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[Baltimore Orioles]

The Orioles are finally getting what they need from the rotation

Photo by Tom Wilson/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Coming into the season, the Orioles expected their rotation to be solid yet unremarkable. After a brutal April, it seems like they are finally starting to meet those expectations.

It is impossible to understate what a disaster the Orioles rotation was for the first month of the 2025 season. Injuries decimated the depth that the front office thought they had built up over the winter, and those that were healthy largely put together career-worst performances. It was brutal. Now in May, things have turned around in a significant way.

Over nine games this month, the unit’s ERA is a passable 4.11, while their 3.97 FIP is even rosier. In April, those numbers were 6.04 and 5.75, respectively. Make no mistake, they are still leaps and bounds away from the league’s elite. But these outcomes represent a dramatic improvement, something closer to what the unit was expected to do coming into the season.

Tomoyuki Sugano has been the lone healthy and productive Orioles pitcher all season long. He is yet to allow more than three runs in any one start, and he has been at his best in May. Over two starts, he has tossed 13.1 innings and has a 2.03 ERA.

Dean Kremer has bounced back in a big way from a tough opening month. He has thrown seven innings in back-to-back starts and coughed up a total of two runs in that time. His season ERA is down from 7.04 at the end of April to 5.29 now.

Zach Eflin is back from a month-long stay on the IL with a right lat strain. The staff ace gave the Orioles a trademark solid outing on Sunday, going five innings and allowing two runs on five hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. His dependability every fifth day is invaluable for this bunch.

Cade Povich is the wild card of the crew, oscillating between impressive and depressing. His 5.55 ERA ad 5.05 FIP on the season aren’t great, but the context can make it more palatable. Povich wasn’t supposed to be a rotation fixture, at least not this soon. Injuries have thrust him into an MLB role yet again. In general, he is holding his own.

The fifth spot in the rotation still needs some work. Kyle Gibson is yet to pitch more than four innings in any start, and his 13.11 season ERA is tough to look at. Charlie Morton is back in the bullpen after making a spot start in Minnesota. The Orioles will probably give him another chance to start at some point this season, but he will need to show some improvement as a reliever first.

On top of improved performances at the major league level, the Orioles are slowly building back up their organizational depth. Trevor Rogers is officially done rehabbing his right knee subluxation. He was activated from the IL and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk over the weekend to keep working. Chayce McDermott is three starts into his own rehab from a right lat strain, and he has looked good in the process (9.2 IP, 1.86 ERA, 10 strikeouts). He might get an MLB start sometime in the near future. For now, they are both fighting with Brandon Young for a shot to fill in with the O’s.

All of the more notable names on the IL are still a ways off. Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are throwing bullpens and remain on track for a return sometime in the second half of season. Grayson Rodriguez is a big question mark, although the Orioles think he could get back to throwing by the end of the month. If that happens, he would likely be looking at a late July return. Getting all three of the arms back around the same time would be a huge boost.

This is all positive news, and it does promise that we have already lived through the worst that the 2025 season has to offer. This team—or at least the pitching staff—should be on an upward trajectory from here. That’s the theory anyway.

At the same time, they have dug themselves such an immense hole that it may not matter how much better they will be by July. Sure, there are a lot of games to play, which presents opportunities to win games and climb up the standings. But there are just as many opportunities to lose and keep falling.

As the rotation exists today, they aren’t capable of regularly winning games for the Orioles. They aren’t built to toss shutouts or protect their own offense. They need help.

That supposedly vaunted offense has been just as much of a problem as the rotation has been to this point. Given the level of talent, you would expect them to figure things out at some point. Perhaps that started to happen this past weekend in Anaheim.

The rotation can’t control what the offense does. They have their own separate set of expectations to meet. Through April, they failed, which didn’t give the rest of the team any room for error. So far in May, they have been much better. The team’s record is yet to rebound in the same way, but a good start day to day will go a long way towards improving this team’s fortunes.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/1...ers-eflin-kremer-sugano-kremer-rodriguez-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles minor league recap 5/12: Bragg, Bencosme shine in Baysox loss

Chesapeake’s Braxton Bragg continues to perform, with a 1.56 ERA for the season. | Photo by Kelly Gavin/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Norfolk’s Kyle Brnovich had a rough outing, while Aberdeen’s Leandro Arias homered in an Aberdeen win.

Triple-A: Nashville Sounds (MIL) 7, Norfolk Tides 2

The Tides took a tough loss on Sunday, with starter Kyle Brnovich getting tagged for five runs over five innings and the hitters putting up just four hits. Brnovich’s ERA sits at 4.66 for the season. Rodolfo Martínez allowed two more Sounds runs in 0.2 innings, but Andrew Kittredge, Raúl Alcantara and Yaramil Hiraldo had scoreless outings.

Of just four hits in the boxscore, centerfielder Dylan Beavers had two of them. Catcher Connor Pavolony had another. Vimael Machín singled and walked.

Now pitching for Nashville, Bruce Zimmermann (yup, him) got the win with four scoreless.

Box score

Double-A: Portland Sea Dogs (BOS) 6, Chesapeake Baysox 5 (F/10)

A fielding error by third baseman Jalen Vasquez helped extend a four-run fourth inning for the Sea Dogs, and though the Baysox climbed their way back to a tie, they lost in extra innings. Starter Braxton Bragg continues to be on a nice run, allowing just one earned run in four innings to leave his ERA at 1.56 for the season. Calgary native Cohen Achen threw a strong four scoreless innings, but Keegan Gillies, despite pitching a lockdown ninth, allowed the winning runs to come home in the tenth.

The results would have been better if Baysox hitters hadn’t gone 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position, another Orioles affiliate struggling with situational hitting. Still, some Chesapeake hitters had good days. Frederick Bencosme paced the offense with a home run and an RBI single. Jeremiah Jackson had two hits and stole a base. Adam Retzbach, Silas Ardoin and Max Wagner doubled.

Box score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 5, Jersey Shore BlueClaws (PHI) 2

Aberdeen used a three-run ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie and make out with a win. Seven of nine IronBirds hitters had a hit each, including Leandro Arias, who led off the game’s scoring with a home run in the second. In the ninth, Arias plated a run with a sac fly, Ethan Anderson scored on a wild pitch, and Jake Cunningham singled home a fifth run.

IronBirds pitchers were great, with Ty Weatherly tossing four one-run, one-hit innings (although he did walk five). Levi Stoudt allowed a solo home run in two innings and struck out three. Robinson Martínez and Christian Herberholz kept the BlueClaws off the board for three more innings.

Box score

Low-A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans (CHC) 11, Delmarva Shorebirds 0

A dreary outing for Delmarva, whose hitters continued an organizational trend of bad situational hitting with an 0-for-11 line on Sunday. There wasn’t much power, either, as all of Delmarva’s nine hits were singles. Some good days at the plate: Edwin Amparo and Cole Urman had two hits apiece, and four hitters reached twice: Braylin Tavera, Yasmil Bucce, Kevin Guerrero and Luis Guevara.

The pitchers were, if anything, worse, however. Starter Chipper Menard gave up three runs in 1.2 innings, but his line looks bad because Deivy Cruz relieved him with the Shorebirds down 1-0 in the second inning with two outs and the bases loaded, and allowed three more runs to come home. Yeiber Cartaya had himself a poor day, allowing five runs to score in the third, plus two more (unearned) in the fifth. Only Kenny Leiner and Simón Leandro had scoreless outings.

Box score

There are no scheduled games for Monday, May 12.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/12/24428342/orioles-prospects-braxton-bragg-leandro-arias

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

How many games will the Orioles win in the month of May?

Photo by Nicole Vasquez/MLB Photos via Getty Images

The Orioles are going to have to play more than two good games in a row to get anywhere positive this season.

With one more game played, the Orioles will be almost exactly a quarter of the way into the 2025 season. Their 15-24 record up to this point has not been inspiring. Or perhaps I should say that it HAS been inspiring, but what it’s been inspiring is a lot of gloom about bumbling along towards an eventual sell-off, with uncomfortable questions about whether the position player core will even be able to rally and compete again next year.

Some things have gotten better lately. As my Camden Chat colleague Tyler Young noted yesterday, the Orioles rotation is starting to deliver at the level it needed to be able to do for the team to succeed this year. That’s been helped largely by Tomoyuki Sugano continuing to pitch well as Dean Kremer turns in a better direction. Now Zach Eflin’s back too, which should keep Charlie Morton from making any more starts.

The bullpen is sitting squarely in mixed results territory. Félix Bautista is doing about as well as any of us could have hoped up to this point. Bryan Baker is exceeding expectations - I know, I’m as surprised as anybody. Keegan Akin and Yennier Cano are meeting expectations. On the negative side, Gregory Soto and Seranthony Domínguez are pitching like Mike Elias was an idiot for acquiring both of them last July. And as for another “Elias looks like an idiot” thing, well, we don’t need to belabor the gap between Cionel Pérez.

Collectively, the offense remains confusing, largely because many individuals are continuing to get poor results. The team has averaged just three runs scored per game for May so far. The only thing that’s going to get them is a strong chance of picking in the top five of next year’s draft. I’d rather have a winning 2025 Orioles team.

Of late, two Orioles have been hitting great: Ryan O’Hearn and Gunnar Henderson are each OPSing over 1.000 over the last 15 days. Jackson Holliday, Ramón Laureano, and Emmanuel Rivera are in the .800s, which is pretty good. The rest are varying degrees of bad, all the way down to Cedric Mullins. The early-season hot streak is long gone. Mullins is batting .133/.152/.222 in this stretch of time.

My question for readers this week is meant to get you thinking about where this will shake out for the record for this month.

Keep in mind before logging your vote that the Orioles are 3-6 so far in May. If they continue at that pace, with another 18 games scheduled this month, they will end up the month with a 9-18 record for May. Worse than that would be a disaster. Bumbling along in the range of 9-11 wins would not be a whole lot better.

12 wins is the point where they could at least say they’ve gone .500 from here on to the end of the month, and we might be able to feel like the bleeding had stopped, if nothing else. If the Orioles get into the 15+ range, that would feel like a miracle and probably have people more readily believing that June could go well too.

Last week, I asked which struggling Oriole you had the most hope would improve. A four-way poll between Heston Kjerstad, Dean Kremer, Ryan Mountcastle, and Cade Povich was very evenly divided, with all four players having between 20 and 29% of the vote. The 29% of people who voted for Kremer - the leader - are looking like they made a savvier choice than the close runner-up, Kjerstad.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/13/24429250/orioles-record-winning-percentage-may-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Roster configuration leaves Orioles overly dependent on struggling offense

Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images

The starting rotation has inched closer to its ceiling over the last few weeks, but the Orioles cannot dig out of this hole without a significant jump in offensive production.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

At no point in the 21st century have the Orioles entered a season expecting to ride the starting rotation to a World Series. Expectations have varied year to year, but the club has never featured the type of talent that guarantees a legitimate opportunity to win a championship.

The rotation overachieved in 2014, but the real talent resided in the bullpen. Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells broke out in 2023, but the Birds once again rode a group of relievers and timely hitting to an AL East banner.

On paper, the Orioles possessed their highest level of starting pitching talent just last year. Mike Elias acquired Corbin Burnes to lead a rotation featuring a top-five Cy Young Award finalist, a lefty with a no-hitter under his belt, a former top pitching prospect, and significant depth.

Of course, that’s not how things shook out. The Orioles announced injuries to Bradish and John Means at the start of camp, and the Birds suffered an absolutely brutal stretch of pitching injuries throughout the season.

The health issues left the Birds in a familiar position—they would only go as far as the offense took them. Unfortunately, even when the rotation delivered, the offense flamed out when it mattered most.

For a variety of reasons, the Birds are right back in a similar situation. They did not sign a top-tier free agent to replace Burnes. They haven’t prioritized pitching in the draft. Veteran signings Charlie Morton and Kyle Gibson have yielded disastrous results.

The Birds are teetering on the edge of no return in 2025. Some may say they’ve reached it already, but it’s a long season in a third-wild card sport. The O’s gained some momentum with a series victory in LA, and they’ve been getting what they need out of the rotation of late.

