kremer performs on the mound.

This game doesn’t look great on paper for the Orioles. The team is reeling, losers of five out of their last six games. And today they face Tarik Skubal, the defending AL Cy Young, who also happens to throw with his left hand, a characteristic that has caused the 2025 O’s considerable grief.

Dean Kremer will get another chance to sort himself out. His last outing stunk. Over 5.1 innings against the Nationals he allowed six runs (five earned) on 11 hits, zero walks, four strikeouts, and two home runs. He has served up six home runs over his last three starts. It’s a problem!

The lineup for today is...interesting. Adley Rutschman will take a seat with a sore hand, suffered when he got hit by a foul ball yesterday. Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn will also sit against the lefty Skubal. Jordan Westburg gets a breather as well, reportedly due to a sore hamstring.

Honestly, the lineup wasn’t working with the “A” squad anyway, so why not shake things up?

Orioles lineup​

1. Ramón Laureano, RF
2. Gunnar Henderson, DH
3. Ryan Mountcastle, 1B
4. Ramón Urías, 3B
5. Gary Sánchez, C
6. Dylan Carlson, CF
7. Heston Kjerstad, LF
8. Jorge Mateo, SS
9. Jackson Holliday, 2B

RHP Dean Kremer (2-3, 6.84 ERA)

Tigers lineup​

1. Kerry Carpenter, DH
2. Gleyber Torres, 2B
3. Zach McKinstry, RF
4. Riley Green, LF
5. Spencer Torkelson, 1B
6. Jace Jung, 3B
7. Trey Sweeney, SS
8. Dillon Dingler, C
9. Javy Báez, CF

LHP Tarik Skubal (2-2, 2.83 ERA)

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/4/27/24418755/sunday-afternoon-orioles-game-thread-at-tigers-1-40