Poor defense, lack of offense equals a 4-1 Orioles loss to Royals

What happened? Cade Povich allowed four runs on 12 hits in six innings as the Orioles lost to the Kansas City Royals, 4-1, on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. The Orioles (4-6) lost two of three to the Royals (4-5). They’ve yet to win a series.

Manager Brandon Hyde started a right-handed heavy lineup against Kansas City left-hander Kris Bubic (1-0), and it included Jorge Mateo playing center field, even though centerfielder Cedric Mullins had gone 4-for-9 against Bubic.

Mateo inexplicably couldn’t catch Bobby Witt’s fly ball in the first, which was scored a triple, and Witt came home on a sacrifice fly by Vinny Pasquantino.

Statcast calculated the catch probability at 99 percent.

The Royals scored two more runs in the first on Michael Massey’s double and took a 4-0 lead on Freddy Fermin’s single in the second.

Witt singled, doubled and tripled for Kansas City

Bubic shut out the Orioles through six innings before Ryan Mountcastle, who had three of their five hits, tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh. Royals rightfielder Hunter Renfroe underestimated the carry of Mountcastle’s drive, drifting back and allowing it to go over his head.

With three right-handers scheduled to start against the Orioles in their series at Arizona and two more likely right-handers to begin their next series against Toronto, Hyde chose to sit left-handers Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn.

“We acquired and signed right-handed guys to face left-handed starters,” Hyde told reporters in Kansas City. “We’re going to give them an opportunity, especially early in the year here, to hopefully handle left-handed pitching for us.”

Adley Rutschman and Jordan Westburg had singles, but the final four hitters in the lineup — Ramón Laureano, Gary Sánchez, Ramón Urías and Mateo — were hitless in 10 at-bats.

Hunter Harvey, Lucas Erceg and Carlos Estévez combined to retire the last seven Oriole hitters. The Orioles lost a regular-season series to Kansas City for the first time since August 30^th-September 1^st, 2019.

In his opening series, Gunnar Henderson was 1-for-13 (.077) with seven strikeouts. He missed the team’s first seven games with a strained right intercostal muscle.

“Gunnar hasn’t gotten going yet,” Hyde said. “Without Gunnar [hitting] we went 4-6. We’re going to be a better team going forward.”

How did Povich pitch? Povich (0-1) pitched six innings, striking out four without walking a batter. He would have been out of the first without the Royals scoring if Mateo had caught the fly ball by Witt, then allowed three hard-hit balls as Kansas City took a 3-0 lead.

“I thought he threw the ball really well,” Hyde said. “I know he gave up some runs early, some hard contact, but besides that, I thought he competed extremely well. Huge for him to go six innings for us. He was really, really competitive. I thought they took some good swings off him, but he was able to go six innings for us. That was huge.

“I thought the stuff was really good. I thought the breaking ball was good. He was locating his fastball really well. To be able to go six innings for us was huge.”

Can Mateo play center field? It was just the 12^th start for Mateo, who might get additional starts there with Colton Cowser out for six to eight weeks with a fractured left thumb.

“He works on it every single day,” Hyde said. “Especially with the Cowser injury. I was staying away from Cedric today.”

Hyde thought Mateo “misjudged” Witt’s ball because of the high winds.

“Even in spring training he works on it,” Hyde said. “With the Cowser injury, we’re [going to have him] out there a lot. In drills he looks good, but kind of a tough day today.”

Hyde said that Mullins would return for the Arizona series.

“He’s been playing his absolute butt off, playing unbelievable baseball. With three righties going the next three nights, he’s going to be in there.”

What was wrong with the Orioles’ offense? Hyde described the Orioles’ play as “up and down. It’s only been 10 games. We’ve had definite opportunities to win some of the games that we lost, so that’s frustrating. Today’s frustrating. The first game of the series was frustrating.”

The Orioles have just one home run in their last seven games, their longest streak without two home runs in a game since September 20^th-October 1^st, 2013.

What does it mean? The Orioles have yet to win consecutive games this season and need to play consistently well. They’ve had four strong offensive games—all wins—but haven’t played well in any other game.

What’s the word? “We can play a lot better baseball. We had five hits. We scored one run. That was on a wild pitch. We’ve got to do a better job offensively from a consistency standpoint.”–Hyde on the Orioles’ first 10 games.

What’s the stat of the day? 12. Povich allowed a career-high 12 hits, the most by an Orioles pitcher since Brian Matusz gave up 13 on June 26^th, 2012.

What’s going on in the minor leagues? Leftfielder Jud Fabian hit a two-run home run and second baseman Vimael Machin, homered and drove in two runs in Triple-A Norfolk’s 9-8 loss to Charlotte. Machin is hitting .429.

Double-A Chesapeake was held to three hits in a 2-1 loss at Altoona. Trace Bright (0-1) allowed two runs on three hits in three innings.

Keeler Morfe (0-1) walked five batters and allowed a hit while recording just two outs in his start for Single-A Delmarva in their 6-5 loss to Salem. Morfe gave up three runs on one hit.

Catcher Miguel Rodriguez drove in three runs.

Norfolk’s Samuel Basallo is on the 7-day injured list after he was removed from Friday’s game with left hamstring discomfort.

What’s next? The Orioles open a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday. Zach Eflin (1-1, 3.75) will face Zac Gallen (1-1, 3.38) at 9:40 p.m.

Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com