Zach Eflin’s return marked a significant milestone. Tomoyuki Sugano has been a delight, and Dean Kremer has pitched to his potential over his last few starts. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to hope for much more than that. Grayson Rodriguez remains a question mark with both elbow and lat issues.

Trevor Rogers has struggled at Triple-A. Both Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott still possess potential but lack a big league track record. Bradish and/or Wells should return in the second half, but the O’s don’t have time to wait around.

With few options remaining, the Birds have to go down swinging. Fortunately, Sunday’s victory over a left-handed starter provided the latest cause for optimism.

Gunnar Henderson slashed .333/.382/.608 over the last week. Henderson quickly became the straw that stirs the drink in Baltimore’s offense, and the Birds will only go as far as the 23-year-old takes them.

Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn entered the week tied for the team lead with seven homers, but Henderson still represents the biggest power threat in a lineup missing 44 long balls from Anthony Santander.

O’Hearn deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his 174 OPS+ over his first 100 at bats. The righty has made a significant case to play every day with a .294/.368/.412 line in 19 at bats against lefties.

O’Hearn’s surge has come at the perfect time to offset Ryan Mountcastle’s 74 OPS+. Mountcastle showed signs of life last week with a .321/.333/.429 line over a seven game stretch, but the former first-round pick has yet to provide Baltimore the type of power threat they need. Coby Mayo still represents a long term option at the corners, but Mayo failed to make a positive impression on either side of the ball during his first two stints at the big league level.

The Birds should gain a boost when Ramón Urías and Jordan Westburg return. Surprisingly, Urías has been the infielder with greater contributions, but Westburg still projects as a quality hitter moving forward.

Speaking of infielders that project well long term, Jackson Holliday turned heads with a .300/.349/.475 line over the last two weeks. The former top prospect has shined while fellow 1-1 pick Adley Rutschman continues to blend bad luck with below-average performances at the dish.

Individual hitters ebb and flow throughout a season, but Baltimore’s team numbers are down for a club that needs to compensate for a lack of talent on the mound. The Orioles have struggled all year with runners in scoring position. They rank 11th in the big leagues with 46 homers, but they are 27th in baseball with 138 RBIs. Only the Angels, Rangers, White Sox, Rangers and Pirates have scored fewer runs than the O’s in 2025.

Cowser, Mountcastle, O’Neill, Rutschman and Westburg have all provided less production than anticipated. That’s over half a lineup. All five have the talent to help right the ship when healthy, but the Orioles can only fall so many games below .500 in the first half.

It’s no secret that it takes runs to win a ball game, but the Birds have been pigeonholed into being a one-dimensional team. The currently-configured starting rotation no longer resembles a death sentence, but it’s up to the bats to give this team life in 2025.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/1...tarting-rotation-henderson-holliday-rutschman

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles waste six-run inning, McDermott struggles in another big letdown

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

The Orioles wasted a Cedric Mullins grand slam and blew their second multi-run lead of the day in an 8-6 loss to Minnesota.

The Orioles played 18 innings today and scored during two of them. Somehow, Baltimore managed to secure multi-run leads in both games. In the end, it didn’t matter. The Orioles lost them both.

Chayce McDermott coughed up four runs in three innings, and the Orioles wasted a six-run third inning. Yennier Cano allowed a late three-run home run, and the Twins took the second game 8-6.

Cedric Mullins appeared to provide the team life with a grand slam in the third. It felt like the type of swing that could propel a slumping team forward, but this team managed to squander the moment before the end of the day. There are several talented players on this team, but this is not a group of winners. Not this year.

The Orioles would love for McDermott to emerge as a legitimate starting pitcher at some point this season. The doubleheader provided Baltimore an opportunity to sneak a peek at the 26-year-old with the hope he would make the case for an extended stay. McDermott failed to meet the moment.

Pitching in his second major league game, McDermott walked leadoff hitter Byron Buxton on four pitches. He managed to strike out Trevor Larnach before allowing a sharp single to Ryan Jeffers. The righty struck out Brooks Lee for the second out, but he loaded the bases with his second walk of the inning.

McDermott nearly escaped the inning unscathed, but Harrison Bader legged out an infield single to provide Minnesota an early 1-0 lead. The rookie struck out Kody Clemens to leave the bases loaded, but he paid the price for the two early walks.

McDermott remained wild in the second inning and plunked Jonah Bride. He bounced back with a pair of quick outs, but Larnach launched a two-run homer to give Minnesota a three-run advantage.

The O’s went quietly in the first two innings, and McDermott walked the leadoff man to start the third. Lee eventually came around to score on a single by Kody Clemens for a 4-0 advantage. McDermott ended his day with 3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB and 5 K.

Baltimore had already dropped Game 1, and a four-run deficit felt nearly insurmountable, but the offense finally showed some life. Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle and Gunnar Henderson rattled off three consecutive singles with the third knock yielding a run.

Ryan O’Hearn nearly ended the inning with a double play, but he managed to beat the throw to first base. Ramón Laureano worked a walk to load the bases for Cedric Mullins.

Mullins finally delivered what should have been the story of the day. He launched a hanging slider over the scoreboard for a go-ahead grand slam. Just for good measure, Heston Kjerstad stepped in and delivered a solo shot. Back-to-back jacks in a six-run inning! Finally!

Nope.

In need of a shutdown inning, the Orioles turned to... Charlie Morton? Morton managed to work around a two-out walk and retire the side in the fourth. He returned in the fifth and made the type of mistake he’s been prone to all season. The 41-year-old served up a room service fastball to Willi Castro, and the Twins cut the lead in half with a solo shot.

The Orioles must have thought their work on offense was done for the day. Baltimore never added insurance, and Minnesota made them pay. The Twins are a winning baseball team. In fact, they’ve now won 10 games in a row. They waited out Morton and Gregory Soto before finally getting to Cano in the eighth.

Cano allowed a leadoff single to Castro, watched Castro steal second, and balked to place the tying-run 90 feet from home plate. He walked Royce Lewis to put runners on the corners with nobody out, and Clemens delivered a three-run homer to effectively end the game.

Castro prevented a rally with a spectacular catch to rob Tyler O’Neill in the eighth, and the top of the order went quietly in the ninth. It doesn’t matter if you score three runs or six runs in an inning, you need to score in more than one of them.

The Birds had an opportunity to take a real step forward today. Sweeping the doubleheader would have inched the team closer to .500, but the O’s would have settled for an emotional win in Game 2. Now, the Orioles have to find a way not to get swept tomorrow afternoon.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/14/24430423/orioles-twins-game-recap-game-2

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

The biggest deliverers of Orioles Tragic so far this season - week 7 edition

Photo by Ellen Schmidt/Getty Images

Another losing week for a team of whom much better than this was expected.

For a game, the Orioles can fool you. They can play in a way that matches what was hoped for from this team before the season began, and in that moment it’s easy to believe that maybe they’ll be able to do it again tomorrow and the next day too. Sometimes they even do it a second time in a row, or at least twice in the span of three games, as they did against the Angels this past weekend. Reality quickly returns. The O’s are 2-4 since our last weekly update.

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. As we all know by now, it’s been much more losing than winning. 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 that looked over the past week:

Game 36​

• Result: Orioles lose to Twins, 5-2
• Orioles record: 13-23
• The biggest play: Gregory Soto gives up two-run double to Brooks Lee in 8th inning, putting O’s in 4-2 hole (-35%)
• The biggest goat: Soto (-.297 WPA)

It is a shame to waste any start where Good Dean Kremer makes an appearance. The Orioles had something of a whole team effort in managing to waste this game where Kremer (.176 WPA) only gave up two runs in seven innings. That’s in part thanks to an offense that went 2-13 with RISP - and one of those two hits resulted in an out at home plate rather than a run - and in part thanks to relievers Soto and Yennier Cano combining to blow it.

Cano (-.063) was the one who set the table, so to speak, by walking two of the three batters he faced in a 2-2 tied game in the eighth inning. This was supposed to be his inning to pass the baton and he stunk it up. So too did Soto in relief of him, as Soto allowed both of those inherited runners to score on the big double, then gave up one of his own just for good measure.

Game 37​

• Result: Orioles beat Angels, 4-1
• Record: 14-23
• The biggest play: Jackson Holliday delivers RBI single to give Orioles 2-0 second inning lead (+11%)
• The biggest hero: Tomoyuki Sugano (.334 WPA)

This was an excellent outing from Sugano, with just one run allowed on three hits in seven innings. WPA is not concerned that he only struck out five guys, because strikeouts are the same as any other out to WPA. Well, that’s not quite true, since double plays are two outs at once, but let’s not get bogged down in minutiae.

Sugano was staked a lead by Gunnar Henderson’s first inning homer (+10% for Henderson), had a 3-0 lead by the time the O’s had batted in the second inning, and he kept rolling from there. Henderson (.139) and Jackson Holliday (.120) each made solid positive contributions here as the O’s won the game even though, just as in the previous game, the team was only 2-13 with RISP.

Game 38​

• Result: Orioles lose to Angels, 5-2
• Record: 14-24
• The biggest play: Cedric Mullins grounds into inning-ending double play in fourth inning (-10%)
• The biggest goat: Kyle Gibson (-.233 WPA)

Five runs allowed in four innings for Gibson, another unambiguous disaster of a start. Not only did he do terribly, he didn’t even record an out in the fifth inning, so he wasn’t even eating innings. The “he didn’t have a spring training” excuse is expired after this start. Gibson has now thrown more innings (counting Norfolk and the Orioles) than any O’s pitcher did in spring training.

The only reason Gibson’s WPA number isn’t worse is because the offense never did much to come back, so Gibson wasn’t constantly blowing the game. He just did it once. Mullins’s GIDP was the most-impactful play by an Oriole, and the next-most was Adley Rutschman doing a GIDP with one on and no one out in the first inning (-7%). In a game started by the mighty Jack Kochanowicz (.207 WPA), the O’s mustered just six total hits.

Game 39​

• Result: Orioles beat Angels, 7-3
• Record: 15-24
• The biggest play: Cedric Mullins doubles to put men on second and third with none out, O’s trailing 2-1 in fourth inning (+15%)
• The biggest hero: Mullins (.229 WPA)

This is the game that marked the return of Zach Eflin from the injured list. Allowing two runs in five innings, he had a decent start that was fairly unremarkable in WPA terms (.047) but good enough that you could foolishly believe that maybe things would stabilize for the Orioles. The only problem with this thinking is the entire rest of the Orioles.

I find it interesting that it wasn’t even a run-scoring play that made the biggest impact. Getting second and third with nobody out and you’re trailing by one run is crucial. Not that the Orioles have done much to prove this through this season, but that’s a favorable run-scoring situation. You could tie the game without even getting a hit, as the O’s did with Maverick Handley hitting a sacrifice fly (actually -4% because it reduced the chances of the O’s scoring multiple runs). Mullins, after stealing third base, scored on a Ryan Mountcastle single (+13%).

Game 40​

• Result: Orioles lose to Twins, 6-3
• Record: 15-25
• The biggest play: Christian Vázquez hits three-run homer off Dean Kremer to give Twins 4-3 lead in fourth inning
• The biggest goat: Ryan O’Hearn (-.200 WPA)

O’Hearn’s negative WPA only exceeds Kremer’s by literally -.001 (-.199 for Kremer). The otherwise-reliable lefty batter took an 0-5 in the contest, taking substantial negatives as he made outs with two men on base to end each of the fifth and seventh innings. The O’s had the tying run in scoring position in each of those cases and O’Hearn couldn’t do anything with the opportunity. Ramón Urías, fresh off the injured list, took a sizable negative, as did Holliday, Mullins, and Ramón Laureano. Getting only four hits in a game where you were trailing a lot of it by only one run will come off badly for the batters in WPA.

Kremer was also bad, of course, blowing the 3-0 lead that his offense staked him in the very next half-inning. One of the many signs of malaise for this team is that Kremer is its third-best starting pitcher.

