The Orioles closed out May on a 14-game losing streak. They appeared to snap out of it at the start of June, winning five of six at home. Now, they’ve lost eight in a row and a staggering 19 straight on the road. The Arizona Diamondbacks set a major league record on Thursday with their 23rd consecutive road loss.
After their 10-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field, the Orioles return home for six games with the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros.
“I think we’ve tried to regroup on numerous occasions this year,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re going to continue. No one’s going to feel sorry for us. This is a tough league and good teams expect to come in and beat us, and we need to respond and continue to grind, and we’re going to get out of this.”
Starter Jorge López allowed five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings, including three home runs.
Cole Sulser gave up two runs in the sixth. Mac Sceroler allowed three more in the eighth.
Since John Means’ no-hitter on May 5th, the Orioles (22-46) have gone 7-30, and have allowed 10 or more runs seven times. Their record reflects their play.
“We’re not playing clean defense,” first baseman Trey Mancini said. “In some of these closer games, not today, but any of the games that have been closer, it seems like the other team is just coming through in clutch situations, whether it’s their pitcher executing a pitch really well … [or] getting a hit in a big situation.
“We’ll crawl back, but I feel like we haven’t gotten that hit that’s set us over the edge in these games. We just have to get out of this rut. The 14-game losing streak obviously was not fun. This road trip was really tough, and we have to get home and play like we were the first week of the month.”
On the road, the Orioles lost three games at Tampa Bay, and four at Cleveland.
Mancini was a part of the 2019 team that lost 108 games. After 68 games, they were 21-47.
“There’s more talent, I think, than in 2019,” Mancini said. “There’s still some work to do. There’s a lot of season. I feel good that we’re going to start moving in the right direction. I feel like we’re more talented, but I feel like it’s about winning these games and putting some wins on the board.”
López (2-8) gave up a two-run home run to José Ramirez in the first. Two batters later, Bobby Bradley hit another, and the Orioles were down, 3-0.
After leftfielder Austin Hays hit a homer in the top of the second, Eddie Rosario homered for Cleveland in the bottom of the third. Maikel Franco homered and Mancini hit an RBI single in the fourth, and the Orioles were down, 4-3. That’s as close as they would get.
Cleveland starter Eli Morgan allowed three runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings. Trevor Stephan retired all five Orioles he faced and got the win.
Ernie Clement’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the fourth gave Cleveland a 5-3 lead.
“I got behind in the count, and every time I do that, I get hurt,” López said. “I don’t want to think anything about how many losses we have.”
Mancini and Ryan Mountcastle each had two hits.
“You’ve got to let your emotions creep up and get the better of you,” Mancini said. “But it’s easier said than done. In those situations, everybody wants to be the guy, and everybody wants to go up there and perform, but sometimes when you press, you usually don’t have good results, so you try and stay as neutral as possible, no matter what the situation is.”
Yu Chang had a two-run single off Sulser in the eighth, and a two-run home run against Sceroler in the eighth.
In 6 1/3 innings against five Cleveland relievers, the Orioles had three hits and didn’t walk. They struck out 13 times.
“We have some big swing guys that are young in their career and need to shorten up with two strikes,” Hyde said. “That’s an area that we need to improve on a lot. Just to be able to have a tougher at-bat. Be able to put the ball in play with two strikes. That’s been going on all year, I think.”
Notes: The Orioles will begin a three-game series with the Blue Jays on Friday night. Bruce Zimmermann (4-4, 4.83ERA ) will face Robbie Ray (4-2, 3.45). The first 15,000 fans 15 and over will receive a Cedric Mullins T-Shirt. … The start time of the July 24th game against the Washington Nationals has been moved up from 7:05 p.m. to 6:35 p.m. A postgame concert featuring Diplo will follow. … Triple-A Norfolk beat Durham, 10-6. Third baseman Domingo Leyba had a three-run home run, centerfielder Ryan McKenna and leftfielder Tyler Nevin had two-run homers. Knuckleballer Mickey Jannis started and allowed two runs on six hits. Eric Hanhold (1-1) allowed a run in 1 2/3 innings and was awarded the win.
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Lopez has had enough chances. Falls behind and groves a 3-0 pitch to Ramirez. At some point changes need to be done. Hold these guys accountable for there screwups. Get a legit second baseman. There defense is abysmal which in return makes the pitching abysmal. Although today was all in Lopez. Guy is just not that good. Like their gonna play any better at home. Over under on homers from Vladdy Jr?
Fun crowd, fugly game, looked like Lopez was buying into Severino’s “ down the middle philosophy “, Sceroler needs to return to where he came from, get rid of Harvey, bring up some youngens, our youngens to pitch, Tate struggled as well, but hasn’t looked very good since coming off the IL, & my apologies to anyone that is a fan of Santander, watched him the whole game, looks totally disinterested in being out there...had beautiful weather for the game though, $10 beers, could’ve had way more...lol...go O’s...