Game 41​

• Result: Orioles lose to Twins, 8-6
• Record: 15-26
• The biggest play: Cedric Mullins hits grand slam to give Orioles 5-4 lead in third inning
• The biggest goat: Yennier Cano (-.608 WPA)

The Orioles got a go-ahead grand slam from a player who’s been slumping recently and they still ended up losing the game. That’s one sign of just how cursed this season has been and continues to be. Mullins picked up the team after a poor emergency start made by Chayce McDermott (-.260 WPA) as the O’s exploded for six runs in one inning. It ended up being a problem that this was the only inning they scored after Cano blew it all apart in the eighth.

It’s about as bad of an outing as any reliever can have. Really, it would only be worse if it happened in the ninth inning while protecting a larger lead. Cano entered, protecting a one-run lead, and had the following happen: Single, stolen base, balk, walk, three-run home run. The O’s trailed before Cano got anyone out. He retired the next three after it no longer mattered.

The best Orioles so far​

This time last week, the best hitter by WPA was O’Hearn (1.11) and the best pitcher was Félix Bautista (0.81). Updated numbers through this week:

• WPA (hitters): O’Hearn (1.01), Cedric Mullins (0.71), Emmanuel Rivera (0.20)
• WPA (pitchers): Bautista (0.86), Tomoyuki Sugano (0.69), Seranthony Domínguez (0.37)
• fWAR: Gunnar Henderson and Cedric Mullins (1.0)

In bWAR, Sugano leads all Orioles (1.3) with Henderson leading batters (1.2).

The worst Orioles so far​

In last week’s update, the worst hitter by WPA was Heston Kjerstad (-1.15) and the worst pitcher was Charlie Morton (-1.88). Here’s how things stand now:

• WPA (hitters): Kjerstad (-1.31), Ramón Laureano (-0.52), Adley Rutschman (-0.49) (ouch)
• WPA (pitchers): Morton (-1.86), Kyle Gibson (-0.84), Cade Povich (-0.71)
• fWAR: Morton and Gibson (-0.6)

In bWAR, the worst Orioles are Morton (-1.2) for pitchers and Jorge Mateo (-0.8) for hitters.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/15/24430538/orioles-clutch-hitters-pitchers-worst-players-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles finish winless season against Twins with 4-0 loss

Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

There are no silver linings from this game.

The Orioles still suck. Nothing has changed overnight. The players from yesterday are the same players as today. They were not good enough to win either of the two games played yesterday. They were not good enough to win today. They should be better than this. It is repeated daily and it is still true. They should be better than this, and they are not. They lost to the Twins on Thursday afternoon, a 4-0 defeat that seals an 0-6 season against the Twins.

Thursday’s loss sends the Orioles to 15-27 on the season. You have to go back to the end of the 2021 season to find a point where the O’s were 12 or more games below .500. That’s what it’s come to. All of the promise of this team was whatever it was before the season, and if they don’t make some kind of radical change in direction with their winning percentage, they will be spoken of in the same breath as the years of tanking losers. The O’s are now on pace for a 58-104 record. It was not supposed to be like this.

They did not hit again. Perhaps they cannot hit. How else does one explain getting worked over by Chris Paddack? Getting just six hits and one walk in the whole game, going 0-6 with runners in scoring position? Scoring ZERO runs across three games against the Twins bullpen? This is pathetic stuff that is happening. It is not stopping just because we do not like it. It will not stop until the players, coaches, and front office collectively figure it out.

With the offense being what it is, the margin of error for starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano was zero. Sugano has been pretty good for the Orioles up to this point. He has not been good enough to overcome zero margin for error.

Even if Sugano had somehow thrown nine perfect innings, the O’s would still have to score a run to win the game. They would not hit water if they fell out of a boat. They cannot hit their way out of a wet paper bag. They could not find their butts with both hands.

In the event, Sugano was not perfect. He ended up failing in what has become another strange subplot of the 2025 Orioles sob story, in which the O’s are repeatedly burned by bottom of the lineup hitters from other teams. After two perfect innings - only seven short of nine - Sugano allowed a single to Royce Lewis as he led off the third inning. One out later, #9 hitter DaShawn Keirsey Jr. homered onto the flag court over right field. This was Keirsey’s first home run in 36 plate appearances this season. Of course it was.

On MASN, broadcasters Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald noted that this fits the pattern of stinking it up against the other team’s worst hitters. Here are some batting slash lines for comparison, with numbers not including today’s results:

• #7 hitters (all MLB): .247/.312/.393 (.705 OPS)
• #7 hitters (vs. Orioles): .305/.364/.570 (.933 OPS)
• #9 hitters (all MLB): .239/.302/.350 (.652 OPS)
• #9 hitters (vs. Orioles): .285/.359/.431 (.790 OPS)

Like so many other things to do with this team, it is almost unbelievable. To be sure, the Orioles pitchers are also collectively stinking it up against leadoff hitters, #2 hitters, #3 hitters, and cleanup hitters. Twins leadoff man Byron Buxton homered on the very next pitch after Keirsey’s homer for another reminder of this wider struggle, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead. They did not need the extra run, nor did they need the fourth run that they scored as the O’s tried to push Sugano, already beyond 90 pitches, into and through the seventh inning.

Struggles against top of the lineup hitters are, at least to some degree, more understandable. You would expect those players to be good hitters, not that the O’s lineup most nights supports that expectation. But the bottom of the lineup is roasting them horribly.

What the heck is that even about? Just like... why? What is going on that is within the control of the Orioles to overcome this? I have no answers. It seems that they do not either. I am sure that they are looking. I’m not so sure that they’re looking in the right places.

With each passing loss, it seems like someone must be fired as a kind of sacrificial lamb. The Orioles are averaging three runs per game through 12 May games. That sucks and it can’t go on with the current mix of player and coaching personnel. Mike Elias, for reasons he would never publicly say, has resisted the idea of the necessity of any internal changes up to this point. Given that no one has been fired while I wrote this recap, it seems he is resisting it for one day more. Another day, another destiny.

The Nationals, another disaster of a baseball team, await tomorrow night at 7:05. This crummy Orioles lineup will go up against the decidedly not-crummy pitcher MacKenzie Gore. He’s a lefty. Abandon all hope! Which should be double abandoned because the Orioles starter is Cade Povich, who brings a 5.55 ERA into the game.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/15/24431087/mlb-scores-orioles-twins-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles-Nationals series preview: Battling for the beltways and some dignity

Brad Mills-Imagn Images

Losers in nine of their last 11 games, Baltimore will hope a series against their local rivals can jump start this floundering team.

When the O’s embarked upon their rebuild in 2019, the first sign I looked for that the Orioles were back to being a serious team was not having a winning record or making the playoffs, but being better than the Nationals.

That mountain seemed perhaps too lofty a peak to summit when, in the first year of Baltimore’s teardown, the Nats won the World Series. But in 2022, when the O’s won 83 games and the Nationals had the worst record in baseball, it looked like Baltimore was finally passing their local rivals in the league-wide race for contention. Three years later, and these are still two teams heading in different directions—but it’s no longer a positive thing for the Orioles.

Both Washington and Baltimore come into this weekend’s series tied in the loss column at 26. However, the air in Washington suddenly feels livelier and full of hope, while the sentiment around Baltimore is flatter than a Natty Boh you forgot about in your fridge.

The Nationals have one of the NL’s best ascending cores, built around OF James Wood, ace MacKenzie Gore and All-Star SS CJ Abrams. Unlike the Orioles, who built their core almost entirely through the draft and develop model, the Nationals are reaping the benefits of the trade that sent Juan Soto to the Padres in 2022. All three of Wood, Gore and Abrams were players Washington got back from a loaded San Diego farm system and they now represent the trio that they hope will return the Nats to national relevance.

Baltimore thought they had an even better core built around stars like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, but the entire Orioles roster seems to be in a collective slump to begin the 2025 season. Of the Orioles’ everyday players, only Henderson, Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn are giving them above-average production in 2025.

After the Orioles dominated this series the last five seasons (16-8 vs. the Nats from 2020 to 2024), the vulnerability of this O’s team showed up when they met in DC last month. Washington took two out of three in that series and held Baltimore to five runs combined. The Orioles were only spared from being swept thanks to one of the best starts of Cade Povich’s career—a feat he’ll look to repeat tonight in Game 1.

Game 1—Friday, May 16th, 7:05pm ET​

Where to watch: MASN, MLB.TV

Probable pitchers: LHP Cade Povich (1-3, 5.55 ERA, 29 Ks) vs. LHP MacKenzie Gore (2-4, 3.59 ERA, 75 Ks)

Friday sees a rematch of the series finale in Washington, with a pair of young lefties squaring off. Povich got the better of Gore last time, throwing 6.2 innings of one-run ball with 5 Ks. Gore racked up more Ks (8 in 6.0 IP) than Povich, but ultimately took the L thanks to RBI singles from Mullins and O’Hearn in a 5th inning rally.

The Nationals provide an ideal matchup for Povich in that Wood, Abrams and Nathaniel Lowe are all lefties, while switch hitters Keibert Ruiz and Josh Bell both hit worse against LHPs. Povich’s splits are about as dramatic as you’ll see from a starting pitcher, with RHBs putting up a .322 average and .927 OPS while LHBs are hitting .200 with a .565 OPS. Working against Povich is the fact that he has a 7.94 ERA in Camden Yards vs. a 3.38 ERA on the road.

Gore is on a track to All-Star status thanks to a pair of great breaking balls, with him annihilating lefties with his slider and keeping righties in check with his curveball. We know Brandon Hyde will stack the lineup with righties against Gore, and look out for Ramón Laureano to be a difference maker Friday. The first-year Oriole is slugging 1.000 against curveballs through the first quarter of the season.

Game 2—Saturday, May 17th, 4:05pm ET​

Where to watch: MASN, FS1, MLB.TV

Probable pitchers: RHP Kyle Gibson (0-2, 13.11 ERA, 9 Ks) vs. RHP Jake Irvin (2-1, 4.00 ERA, 34 Ks)

The Orioles re-signed Kyle Gibson as pitching depth in case pitchers like Charlie Morton, Dean Kremer and Povich struggled to provide the O’s reliable performances to round out their rotation. Instead, Gibson has arguably been the Orioles’ worst starter of the nine different starting pitchers Baltimore has rolled out this year.

Since allowing nine runs over 3.2 innings in his first start of 2025, Gibson has been slightly better in his next two outings. He allowed three runs over four innings his second start against Kansas City, before allowing five runs over four innings in his most recent start vs. the Angels. Gibson’s biggest weakness this season has been the home run ball, having surrendered seven homers over 11.2 innings this season.

Jake Irvin has a similar approach to Charlie Morton in that he leads with his curveball and uses his fastball and sinker to back it up. Irvin is a mediocre or worse pitcher in just about every aspect of his game, except for his ability to throw strikes. That means the O’s will get plenty of hitable curveballs in the zone, so look for O’Hearn to do some damage. The Orioles’ veteran 1B/DH is crushing curveballs this season to the tune of a .429 average and 1.429 OPS.

Game 3—Sunday, May 18th, 1:35pm ET​

Where to watch: MASN, MLB.TV

Probable pitchers: RHP Zach Eflin (3-1, 3.13 ERA 13 Ks) vs. RHP Michael Soroka (0-2, 6.43 ERA, 15 Ks)

Sunday will be the only game of the series where the O’s have a decided pitching advantage, as Zach Eflin will look to build on his first start off the IL. Baltimore’s de facto ace was good but not great last Sunday in Anaheim, going 5.0 innings while allowing two runs and striking out five. With some questionable defense backing him up, he allowed two runs in the 1st inning but shut out the Halos over the next four to put him in line for the W.

The last time Eflin faced the Nationals, in Tropicana Field last June, he pitched six shutout innings with six Ks. He’s never faced Washington in Camden Yards, but has been strong in OPACY with a career 3.59 ERA in Baltimore. It’ll be a test of strength vs. strength in Eflin vs. the Nats; opponents are hitting .100 against Eflin’s cutter this season, but half of Washington’s lineup is hitting .385+ against cutters this season.

Soroka, the former All-Star, is in Year 3 of trying to regain his past form post-Achilles tear. After posting a 4.74 ERA in 25 starts for the White Sox last year, the 27-year-old has been decidedly below-average in three outings for Washington. He’s coming off a better outing against his former team, the Braves, allowing two runs over four innings while punching out four. Soroka has largely ditched his slider for a slurve this season as his primary breaking pitch. It should present a new challenge for the O’s, who have only seen 57 slurves all season.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/1...ionals-series-preview-beltway-series-may-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles’ clown show continues in horrendous 4-3 loss to Nationals

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

The O’s stranded 15 runners on base, suffered another bullpen collapse, and let the go-ahead run score in the ninth by flat-out not paying attention. Other than that, things are going great.

(Cue circus music) Ladies and gentlemen, your 2025 Orioles.

The O’s played a game tonight in which their offense stranded 15 runners on base in nine innings. A game in which their defense allowed multiple Nats runners to take extra bases because they either weren’t hustling or weren’t paying attention, including the game-winning run in the ninth. This 4-3 loss to the Nationals was a game in which the Orioles truly surrendered any semblance of hope of salvaging this season, doing everything short of literally waving a white flag.

How this franchise has fallen so hard, so quickly, from the elite group of 2023 to the clown show we witnessed tonight and all season long is truly mind-boggling. This isn’t baseball, this is satire.

There’s simply no way any remotely competent team loses a game like this. Even for the Orioles, this was a truly astounding defeat. Had it been just a garden-variety loss to a dominant pitcher in MacKenzie Gore, that would be one thing. But the Orioles had approximately 10 million chances to win this game running away and flatly refused every one of them.

Let’s talk about Gore. Before I describe how he fared tonight, see if you can figure it out based only on the box score:

IP: 3.2
H: 10
ER: 2
BB: 2
K: 9

Take a long, hard look at that pitching line. It makes no sense. He must have been terrible, you think, looking at the 3.2 innings. But wait, he must have been great, you think, looking at the nine strikeouts. But no, he was terrible, you think again, looking at the 10 hits. But wait, only two runs scored, so...was he great after all?

It’s complicated. Against Gore, Orioles hitters simultaneously had great at-bats — working deep counts, making hard contact on tough pitches — and ugly ones, too often failing to put the ball in play with runners in scoring position. By the end of the fourth inning, the O’s had 10 hits, 10 strikeouts, and 10 runners left on base. I mean, what even is that?

The Orioles’ first inning set the tone for this night of lunacy. With one out, three consecutive hitters struck singles against Gore, loading the bases. As usual for the O’s, though, they squandered the golden opportunity when Gore struck out Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Urías. The next inning saw another 0-for-3 performance w/RISP, as Jackson Holliday’s leadoff double was followed by three straight Ks.

In the third, the O’s broke through for two runs, but missed a great chance to pile on some more. Back-to-back doubles by Adley Rutschman and Ramón Laureano — who is a ridiculous 9-for-11 in his career against Gore — got the Orioles on the board. An O’Hearn single and Urías walk loaded the bases for Holliday, who impressively put a tough 3-2 slider in play and bounced it over the first baseman’s head for a hit, scoring Laureano. With the bases still loaded and one out, the O’s were primed for a big inning. But Gore again wriggled his way free, striking out an overmatched Cedric Mullins and Jorge Mateo.

The bottom of the fourth had a similarly rough finish. The O’s loaded the bases with two outs, capped by a fantastic, 10-pitch O’Hearn at-bat ended with a controversial check swing that was called ball four. That was the end of the night for Gore, who was pulled from the game after laboring for 102 pitches in 3.2 innings. The O’s did an outstanding job of running up the pitch count for the lefty, who had worked five or more innings in each of his first nine starts this year.

But reliever Cole Henry escaped the bases-loaded mess when Urías was rung up on a 3-2 pitch that was clearly outside. I suppose that was the baseball gods balancing the scales for the O’Hearn walk that should’ve been a strikeout.

And so, despite 10 hits in four innings, the Orioles had only two runs to support their starting pitcher, Cade Povich. The youngster very nearly made it stand up...but not quite. Through the first five innings, the only run he surrendered was on a Nathaniel Lowe second-inning homer. Povich, who dominated the Nationals in D.C. last month, looked similarly filthy tonight, racking up a season-high nine strikeouts. This was the version of Povich the O’s had hoped they would see more often this season. Keep it up, kid!

Unfortunately, things took a sour turn for Povich — not entirely of his own doing — when he returned for the sixth. He committed the cardinal sin of walking the first batter, who also happened to be the #9 hitter in the lineup, Nasim Nuñez. Later, Nuñez took off for second and advanced all the way to third when Povich’s pitch sailed past Rutschman’s glove. Adley didn’t run particularly hard to retrieve the ball from the backstop, and Holliday failed to deke the runner at second base.

With Nuñez at third and two outs, Brandon Hyde gave Povich, who at 96 pitches, the chance to finish the inning. That was...a mistake. James Wood laced a single up the middle to tie the score at two and end Povich’s night. Cade deserved a much better fate, and if the O’s hadn’t stranded a small army of baserunners, he would’ve been in position to win.

The Orioles got the lead right back in the bottom of the sixth against reliever Jackson Rutledge. They found themselves in a familiar position by loading the bases with one out, and Urías — who twice had stranded the bags full in the game — came through this time with a first-pitch sac fly to right, putting the Birds up, 3-2. The other two runners were eventually left stranded, though, bringing the Orioles’ LOB count to 13 in six innings.

The O’s survived the top of the seventh despite some Gregory Soto shenanigans, in which he threw wildly to second on a potential double-play grounder to put two men in scoring position with one out. Bryan Baker pulled a Houdini act to escape, striking out two batters and letting out a triumphant yell. But Keegan Akin ruined Baker’s heroics just an inning later by coughing up a two-out, game-tying homer to Wood. And here we go again.

The Birds, of course, continued to waste every chance offensively, stranding two runners in the eighth against former Oriole Jorge López. Let’s not forget that the Nationals’ bullpen entered the night with an MLB-worst 6.75 ERA, and the O’s proceeded to score zero earned runs in 5.1 innings against them. Like I said: clown show.

Then came the brutal top of the ninth. Hyde summoned Félix Bautista to hold the tie, but the big righty’s control abandoned him. He issued a leadoff walk to Dylan Crews, but caught a break when Crews, attempting to steal second, overslid the bag and was tagged out. No matter. Bautista promptly walked José Tena, who advanced to second on a groundout.

Bautista got ahead of Nuñez 1-2 in the count but couldn’t put away the #9 hitter, who bounced a chopper to Ryan Mountcastle at first. Mountcastle didn’t get quite enough oomph on his lob to a covering Bautista, and the speedy Nuñez busted it down the line to beat the throw by a step. A dazed Bautista, thinking he had gotten the out, froze in place and didn’t notice the lead runner, Tena, breaking for the plate. His eventual throw home was too late (and wild).

And that, my friends, is how the Nationals scored the winning run. On a routine bouncer to first base that scored a runner from second because the O’s defense is awful and nobody has their head in the game.

Don’t worry, there was one final chance for the Orioles’ offense to futilely fail again. Holliday led off the ninth with a single, but on a 3-2 pitch, Cedric Mullins stared blankly at a fastball right down the middle while Holliday got thrown out trying to steal. Pinch-hitter Emmanuel Rivera’s flyout finally put the O’s out of their misery and ended three-plus hours of the most torturous experience a baseball fan could ever have.

Only 119 more games to go!

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/16/24431892/orioles-nationals-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles fire Brandon Hyde

Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Tony Mansolino will serve as interim manager

The Orioles announced today that Brandon Hyde has been relieved of his duties as the manager of the team. Major League Field Coordinator Tim Cossins has also been sacked.

Third base coach Tony Mansolino will take over the duties of the manager for the time being. He has experience managing in the minors with Cleveland. Robinson Chirinos will remain in his current role.

This season has been an absolute disaster for the Orioles, and at this point the firing of Hyde has been inevitable. The team on the field is underperforming, never more obvious than last night when they made several mental errors in the field on top of their regular futility.

My personal feelings for some time have been that while Brandon Hyde may not be the main problem, he isn’t the one to lead the team out of this funk. I feel for the guy, he seems like a real good dude. Watching him manage a terrible team and see his joy when they grew into a good team was a pleasure. It’s a shame it had to end this way, but it usually does.

In seven seasons with the Orioles, Brandon Hyde led the team to a 421-492 record. He was at the helm for three winning seasons, 2022-24, in which the team went 275-211. Their 2025 record is currently 15-28.

From GM Mike Elias:

As the head of baseball operations, the poor start to our season is ultimately my responsibility. Part of that responsibility is pursuing difficult changes in order to set a different course for the future.

I want to thank Brandon for his hard work, dedication, and passion all these years, and for returning the team to the playoffs and winning an AL East Championship. His many positive contributions to this organization and to Baltimore will remain, and we wish he and his family the best.

And from owner David Rubenstein:

Brandon Hyde is someone I have come to know and deeply admire, not only for his extensive knowledge of baseball, but also for his exceptional leadership as a manager. I am sincerely grateful for his significant accomplishments over the past six years, which have greatly benefited both the Orioles and the city of Baltimore.

However, as is sometimes the case in baseball, change becomes necessary, and we believe this is one of those moments. The Orioles organization is truly appreciative of everything Brandon has contributed during his tenure, and we wish him nothing but success in whatever path he chooses next in the world of baseball.

Brandon is a man of great character, and we thank him for his dedication and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

The Orioles play game two of their series with the Nationals today at 4 pm.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/17/24432170/orioles-fire-brandon-hyde-tim-cossins

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Different manager, same result in a 10-6 loss to the Nats

Kyle Gibson did not have it today, and a Brandon Hyde-less Orioles still do not have an answer for the starting pitching troubles. | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

In the Orioles’ first game since Brandon Hyde was fired, Kyle Gibson was disastrous, and the hitters didn’t hit until very late.

What a weird day. The MASN TV feed started with shots of dazed-looking Orioles players reacting to the Saturday morning firing of Brandon Hyde. Many of them have never known another O’s manager, and it seems that all were totally blindsided by the news. We’ve talked a lot and will keep talking about Brandon Hyde’s responsibility for the dumpster fire that is the 2025 Orioles season, but today’s 10-6 loss shows primarily one thing: the Orioles front office has screwed over the team by skimping on pitching.

Kyle Gibson is many things—a clubhouse leader, veteran mentor, and all-around decent guy—but he’s only pitching in the bigs at all now because the Orioles’ Plan A for the rotation has failed spectacularly. Summoned out of retirement this spring after a bunch of injuries to the Orioles’ staff, I’m sure the 37-year-old is thinking hard about retirement now.

Much to the dismay of a stunned Camden Yards crowd, Gibson looked like a batting practice pitcher today. The righty allowed four runs before he even made an out, the first six Nationals going 5-for-5 with a walk. True, the home plate umpire was squeezing Gibson a bit, and the defense did a few stupid things to prolong the inning. A ball that sailed over Cedric Mullins’ head, the center fielder totally misreading the ball off the bat, went for a double. DH Josh Bell took an extra base when right fielder Heston Kjerstad overthrew the cutoff man. Kjerstad also bobbled a line drive into a run-scoring triple.

But that doesn’t mean Gibson is pitching well these days, either. He gave up all of six runs on 47 pitches and got just two outs. In four starts, he’s now allowed 23 runs in just over 12 innings. The vibes are not good, my friends, they are not good.

You figure Tony Mansolino probably didn’t imagine his first game as interim manager would see him make a call to the bullpen with two outs in the first inning. For that matter, the veteran pitcher Charlie Morton probably didn’t wake up today thinking he’d be pitching in the first inning, either.

But you know what? It worked. The 41-year-old Morton, recently demoted to the bullpen after a series of feckless starts, had a superb outing today. With 4.1 innings of one-run ball, Morton not only provided the length the team needed, he also looked like a major league pitcher again. He struck out six hitters and allowed practically no hard contact, hit 95 mph with his fastball—and located it!—and showed movement on his curveball.