Did you have one for me? Nothing sounds better than a cold one brewed from the waters of the Cuyahoga! Deeeeelish.
At least it wasn’t on fire...lol...just one;)...go O’s...
Not all Lopez, he had much help at underperforming. Still a close score and in the game; 1st & 2nd, 1 out and favorites RM and Santander choke their at bats. RM swinging at pretty much anything. Santander is still "adjusting" from his somewhat constant injuries. Wynns the catcher - seems to be able to catch, and did get a double; 3B, who should be replaced, made a couple of good defensive plays, hit HR, so we cut them some slack, today. DFA Lopez if you want, another team will pick him up in heartbeat. Maybe this is what tanking looks like. I can live with the losses, if the fundamentals are good, the players are hustling, executing good at bats, etc. This team lacks discipline, the veterans who could help (except Trey) are not helping. Is tanking the same as incompetence? over rating talent? being tone deaf?
“We’re not playing clean defense,” first baseman Trey Mancini said. That's my friends .... is what we call a having a grasp for the obvious.
But now is no time to worry fellas ... as I've been reminded again and again by the really sharp knives in the BB.com drawer .... "it's a process".
Drink Pepsi .... and don't even consider voting for the all star game.
Coaches have “coach speak” and players have their canned pitches too. What’s Trey supposed to say?
Imagine the frustration level of the players. He knows they are woeful right now, and taking knots on the head. Another of his comments was something like we have to get out of this rut. Um, ya think?
I mean what else can they say? Answer reporters questions, try to take some personal responsibility, fall on the sword, be civil, cough up some false optimism, take a shower and head out for the night.
I’d say they’re holding back the frustration pretty well and am surprised no one has come unhinged in front of the cameras yet.
No errors! See, the rebuild is paying dividends already. Things are looking up!!
Ugly throw on from Mullins that got by two infielders, no error on the play, no runners advanced....go O’s...
I surely am not a Lopez fan. However with the right coaching and a vet catcher. I believe he could be a lot better. Baltimore has not been good developing pitchers. Means is great but he is one out of 100! Having fundamental baseball is not asking for much! Small ball wins games and separates good and mediocre teams.
I agree with what others have said. Those guys making stupid mistakes need an a$$ chewing! Hyde needs to step up and lead a fundamentally solid team!
If you think this is a "fundamentally solid team," I wonder what you think a mediocre, talent-challenged team looks like. The O's pitching staff, ex Means, is one of the worst, if not the worst staff in MLB. Our catching and infield are second rate at best, and the outfield is looking increasingly shaky.
Interesting take CalsPals about Santander-"dinterested". He definitely,injuries or not seem to have fallen into a "mediocre" groove. A shame. We may have seen his best. Over anxious hitters,pitchers giving up homers. My God how long can this go on? Vicious cycle they're in. Hitters pressing because they're losing so much and losing so much because the hitters are pressing. Franco,Stevie,Valaika,Stewart--sent down/released and Jones,McCoy,McKenna,Brannon,Leyba brought up--maybe even Diaz. Something's gotta be done.
This is just based on me being a couch critic, but I’ve noticed the same about Santander. Seems disinterested in being there. Shots of him in the dugout generally show the same detached and sangfroid appearance. He seems “meh”.
Same with Franco, really.
I’m not a fan of firing a manager/coach in mid season but I think it’s a good time to let go of the manager of this team... He seems clueless at times and makes remarks as if he doesn’t care “I just have to use what we have talent wise”. And I can’t understand batting order changing daily other than #1 and 2
I see Hanhold got the win for Tides. Anybody know how he’s doing? I thought for last 2 seasons he should’ve gotten a look in Baltimore and it’s not as if their pitching is so stellar that they’re set right now.
Hanhold has a 7.11 ERA.
Thanks Rich, not what I was hoping to see. Is there anywhere I can look to see appearance breakdowns of minor league pitchers? Each of last 2 spring trainings I remember thinking he pitched really well the majority of the time but had an outing or two that really hurt his overall numbers.
In Baseballreference.com, you can look for his game log.
When you have a $9 million payroll for a 14 man pitching staff, this is what you get ... excluding Means, the remaining starters have a combined total of 6 "Quality Starts" out of 50 ... O's team batting average 8th in the AL, O's team ERA 15th (last) in AL.
I couldn't agree more. Thursday's poor pitching performance is a great case study in what happens when a team becomes too dependent on other clubs' discards. Three pitchers allowed 10 earned runs...Two were acquired via the waiver wire and the third was a not ready for prime-time Rule 5 pickup. Not a formula for success. Good arms at Bowie suggest that things could be much better in 2024.
Rich, I heard them mention your name on the air today during the game. When are they gonna have you in the booth for some expert in game analysis?
When the Orioles go on a 26-game winning streak.
So…..that will be sometime in 2024. I’ll try to remember that.
As for Hyde he’s got the worst job in baseball but no excuse for guys playing like a sandlot team.