Morton entered with two outs in the first and got a swinging strikeout of CJ Abrams to close the book on Gibson’s miserable outing. He allowed a seventh Nationals run to score in the second inning on a walk and a two-out double, but thereafter he limited the damage and kept Nats hitters swinging awkwardly. His stuff looked noticeably sharper. After one nasty Morton curveball, MASN’s Ben McDonald spun one of his typical folksisms, “Wow. The way that thing turns, it ought to have a blinker on it.” McDonald added, shortly after the veteran’s sixth K, “Charlie Morton is back.” Morton was the highlight of the day for me—it stands to reason he takes over Gibson’s slot in the rotation.

From the School of Silver Linings also comes a good report card for Cionel Pérez and Yennier Cano, who pitched 2.2 and 0.2 scoreless innings, respectively. Pèrez, whom Ben McDonald described today as looking “fresh as a daisy,” struck out three and walked none. It’s been an up-and-down season for the lefty, but over his last seven outings, he’s got a 1.08 ERA. Yennier Cano also looked sharp, allowing one earned run and pulling off a nasty pickoff move to nab Washington’s Luis García.

Too often this season, O’s starters have dug a hole, O’s hitters have showed little fight in tunneling out of it, and back-end O’s relievers have added to the deficit. Despite the efforts of Morton/Pérez/Cano, it was like that today. Seranthony Domínguez could not keep the line moving, and allowed three more Nats runs in the ninth. Domínguez entered with one out and a man on in the ninth, got a flyout, was directed to intentionally walk James Wood, then gave up a two-run double and an RBI single. There’s no hiding the fact that both hits came on hittable pitches.

Roster construction, not just bad coaching, is partly to blame for the Orioles’ current failures, and it feels like only questionable roster construction explains why Seranthony Domínguez keeps getting chances to dig a hole for his team.

Then there’s the hitters. The line here is simple: too little, too late. Washington’s Jake Irvin is a below-average MLB pitcher who kept the O’s off-balance for the better part of seven innings. Hitters kept offering at Irvin’s high fastballs, making only weak contact. They swung futilely through curveballs. Over six innings, the Birds had just a Heston Kjerstad single, a Ryan O’Hearn walk and a Jackson Holliday ground-rule double to show for it.

Orioles bats woke up for the seventh but despite some good hard contact, they couldn’t crack this game open against Irvin, still out there hoping to spare his bullpen. Adley Rutschman doubled off the scoreboard at 111 mph, one of the hardest-hit balls of his career, and scored on a fine piece of hitting by Ramón Urías. An error and a deep Ramón Laureano double later, and the game was 7-2, with runners on second and third. Tony Mansolino made a good move, pinch-hitting Emanuel Rivera for light-hitting catcher Maverick Handley. But Rivera’s 99-mph line drive went straight at the second baseman, and Jackson Holliday’s worm-burner ended the rally.

If the current Orioles position players truly do feel that they let former manager Hyde down, they could have done better than the squalid effort they put up today at the plate over the first six innings. Hitting like they did in the seventh shows a small bit of gumption, and so did their work in the ninth against Washington reliever (and superb Scrabble word) Zach Brzykcy. Out of the 7, 8, and 9th spot came consecutive hits before Jackson Holliday (2-for-5 today, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) delivered with a three-run dong that closed the gap to a still out-of-reach 10-6.

It was nice to see the Orioles put up some collective fight today but it wasn’t enough. The Orioles’ problems run deeper than their ex-manager, and there’s a lot of digging to do if they’re to turn this disappointing season around.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/1...anager-same-result-in-a-10-6-loss-to-the-nats

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Sunday afternoon Orioles game thread: vs Nationals, 1:35

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

It’s up to Zach Eflin to be the stopper and get the Orioles back to winning ways.

It’s not much fun to be an Orioles fan at the moment. The team is losing. Like, a lot. They’ve dropped five straight and are 3-11 for the month of May. That cost Brandon Hyde his job as manager on Saturday. The first game of the Tony Mansolino era didn’t go great, a 10-6 loss to the Nationals. Hopefully Game 2 works out better.

The Orioles will definitely have the advantage in the starting pitching matchup. Zach Eflin, their best pitcher, will begin the day on the bump. Eflin returned from a month-long IL stint last Sunday to deliver five solid innings against the Angels. That was the last time the Orioles won a game.

Mansolino is trotting out the “Fingers Crossed They Start to Click All at Once” lineup. Ryan Mountcastle is quietly on an 11-game hitting streak in which he is hitting .304. But he doesn’t have any home runs in that span. The O’s keep putting him second in the order, hoping that he knocks in Jackson Holliday, who has a .368 batting average over his last four games. Maybe it all works out.

Orioles lineup​

1. Jackson Holliday, 2B
2. Ryan Mountcastle, DH
3. Gunnar Henderson, SS
4. Adley Rutschman, C
5. Ryan O’Hearn, 1B
6. Ramón Laureano, LF
7. Cedric Mullins, CF
8. Heston Kjerstad, RF
9. Emmanuel Rivera, 3B

RHP Zach Eflin (3-1, 3.13 ERA)

Nationals lineup​

1. C.J. Abrams, SS
2. James Wood, LF
3. Nate Lowe, 1B
4. Keibert Ruiz, C
5. Luis Garcìa, 2B
6. Josh Bell, DH
7. Alex Call, RF
8. José Tena, 3B
9. Dylan Crews, CF

RHP Mike Soroka (0-2, 6.43 ERA)

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/18/24432503/sunday-afternoon-orioles-game-thread-vs-nationals-1-35

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Eflin implodes, Orioles loss streak extends to six

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Yet another ugly loss in this nightmare of a season for the Baltimore Orioles.

Make it six losses in a row. Zach Eflin turned in a rare poor start and the Orioles suffered yet another blowout loss. This time it was a 10-4 defeat at the hands of the visiting Nationals to clinch a second straight series sweep.

This was your standard 2025 Orioles loss. The starting pitcher was bad. The offense relied almost entirely on home runs to score. And the team lost by a lot. Not a playoff formula, eh?

One unique part of this loss was the specific pitcher that struggled. Zach Eflin has been one of the few sure things on the Orioles pitching staff dating back to last July. He entered the day with a 2.76 ERA as an Oriole over 13 starts, and had never allowed more than three runs in any one outing. That made today’s performance his worst—by far—in an Orioles uniform.

Home runs were the issue for Eflin. He gave up four of them, and that started on the very first pitch of the game.

Eflin tossed an 89 mph cutter towards home plate to begin the game, and CJ Abrams blasted it onto the flag court in right field for an immediate 1-0 deficit.

In the second inning, Eflin was ambushed yet again, this time on the second pitch of the frame. Luis García Jr. launched an 87 mph changeup for another solo shot and a 2-0 advantage for the visiting Nationals. He would be followed later in the inning by a three-run shot from Dylan Crews, and then another one-run dong for Abrams. Keibert Ruiz drove in the final run of the inning with an RBI single to score James Wood and make it 7-0.

To Eflin’s credit, he did stick around long enough to eat innings and save the Orioles bullpen, who have had a long weekend. He gave up his eighth run of the afternoon in the fourth inning, and stayed in to toss 5.2 innings in total. The poor outing exploded Eflin’s season ERA from 3.13 to 5.08. Man, even this team’s “good” pitchers stink on paper now.

From the third inning on, the Orioles actually outscored the Nationals, 4-3. Unfortunately, runs scored in the first three innings count just as much as those scored later, so it was a loss just the same.

The Orioles offense on the day consisted of little besides solo home runs. Cedric Mullins hit his ninth homer of the season in the fifth inning. Gunnar Henderson went deep for the seventh time in the sixth inning. And Jackson Holliday smacked his sixth long ball of the year in the seventh inning.

Mullins also had a hand in the O’s only non-home run RBI. In the sixth inning he doubled in Ryan O’Hearn, who had doubled himself earlier in the frame.

The closest the Orioles ever got was an 8-4 gap going into the eighth inning. But the bullpen couldn’t hold things further. Bryan Baker gave up a solo homer in the eighth. Kade Strowd made his debut in the ninth, and also gave up a run to give us the 10-4 final score line.

Here’s the good news: I have Abrams on my fantasy team. That kind of performance on a Sunday is huge for me. It’s a matchup changer.

On the Orioles side of things, it’s good to see Holliday stay hot like this. Even if the season continues to nosedive, they need him to be the sort of star he was projected to be. Between him and Henderson, they should at least have the top of the order sorted out moving forward.

Strowd’s debut was interesting to see. He threw the hardest pitch of the game (97.6 mph) and forced five whiffs on just 15 swings. His 7.47 ERA down in Triple-A this season does not instill a ton of confidence, but the 27-year-old has an intriguing repertoire. We are grasping at straws lately, folks. We will take “interesting” over just about everything else we have watched for two months.

There isn’t much else to take away here. This team is bad. Bad teams lose games like this, and they lose a lot. The Orioles are checking all of those boxes.

The next stop for the Birds is Milwaukee. They start a three-game set with the Brewers on Monday night at 7:40. Dean Kremer (3-5, 5.36 ERA) starts against Quinn Priester (1-2, 4.59 ERA). Tune in! Or don’t. I do not blame you if there are better things to do with your time.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/1...-eflin-mullins-henderson-holliday-strowd-2025

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles-Brewers series preview: The O’s take their losing streak on the road

Photo by Kelly Gavin/Getty Images

The Brewers aren’t very good. But the Orioles have a habit of making bad teams look a lot better.

After languishing through an 0-6 homestand that was so humiliating it got their manager fired, the Orioles head to Milwaukee hoping to change their luck. They might not play any better, but at least if they need a few beers to drown their sorrows, they’re in the right place.

The last time Orioles fans gave much consideration to the Brewers may have been February 2024, when the two teams matched up on the Corbin Burnes trade. The deal was a one-year success for the Birds before Burnes left in free agency, but the Brewers’ return has been left wanting. The injury-riddled DL Hall pitched only 13 games for Milwaukee last year and none this season, while Joey Ortiz — after an impressive rookie campaign in 2024 — has suffered a horrific sophomore slump, batting .170/.223/.218 with a -1.3 bWAR in 44 games.

The Brewers have quietly been one of MLB’s best teams in recent years, winning three of the past four NL Central crowns, but they enter this series with a sub-.500 record at 22-25. Milwaukee’s offense in particular has had a lot of trouble of late. Their 5-2 win over the Twins yesterday was only their second game this month in which they scored five runs. They had been shut out in four of their previous five games.

Veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins has paced the Brewers’ lineup with a team-leading .838 OPS, while second baseman Brice Turang has been the club’s most valuable position player with a 1.7 bWAR. The slick-fielding Turang won not only a Gold Glove but a Platinum Glove last year as the National League’s best defender. On the other end of the spectrum, former NL MVP Christian Yelich has been limited mostly to DH duty and carries just a .644 OPS, while 21-year-old outfielder Jackson Chourio has taken a step back from his rookie breakout last year.

The Brewers also have a rookie third baseman named Caleb Durbin, whom I mention only because he somehow leads the majors with seven hit-by-pitches despite playing only 28 games. This guy is a baseball magnet.

Milwaukee’s pitching ranks roughly in the middle of the pack. They’ve cobbled together a patchwork rotation behind ace Freddy Peralta, whom the O’s won’t face in this series. Their bullpen is anchored by first-year closer Trevor Megill and stellar right-handers Abner Uribe (1.31 ERA) and Nick Mears (0.51). If the O’s are trailing late, as they often are, they’ll face an uphill climb trying to rally back against those guys.

We’re well past the point of saying things like, “This is a series the Orioles should win.” No, by now, the Orioles should be considered the underdogs in pretty much every series for the rest of the year, except maybe against the Rockies and White Sox. Even a struggling Brewers team has a decided advantage over the Birds. But maybe the O’s can cobble together a competent performance for a day to give Tony Mansolino his first MLB managerial win.

Game 1: Monday, 7:40 PM ET, MASN​

RHP Dean Kremer (3-5, 5.36) vs. RHP Quinn Priester (1-2, 4.59)

After tossing back-to-back seven-inning gems to start to rejuvenate his season, Kremer regressed last time with a 5.2-inning, four-run performance in a loss to the Twins. His previous two interleague starts this year did not go well; he coughed up six runs apiece to the Diamondbacks on April 9 and Nationals on April 22.

On top of that, the Brewers have historically had Kremer’s number. They clubbed him for six runs in a 2023 outing and eight runs in a blowout last year. In the latter start, Kremer served up home runs to Hoskins and Jake Bauers. So, yeah, there’s not much reason to be confident that Kremer will be the guy to snap the Orioles’ six-game losing streak.

Priester, a former first round pick of the Pirates, is on his third team in the past two seasons. The Brewers acquired him from Boston in early April to add depth to their injury-riddled rotation, and he’s been a serviceable if unremarkable back-end starter. Priester has yet to work more than five innings in any of his seven games, so the Brewers’ middle relievers should be pressed into early duty. Or, knowing the Orioles offense, he’ll pitch like eight shutout innings against them.

Game 2: Tuesday, 7:40 PM ET, MASN2​

TBD vs. RHP Logan Henderson (2-0, 2.45)

Henderson, the Brewers’ 12th-ranked prospect, has impressed in his first two major league starts, winning both while striking out 16 batters and walking just two. He’s primarily a fastball and changeup guy; those have accounted for 86% of his major league pitches so far, though he also can toss in a cutter or slider on rare occasions. His arrival signaled the end of Gunnar’s reign of being the only active Henderson in the majors. The two will battle in this game for Henderson supremacy.

The Orioles haven’t announced a starter for this game, though they could choose to bring back Chayce McDermott, who pitched three innings in Game 2 of the Birds’ doubleheader last Wednesday. Brandon Young would also be a possibility if he weren’t out with an injury for Triple-A Norfolk.

Game 3: Wednesday, 1:10 PM ET, MASN2, MLBN (out-of-market)​

RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (4-3, 3.08) vs. RHP Chad Patrick (2-4, 3.35)

After Zach Eflin’s blowup against the Nats yesterday, Sugano stands alone as the only O’s starter who has yet to suffer a truly disastrous outing this year. And yes, I realize there’s a very good chance I’m jinxing him by writing that, but whatever. Sugano hasn’t allowed more than four runs in any of his nine starts, and he’s pitched five innings or more in all but two. The Orioles even have a winning record (5-4) in his starts. Sugano’s impressive performance in his first season in the U.S. is one of the few highlights of the Orioles’ year.

The Brewers will counter with a second consecutive rookie right-hander, Patrick, who has been a pleasant surprise since breaking camp in the rotation. His nine starts are tied with Peralta for the most on the team and he has more than pulled his weight with a 124 ERA+. Not bad for a guy who twice was traded for utility infielders before making his MLB debut. Patrick’s peripherals, though, aren’t as friendly, as he doesn’t strike out a lot of guys and batters tend to make hard contact. At some point a team will string together a bunch of runs against him. Are the Orioles that team? I think we all know the answer.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/19/24432621/orioles-brewers-series-preview

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles fall to Brewers, 5-4, lose seventh straight

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Will they ever win again?

The Orioles lost their seventh consecutive game today and 31st on the year. Their record now stands at 15-31, which is on pace for a season-long record of 52-110. Goodness. Dean Kremer was underwhelming once again as he allowed four runs in 5.1 innings. He has not given up at least four earned runs in six of his 10 starts. Not great.

The offense had its moments tonight, but ultimately fell short. And by “offense,” I mean Ramón Laureano, who had three hits including his sixth home run, and Cedric Mullins, who hit a game-tying home run late in the game.

Let’s start with Kremer. He had a nice first inning, which made me think we might see Good Dean today. But that went up in smoke in the second, when he allowed three of his four runs. After Laureano put the Orioles ahead in the top of the inning with a solo homer, Kremer responded by promptly walking the first batter of the bottom. Swell, Dean.

With Rhys Hoskins on first via the walk, Isaac Collins singled. Kremer got close to getting out of it with back-to-back strikeouts, but true to Orioles’ form, he allowed the number nine hitter to get an RBI single. Caleb Durbin and his 45 OPS+ singled to left field. Dylan Carlson fired the ball home to try and nab Hoskins, but the throw wasn’t in time and allowed Durbin to get into scoring position. He and Collins came in on another single, putting the Orioles into a 3-1 hole.

Kremer settled in for a few innings. He had traffic in every inning, but got out of it in the third and fourth innings. In the fifth, back-to-back doubles brought in the fourth run, which at the time felt like a nail in the coffin for the Orioles and their underachieving offense. But surprise, they came back!

Seranthony Domínguez relieved Kremer with one out in the sixth inning and a runner on third. He made the jam worse by sandwiching two walks around a strikeout, but retired Jackson Chourio with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Brewers’ starter Quinn Priester had kept the Orioles down for most of the game. He started the second inning after the opener, Rob Zastryzny, had a 1-2-3 first. In innings two through six, Priester sailed. Laureano homered and singled, and Jackson Holliday had a single of his own. That was it.

Priester started the seventh by retiring Laureano for the first time, but walked Ryan O’Hearn. Ramón Urías followed with a double to left field. O’Hearn stopped at third as Urías slid in ahead of the tag at second. That marked the end of the day for Priester.

The Brewers turned to relief pitcher Nick Mears, who is off to a great start this season. In 19 games, Mears has given up just one earned run. The righty was tasked with getting Cedric Mullins out. He did not. Mullins smoked a Mears fastball to right field at 107.9 mph. It got over the fence so fast that the broadcasters could barely make the call in time.

The Earl Weaver Special tied the game and was the most excitement we’ve seen in an Orioles game in some time. The happiness lasted about an inning and a half. The O’s made some noise in the eighth with a one-out Gunnar Henderson walk and Laureano single, but the filthy Abner Uribe struck out O’Hearn and Urías to squash the rally.

After Gregory Soto pitched a scoreless seventh, Yennier Cano took over in the eighth. Cano has been pretty bad of late. He had a nice April, but May has been miserable. Opponents came into tonight with a .364 May batting average against him. In just 5.1 innings pitched in May, he has walked four, given up three home runs, and allowed eight runs. His troubles continued tonight.

Cano got the first two outs but walked leadoff batter Bryce Turang. Turang immediately stole second and came in to score on William Contreras’s fourth hit of the game. It was a ground ball single just out of reach of a diving Henderson.

Armed with a lead, the Brewers turned to their closer, Trevor Megill. Megill walked Mullins to start things off, just to tease us. Dylan Carlson was, for some reason, bunting. Bunting is usually dumb and it was especially dumb tonight because Carlson couldn’t even do it. He popped the ball up for the first out. Adley Rutschman pinch hit for Maverick Handley. With Rutschman at the plate, Mullins got himself into scoring position by stealing second. But both Rutschman and Jackson Holliday flew out to left field and the game was over.

Brewers win, 5-4. The Orioles have lost seven games in a row and the nicest thing I can say about this game is that I wasn’t miserable the entire time. Thanks, Cedric.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/19/24433598/mlb-scores-orioles-brewers-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

How many games do you think the Orioles will win by season’s end?

Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

They are resetting expectations lower by the day.

The 2025 Orioles are moving rapidly towards the point where it stops being painful to watch them because they have made us numb to the failure. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but it is. They cannot pitch. They are not hitting. It has reached the point where, like last night’s game, you can think to yourself, “Well, at least they managed to tie the game up after falling behind” even though they went and blew it again later on.

A week ago, in a burst of optimism that the Orioles might be able to do something to pull themselves out of the muck, I asked folks how many games the team would win in the month of May. A plurality 39% of you believed that the O’s would at least slow down the slide by winning 12-14 games for May.

It was a reasonable thing to believe at the time. The Orioles have not won a game since then. They’ve fired the manager. They’ve chucked one of Mike Elias’s offseason mistakes. These things have not fixed anything. A small handful of Orioles are playing well. The rest are not and it’s why they are where they are, diving rapidly towards the White Sox and Pirates near the bottom of MLB’s standings. The Rockies, still with just eight wins, stand alone down there, for now.

This week, I’d like you to think about where it goes from here the whole rest of the season. The Orioles are currently on pace to go 53-109. That would fit them in right between the 2021 Orioles (52 wins) and the 2019 O’s (54 wins). Even having watched these jokers, it’s a shock to think that’s how bad they’ve been, to be compared to those hopeless teams. But that’s what they’ve done.

It’s a mark of how bad things have gotten that when I was setting up the above poll, the “best” answer I included is winning at least 74 games. Even that would be a horrible season relative to our preseason hopes. The Orioles would have to go 59-57 the rest of the way just to reach that number. That shouldn’t be such a heavy lift, and yet, here the O’s are.

Worth keeping in mind that there will be things changing with the roster as the season moves along. Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg are the two injured guys whose return should seem to be coming up next, though the timetable for Westburg does remain murky. Grayson Rodriguez presumably will throw a pitch eventually. Farther out, we can hope for something like 6-8 starts from Kyle Bradish before season’s end.

Tyler O’Neill might spend a few days off the IL at some point, and might use those days to do something other than demonstrate that Mike Elias chose stupendously poorly in having O’Neill be the first guy to hand a multi-year free agent contract.

There will also be subtractions. It now appears a near-certainty that players who are set to be free agents after this season will be traded away before July’s deadline. Zach Eflin, Cedric Mullins, and Ryan O’Hearn seem like the best candidates for that now. Players who stink could also be removed in one way or another. Gibson won’t be the last DFA.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/20/24433780/orioles-2025-win-total-predictions

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles losing streak stretches to 8 with 5-2 loss to the Brewers

Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

Milwaukee hit three home runs and the Orioles' offense looked lost for much of the night as the O’s drop to 0-4 under interim manager Tony Mansolino.

The Orioles have been all about embracing change recently, but they couldn’t do anything with Logan Henderson’s changeup as they fell to the Brewers, 5-2.

From the very beginning of the game, the Baltimore bats looked lost against Milwaukee’s rookie right-hander and his excellent offspeed offering. Henderson started off the 1st with back-to-back strikeouts of Jackson Holliday and Adley Rtuschman on changeups—including one cambio that made Adley look absolutely silly. Henderson got the first six outs of his outing all on changeups, as he consistently worked the pitch to both sides of the plate.

The O’s wouldn’t get their first hit off Henderson until the bottom of the 4th, when Gunnar Henderson hit a hard ground ball to the left side and hustled down the line to beat the throw to first. With Baltimore down 1-0, Henderson immediately stole second to try and spark a game-tying rally. Those sparks failed to ignite anything, though, as Ramón Laureano K’d on a fastball up and away and Ryan O’Hearn’s sinking liner to left found a Brewer glove—leaving Henderson stranded. The 23-year-old right-hander ended up throwing five shutout innings, while allowing only two hits and racking up seven Ks.

The Orioles' inability to hit with runners in scoring position reared its ugly head once again Tuesday, as multiple chances to eat into a 3-0 Milwaukee lead came and went. In the 5th, Ryan Mountcastle led off the inning with a single on the first pitch he saw. RMC later moved to second on a two-out walk from Ramón Urías. That gave Jackson Holiday the chance to finally get the O’s on the board, but the budding star could only swat a fly ball down the left field line for the final out.

Holliday would redeem himself in the 7th, but only after another run-scoring opportunity dripping with disappointment. Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins started the inning with back-to-back singles against Brewers reliever Tyler Alexander. That brought Heston Kjerstad to the plate, who, all too predictably, grounded into a 4-3 double play to leave only Mounty at third with two outs.

Urías delivered the O’s first hit with a runner in scoring position all night, dropping a single into shallow left center to score Mountcastle and cut the deficit to 3-1. Holliday then came inches short of tying the game, blasting a triple off the top of the wall in left center to score Urías and bring the Orioles within a run. Adley Rutschman failed to keep the rally going, though, leaving Holliday stranded at third after a lazy fly ball to center.

Those back-to-back hits in the 7th were the only excitement the Baltimore bats provided all evening, as a weak Dylan Carlson single in the 8th was the only other hit they’d register in their tepid attempt at a comeback. Up 5-2 after a disastrous bottom of the 8th for the O’s, Milwaukee close Abner Uribe struck out the side in the 9th to hand the Orioles their 8th straight L.

On the mound, Keegan Akin got the start as Tuesday’s opener, working a scoreless bottom of the 1st with a pair of Ks. The O’s then turned to rookie Chayce McDermott in the 2nd, looking to get the 26-year-old on the right track in his third big league appearance. McDermott was better against the Brewers than his other two big league outings, but no one mistook his appearance Tuesday for being “good.”

He worked a relatively clean 2nd inning, starting with retiring Rhys Hoskins on a one-pitch pop-up before working around a one-out walk with a pair of groundouts. The walk was a foreboding sign of things to come, however, as McDermott struggled to get ahead of hitters and never really settled in against Milwaukee.

With one out in the 3rd, McDermott fell behind Brice Turang 3-1 before throwing a fastball right down the middle of the plate. The Brewers’ leadoff hitter pounced on the mistake, sending the ball into the left-center bullpen for a solo HR. It was the first of three batters that inning were McDermott found himself in a three-ball count, and the rookie was fortunate to escape the inning only down 1-0.

McDermott ran into more trouble in the 4th, though not entirely of his own making. Hoskins led off the inning by launching a high pop-up into shallow right field. In a turn of events all too indicative of the Orioles’ struggles, the Brewer 1B ended up with a double after Laureano’s foot got stuck on an attempted sliding catch, leaving him unable to haul in the pop fly.

While the way he got on base may have seemed cheap, there was nothing cheap about the hit that brought Hoskins home. With one out, McDermott hung a slider to Sal Frelick, who turned on the breaking ball and deposited a two-run homer into the right field seats. Immediately before the long ball, Kevin Brown called Frelick, “one of the softest hitters in baseball,” but there was nothing soft about the 412ft, 105 mph blast to right.

McDermott’s best moment of the night game in the 5th, as he Houdini’d himself out of a two-on, nobody out jam. Jackson Chourio led off the inning with a single on another hanging slider and then William Contreras walked to start the potential rally. Both runners moved up on a Christian Yelich groundout, meaning McDermott would have to lock in to keep the game at 3-0.

He did just that, punching out Hoskins on a high and away fastball and getting Isaac Colling to ground out to third to end the threat. McDermott would get the first two outs of the 6th before being pulled, giving him a final line of 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 BB and 2 K. The 4.2 innings were a career high for McDermott, and we’ll have to see if the outing was enough to keep him in Baltimore.

Félix Bautista entered in the 8th and gave up a solo HR to Hoskins to give Milwaukee a 4-2 lead. The Mountain then walked Frelick, who stole second and game around to score on a throwing error from Holliday.

**

The loss drops the Orioles to 15-32, just 1.5 games ahead of the White Sox for the worst record in the AL. Tomoyuki Sugano will take the mound tomorrow afternoon, trying to save Baltimore from their fourth sweep in their last five series.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/20/24434277/orioles-brewers-game-recap-may-20-2025-mlb-scores

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles snap 8-game losing streak with an 8-4 win over the Brewers in extras

Adley Rutschman hitting a three-run game-winning home run in the eleventh inning to help the O’s snap an eight-game losing streak. | Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

The Orioles bats finally exploded in extras, with Adley Rutschman delivering a game-winning three-run blast.

According to today’s MASN broadcast, before the game today’s starter, Tomoyuki Sugano, brought Insomnia Cookies to the locker room to lift the vibes. Another way to lift the team vibes? Win games!

The Orioles did just that, shattering an eight-game losing streak with an explosive 8-4 extra-innings win, capped off by an Adley Rutschman three-home blast off exhausted Brewers reliever Tyler Alexander. Rutschman needed that extra-base hit in the worst way, and this team needed that win.

Wednesday’s eleven-innings seesaw win was a wild one, the Orioles’ longest of the season and the team’s first extra-innings win since last July. It’s unlikely a baseball team wins when its hitters produce just one run in seven innings, and when its relievers blow, not one, but two saves. But better late than never, and better lucky than good, right?

This was a 2-1 game entering the eighth inning, believe it or not. Despite Tomoyuki Sugano supporting his team with cookies, the bats did basically nothing to support Sugano. That’s OK; the right hander delivered another great effort in today’s no decision. Taking a “kitchen sink” approach, with copious splitters, sweepers, sinkers, cutters, four-seamers, and curveballs, Sugano kept the Brewers off the board until a fluky run scored in the fifth and a solo home run in the sixth.

As for the Birds offense, let’s be honest: against an average-seeming Chad Patrick, it wasn’t great. O’s hitters rashly hit into groundouts in the first, flyouts in the second, and stuck out twice in the third. Despite that, they got on the board first, manufacturing in a run in the fourth. Gunnar and Mountcastle singled back-to-back, and Ryan O’Hearn squared up a middle-of-the-plate fastball for a run-scoring single. 1-0, Birds. Hitting looks so easy when you’re doing it right!

But it was bittersweet: Cedric Mullins and Emmanuel Rivera struck out, and Kjerstad flew out. The next inning, the fifth, they wasted an Adley double off a low Patrick fastball.

Then, in the bottom half, Sugano surrendered a run in one of the weirdest ways you’ll see. With one out and third baseman Caleb Durbin on second, Sugano fielded a weak tapper to the mound, threw to first for the putout… and the runner came home from second to score! That tied the game 1-1.

It was a perplexing play. The runner Durbin ignored his own third base coach’s “Stop” sign, rounded third as O’Hearn fielded Sugano’s flip, and beat O’Hearn’s throw home. The MASN booth was confused, too, about whether an Orioles fielder had bungled the play. At the time Sugano fielded it, Durbin hadn’t made the turn yet. O’Hearn threw home as soon as he saw Durbin coming home. Maybe Adley Rutschman could have called for it from Sugano, instead. Maybe it was just great baserunning from Durbin.

Certainly it seems that one area of room for improvement for Sugano is awareness with runners on base. Besides Durbin’s “steal” of home (which is kind of what it was, even if not technically), outfielders Jake Bauers and Jackson Chourio both ran on him, and it wasn’t even tough.

For an O’s offense starved of runs, letting this become a 1-1 game on an unnecessary run felt like a big one to give up. Especially when the Brewers got a no-doubter second run off a “cement mixer” of a Sugano cutter that Rhys Hoskins drilled over the wall to make it 2-1. It was one of the worst pitches Sugano threw all day. Good hitters will make you pay for those things.

But overall, this was another good outing from Tomoyuki Sugano, the best thing this rotation has got going.

Sugano was followed by a very effective Andrew Kittredge, making his season debut after knee debridement. Kittredge looks the part of the veteran, sporting a grizzled beard, an easy demeanor, and a delivery so relaxed, it looks downright lazy. I could see him being hard to time up, and indeed, he was delightfully effective today, in a 1-2-3 seventh.

This low-scoring contest took another turn when the Birds tied the game, 2-2, in the eighth off of Nick Mears, one of the best relievers in the league thus far. These were great at-bats by the Orioles, finally. On the eighth pitch he saw, Gunnar led off the inning with a single, his third time on base today. Mountcastle lined to the warning track and Henderson couldn’t advance. Ryan O’Hearn hit a one-out double to the left-field corner, but third base coach Buck Britton put up a big “Stop” sign, much to the annoyance of Henderson, who stopped at third. Cedric Mullins tied the game with a sac fly to center.

The Birds weren’t done. The Brewers lifted Mears, whose 1.83 ERA attests to a single earned run allowed all year, after he threw a season-high 23 pitches, and brought in Joel Payamps, who’s got an 8.50 ERA, instead. Thankfully for this offense, Payamps pitched like it! Emmanuel Rivera worked a gutsy walk and Heston Kjerstad, a black hole in the offense of late, rocketed a life-giving single to score O’Hearn from second. 3-2, Orioles. A huge hit for Kjerstad, and for this team.

I kind of wasn’t ready to see a one-run game put into the hands of Gregory Soto, but he delivered a shutout eighth, albeit nearly beaning Christian Yelich, who gave Soto the dirtiest of looks before grounding out. Three outs to go!

Félix Bautista is clearly still not back to his All-Star 2023 form. Instead of a three-out save, Bautista walked two, and with one strike away from ending the game, hung a slider, allowing Caleb Durbin, a .169 hitter entering this game, to tie it, 3-3.

Free baseball, everyone! When your team is as battered as this one is, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Cedric Mullins delivered a run-scoring double in the tenth to score the ghost runner, but in the bottom half Bryan Baker allowed Jackson Chourio to tie it up, 4-4. Another gut punch.

This time, the Birds rallied against the Brewers’ Tyler Alexander, pitching his second day in a row. Alexander allowed two straight singles, including Jackson Holliday’s rocket to the outfield, making it a 5-4 game. Would the Birds hold this narrow lead? Well, they didn’t need to, because of this one swing by Adley Rutschman, one of his biggest of the year.

Seranthony Domínguez wrapped up the game, and that was that. It was a nailbiter, but it was a win. The Birds, the eight-game losing streak behind them, head to Boston, hopefully with a head of steam and new confidence from this one.

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/21/24434776/mlb-scores-orioles-brewers-game-recap

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

Orioles-Red Sox series preview: Another below .500 team looks to beat up on the O’s

Photo by Alyssa Howell/MLB Photos via Getty Images

The last time the Orioles played the Red Sox, we had no idea how bad the O’s would be.

Things—you know—could be going better for the Orioles, whose season has taken a sharp left turn since they last saw the Boston Red Sox. If you’ll recall, that was the second series of the year, after the Orioles had split a four-game opener in Toronto. Back at home in Oriole Park, Baltimore would take the first game against then-starter option Sean Newcomb (no longer starting for Boston) before dropping the next two against Tanner Houck and Garrett Crochet, respectively. Since then—you know—the Birds have gone 13-28.

As for Boston, one of those big-budget teams always predicted to be at the top of the AL East, their season is going fine, in the sense that, despite being just below .500 (25-26), neck in neck with Toronto, and 5.5 games behind division-leader New York, they’re still very much in the playoff hunt. They’re a good-hitting team (sixth in MLB in runs scored), but not so much in pitching (an MLB eighth-worst in runs allowed).

When last we met these guys, Rafael Devers was still grouching about being displaced from third base by Alex Bregman, and wasn’t hitting. It was definitely “a thing.” Flash forward to late May, and the experiment is working fiendishly well for Boston: Devers is OPS’ing .931 as a DH and Bregman .954 as a 3B.

But the Red Sox have personnel issues elsewhere on the diamond. First baseman Triston Casas was seriously injured early in May and the replacement-by-committee approach is not working. Top prospect Kristian Campbell is hitting .229 and putting up negative WAR at second base. Shortstop Trevor Story is OPS’ing .616. Meanwhile, top outfield prospect Roman Anthony is lighting up Triple-A, hitting .322 with six home runs, leading for calls to bring him up, regardless of a position backlog.

When last these two teams met, there was also lots of talk about the fact that the Red Sox had aggressively pursued Garrett Crochet in the offseason and the Orioles hadn’t. These days, it’s impossible to deny that, whatever the front office’s plans were for the Orioles rotation, they’ve failed. So we’re not blame-shifting when we say that the Red Sox’s experience so far serves as a reminder that pitching excellence isn’t just a matter of signing checks.

Other than Crochet, the starting rotation hasn’t been great. Tanner Houck has been poor, with an -1.6 WAR and 8.04 ERA. Lucas Giolito is also in negative WAR, with a 7.08 ERA/5.50 FIP. Longtime Dodger Walker Buehler and fourth-year hurler Brayan Bello have identical, just-above-average ERA+’s of 104. Hunter Dobbins has been good, 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA, but not fantastic.

The Orioles will miss the Red Sox’s best and worst this time around, settling for Giolito, Bello and Dobbins.

Game 1 - Thursday, 6:45 pm, MASN

• Cade Povich (1-3, 5.23 ERA, 38 SO) v. Lucas Giolito (1-1, 7.08 ERA, 17 SO)

The Orioles are still trying to figure out whether they have much of a starter in Povich, who, along with Yennier Cano, came over from Minnesota in 2022 for then-All Star closer Jorge López. A 5.23 ERA doesn’t inspire tons of confidence; a 4.77 FIP is better. His last five starts have been mixed: he allowed seven runs to Cincinnati and five to Minnesota, but one, two, and three, respectively, versus Washington (twice) and New York. Over his last two weeks, hitters are batting .158 against him, so that’s nice, although he’s still getting crushed by righties (.304 average, .876 slugging).

Another Boston player whose “Sox” used to be “White,” Giolito is having one of the worst starts of his career since coming off the IL to start the season. In four starts, he’s been worth -0.7 WAR, courtesy of the highest walk and home run rates of his career. His last start, against Atlanta, he allowed six runs for the second time in four tries, including on three home runs, two in the first inning. He’s not going deep either, having required 87 pitches to get through four frames his last time out.

Game 2 – Friday, 7:10 pm, MASN

• Charlie Morton (0-7, 7.68 ERA, 40 SO) v. Brayan Bello (2-1, 4.02 ERA, 20 SO)

I really want Charlie Morton, he of the distinguished 18-year career, to figure it out for Baltimore this season. Since being bumped to the bullpen, he’s been better, posting a 4.43 ERA instead of a 10.89 one in his first five tries. His last time out of the ‘pen came in relief of Kyle Gibson, who allowed six runs in less than an inning in what was perhaps his last time pitching as an Oriole. Sigh. Best to turn the page on that memory quickly. But Morton was really good: his fastball had lots of life, and he whiffed six in 4.1 innings. The Red Sox are a very tall order, but this is kind of an important test for Morton, and this rotation.

Brayan Bello took a loss against Atlanta in his most recent start on Sunday, allowing seven runs on 10 hits and five walks with three strikeouts over 4.1 innings. His first five starts of the season were good, with only seven runs allowed, but he’s had three consecutive starts where he’s failed to complete five innings. He’s allowing traffic on the basepaths, having difficulty keeping the ball in the strike zone, and failing to draw many whiffs. He’ll carry a 4.02 ERA, 1.69 WHIP and 20:19 K:BB across 31.1 innings into this matchup.

Game 3 – Saturday, 4:10 pm, MASN

• Zach Eflin (3-2, 5.08 ERA, 17 SO) v. Hunter Dobbins (2-1, 3.62 ERA, 25 SO)

Zach Eflin is having the opposite season as Charlie Morton, in that he started off brilliantly, got sidetracked due to injury (Morton, for all that he’s 41, remains a paragon of pitcher health in a tough era), and turned in a dreadful outing his last time out. Eflin posted a clean 3.00 ERA in March/April, but it’s less clear whether he’s fully healed. In two starts since he returned from injury, he allowed two runs to the Halos and an awful eight runs on ten hits against the Nationals.

Rookie Hunter Dobbins has been middle-of-the-pack for Boston, sniffing neither the brilliance of former White Sox Garrett Crochet nor the badness, currently, of Giolito. Across six starts, he’s pitched to a respectable 3.62 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 25:5 K/BB rate. He earned a no-decision last Monday against the Mets, allowing one run on five hits and one walk over 4.2 innings, while striking out two. The Lubbock, Texas native has been very good at limiting walks and getting hitters to chase his slider, curveball and sweeper.

**

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/22/24434999/orioles-red-sox-probable-pitchers-series-preview

 

[Baltimore Orioles]

The biggest deliverers of Orioles Tragic so far this season - week 8 edition

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Orioles nearly went this entire week without winning a game.

What a long, strange week it’s been. The Orioles changed managers, they chucked one underperforming starting pitcher, they keep shuffling relievers and juggling injured players and returning players, and through it all they won exactly one game since the last edition of this article - and that one was only yesterday. That eight-game losing streak was brutal. The last six of those eight are the week we’re covering now.

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. As we all know by now, it’s been much more losing than winning. 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 that looked over the past week:

Game 42​

• Result: Orioles lose to Twins, 4-0
• Orioles record: 15-27
• The biggest play: Tomoyuki Sugano gives up two-run home run to DaShawn Keirsey, Jr., giving Twins 2-0 third inning lead (-21%)
• The biggest goat: Sugano (-.164 WPA)

This was the game that prompted the MASN broadcast to highlight just how much the Orioles have struggled against bottom of the lineup hitters, which I also discussed in my recap of this game. Keirsey was the Twins #9 hitter in the game and that was his first home run of the year in his 34th game. Giving up a home run to that guy is tough. The 2025 O’s specialize in getting burned by the 7-8-9 hitters, relative to how the rest of the league is doing. It’s one of many dumb things about this team.

It is, of course, hard to win a game when scoring zero runs. There were a handful of chances with RISP in this game and the Orioles blew them all, going 0-6. Ryan Mountcastle (-.106) and Tyler O’Neill (-.104) were the players with the biggest opportunities to do something good, and they did not take advantage of those chances.

Game 43​

• Result: Orioles lose to Nationals, 4-3
• Record: 15-28
• The biggest play: José Tena scores go-ahead run from second base on an infield single in a ninth inning play that also featured a Félix Bautista throwing error (-37%)
• The biggest goat: Bautista (-.315 WPA)

It may be fairly said that this is the game that got Brandon Hyde fired. It was not just any loss. It was a highly-embarrassing loss on the crucial play, the kind of thing where you almost can’t believe it happened. Or so I gather from people’s reactions. I was fortunately out of town and not watching.

Not to be lost beneath Bautista blowing it should be Cedric Mullins watching a third strike practically right down the middle as Jackson Holliday, the tying run, was running to second base with nobody out (-28%) - or Keegan Akin blowing a 3-2 Orioles lead by giving up a homer to Nats lefty batter James Wood (-27%). Get out the lefties, ya loser.

Ramón Laureano went 4-4 in this game and deserved to be remembered as the hero (.281 WPA) if only his teammates didn’t let himself, and the manager, and all of us, down.

Game 44​

• Result: Orioles lose to Nationals, 10-6
• Record: 15-29
• The biggest play: Kyle Gibson gives up RBI double to Keibert Ruiz, giving Nationals 2-0 lead with no one out in the first inning (-12%)
• The biggest goat: Gibson (-.428 WPA)

New interim manager, same 2025 Orioles results. Gibson allowed six runs while not even finishing the first inning of the game, an outing that ultimately got him designated for assignment. Mike Elias’s late spring training desperation signing cashed about $1.3 million per major league start this season. It was bad to end up in a position where the Orioles thought they needed Gibson and bad to decide that he was their least bad option.

In WPA terms, the fact that Yennier Cano and Seranthony Domínguez combined to give up three runs in the ninth doesn’t matter all that much, though it did end up being lamentable since the Orioles rallied for four runs in the ninth to get within grand slam territory. Only after Jackson Holliday’s three-run home run to make it 10-6 with one out did the Orioles have at least a 1% chance of winning the game.

Game 45​

• Result: Orioles lose to Nationals, 10-4
• Record: 15-30
• The biggest play: Zach Eflin gives up three-run home run to Dylan Crews to give Nationals a 5-0 second inning lead (-16%)
• The biggest goat: Eflin (-.409 WPA)

Eflin essentially did his best Charlie Morton impersonation for one day, except that he was actually able to pitch into the sixth inning while allowing eight runs. Seven of these eight runs crossed in the first two innings.

As with the previous day’s game, in WPA terms, no one took an at-bat or faced a batter with much of any consequence after this point, so although three different Orioles had multi-hit games, no one had any WPA number higher than Ryan O’Hearn’s 0.014. When the starting pitcher is bad early, nothing else matters. This is an unfortunately common theme for the 2025 Orioles.

Game 46​

• Result: Orioles lose to Brewers, 5-4
• Record: 15-31
• The biggest play: Yennier Cano allows RBI single to William Contreras, giving Brewers a 5-4 eighth inning lead (-27%)
• The biggest goat: Cano (-.226)

Such a variety of ways to lose across the eight-game losing streak. This one saw the Orioles storm back from a 4-1 deficit thanks to Mullins hitting a three-run homer in the seventh inning (+26%), injecting some life into a team that, once it has fallen behind, has largely not mounted comebacks. This clutch hit could not fuel a victory because Cano got burned with two outs in the eighth, giving up a walk, a stolen base, and then the go-ahead hit. Mullins walked to lead off the ninth and no one could bring him home.

Much like Laureano from several games above, Mullins deserved to be a hero at game’s end here (.392 WPA) but it was not enough. In addition to Cano, big negatives go to Dean Kremer for giving up four runs over 5.1 innings (-.219) and Jackson Holliday’s 1-5 also took a substantial negative (-.217).

Game 47​

• Result: Orioles lose to Brewers, 5-2
• Record: 15-32
• The biggest play: Jackson Holliday hits RBI triple to pull Orioles to 3-2 deficit in seventh inning (+14%)
• The biggest goat: Heston Kjerstad (-.200)

Another game, another day with a lack of clutch hitting (1-7 with RISP). They also got a bad outing from a starting pitcher, or in this case a bulk guy behind an opener, as Chayce McDermott walked five batters while giving up three runs in 4.2 innings. No help from the bullpen in keeping it close, with the Orioles choosing to use Bautista in the eighth inning while training by one run, and he did not succeed at this, failing to pitch the full inning and allowing two runs. If you want to make excuses, it’s true that Bautista should have had a strikeout on the guy who hit a home run, but the umpire inexplicably blew the call.

Kjerstad takes the biggest negative because, as he batted with two men on and no one out in the top of the seventh inning, he grounded into a double play rather than do something productive, or at least less unproductive. He took an 0-4 overall. It’s a disappointing common outcome from him this season.

Game 48​

• Result: Orioles beat Brewers, 8-4, in 11 innings
• Record: 16-32
• The biggest play: Bautista allows game-tying single to Caleb Durbin with two outs in ninth inning (-44%)
• The biggest hero: Ryan O’Hearn (.475 WPA)

They finally won a game! The losing streak ended, though the Orioles tried their best to lose another. They’d scored only one run through seven innings. Some redemption to Kjerstad here, who finally got a big hit, putting the Orioles ahead by a 3-2 margin with an eighth inning hit. Not that this was enough on its own for the Orioles to win, since Bautista struggled again and blew the save. He had the Brewers down to their last strike and couldn’t finish off the #8 hitter. It’s not great.

Still: They won! They won even though scoring one run in the tenth didn’t prove to be enough to win, with Bryan Baker allowing the Manfred Man to score (-25%), though fortunately he held the line. The Orioles blew it open in the eleventh, starting with Holliday putting the Orioles back on top with an RBI single (+20%). O’Hearn had four hits in the game, the biggest a double in the eighth inning that put the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run on second for the O’s with one out. Both of these guys did score.

The best Orioles so far​

This time last week, the best hitter by WPA was Ryan O’Hearn (1.01) and the best pitcher was Félix Bautista (0.81). Updated numbers through this week:

• WPA (hitters): O’Hearn (1.53), Cedric Mullins (0.75), Ramón Urías (0.07)
• WPA (pitchers): Bryan Baker (0.61), Tomoyuki Sugano (0.54), Seranthony Domínguez (0.45)
• fWAR: Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn (1.2) lead hitters, Gregory Soto (0.4) for pitchers

In bWAR, Sugano leads all Orioles (1.4), with O’Hearn (1.2) as the top batter.

The worst Orioles so far​

In last week’s update, the worst hitter by WPA was Heston Kjerstad (-1.31) and the worst pitcher was Charlie Morton (-1.86). Here’s how things stand now:

• WPA (hitters): Kjerstad (-1.56), Adley Rutschman (-0.61), Jorge Mateo (-0.53)
• WPA (pitchers): Morton (-1.86), Yennier Cano (-0.85), Cade Povich (-0.69)
• WPA (the fallen): Kyle Gibson (-1.26)
• fWAR: Gibson (-0.7) for pitchers, Ryan Mountcastle (-0.5) for hitters

Morton and Gibson are tied for the worst bWAR (-1.1) among all Orioles. Kjerstad sits at the bottom for hitters (-0.8).

Source: https://www.camdenchat.com/2025/5/22/24434947/orioles-clutch-hitters-worst-players-2025