Orioles’ poor offense, porous bullpen spells 6-3 loss to Astros

BALTIMORE-What happened? In the last eight games, the Orioles have experienced a combination of poor offense and untimely bullpen meltdowns.

They’ve had three hits or fewer in four games, and a reliever served up key home runs in three games. On Sunday night in front of a national television audience, the Orioles were held to a season-low two hits and Burch Smith gave up back-to-back home runs on consecutive pitches in a 6-3 loss to the Houston Astros.

The Orioles played without first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who’s out with a wrist injury and had a .450 average with four home runs in 20 at-bats against Houston starter Yusei Kukichi, and centerfielder Cedric Mullins, missing with a quadriceps injury.

Manager Brandon Hyde hopes that Mountcastle and Mullins return on Tuesday when the Orioles open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ramón Urías hit a three-run home run with one out in the fifth inning that tied the score, 3-3. That was the last Oriole hit. They were hitless for the final 4 2/3 innings.

The Orioles are 1 ½ games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East. New York, which begins a three-game series in Washington on Monday night, beat Colorado, 10-3, on Sunday.

“We’re a little banged up right now,” Hyde said.  “Kikuchi was really good. We saw him in Toronto early. It’s a firm, firm 96, 97 with a really good slider. Really tough on righties and lefties. We had a tough time putting things together against him. But a nice three-run homer there by Urías to get us back in the game.”

What’s wrong with the offense? While the Orioles had four poor offensive games in the last eight, they had a 9-5 win last Tuesday against the New York Mets and two exciting comeback wins on Friday night and Saturday.

“I don’t know. I think we’ve been struggling to put good at-bats together as a team,” Urías said. “I think we all know that we have the talent, so I think we just have to keep the focus and bring that back.”

In those eight games, the Orioles are hitting just .174. Jackson Holliday whose three-run double won Saturday’s game, is 1-for-24.

The top four in the batting order — Austin Slater, Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Santander — were a combined 0-for-14.

Rutschman was hitting .274 in August entering the game after a forgettable .132 in July.

“I thought the last two games he was back to looking like himself again.” Hyde said. “I thought really good at-bats, handsy swing. Staying on the baseball really well. And I think that Kikuchi just kind of got him tonight like he did most of our hitters. Thought we had a tough night offensively.”

What’s happening with the bullpen? Last Monday and Wednesday, Seranthony Domínguez served up game-winning home runs. Smith allowed back-to-back homers to Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz in the seventh.

“Two really good quick outs and then just hung a couple breaking balls to two really good hitters,” Hyde said. “We didn’t score very much, either. We only had a couple hits.”

Smith, whose first four appearances with the Orioles were scoreless, had allowed six runs on seven hits in his previous four games.

“Tonight he got beat with his breaking ball,” Hyde said. “He was throwing 98-99 and strikes. Just went two breaking balls to Bregman and the second one got hit out, and first-pitch sweeper I think. He’s got a really good arm, he throws 99 mph. I don’t know if they were sitting on it or what, but he pitched well against them a couple nights ago.”

Domínguez wasn’t available after saving the previous two games, and wouldn’t be in the game in the seventh, but Hyde said he’s making a concerted effort to diversify his bullpen options.

Gregory Soto, whom the Orioles obtained from Philadelphia on July 30^th, has pitched only once in those eight games.

The Orioles entered the game with 10 2/3 scoreless innings from the bullpen.

“Last couple nights was really good out of the ‘pen and tonight just wasn’t the best,” Hyde said.

How was Kremer’s performance? Dean Kremer allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings, walking two and striking out five.

“Anytime you can go out there and give your team a chance to win, went six and three, quality start, I’ll take it,” Kremer said.

Kremer allowed three runs on five hits in the fourth. The biggest hit was a two-run double by Zach Dezenzo.

“I thought Dean was good,” Hyde said. “Just had that one inning that was kind of tough where he kind of hung the cutter to Dezenzo.”

Should Orioles walk more? While the Orioles are among the leaders in most offensive categories, they lag in walks. Entering Sunday’s games, the Orioles were tied for 17^th in the majors.

“From a hitting coach perspective, we want to walk more and chase less,” Orioles’ offensive strategy coach Cody Asche said. “Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out that way. I think we’re really just focused on grinding out at-bats. We talk a lot about setting our teammate up for success

“Of course, we want to see more walks. Other teams would probably like to see us hit less homers, too. That’s just the way it goes. I would love to lead the league in homers, I would love to lead the league in batting average and walks and slugging, and we’d have the lowest chase and the highest meatball swing, but you’ve kind of got to factor in your lineup and help guys do what they do best all the time without solely focusing on weaknesses.

“You tell a guy what he’s bad at enough, and eventually he just believes that’s who he is instead of showing them what they’re good at and making sure they’re really good at that.”

What does it mean? The Orioles have a difficult series at Dodger Stadium, and need Mountcastle and Mullins back. They need better performances from the bullpen.

What’s the word? “We’re not worrying about yesterday’s problems for today. We’re worried about what today’s challenges are. I think that’s why we’ve had so much success when you look [at] the season as a whole rather than a smaller blip on the radar the past couple of weeks.”-Asche on the Orioles’ attitude

What’s the stat of the day? 1-11. The Orioles are 1-11 when recording three hits or fewer.

What’s going on in the minor leagues? In his first start since being optioned to Triple-A Norfolk, Trevor Rogers (0-1) allowed 10 runs on nine hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings in a 13-0 loss to Worcester.

Designated hitter Samuel Basallo, who was promoted to Norfolk on Sunday, hit his 16^th homer and drove in three runs and centerfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. had four hits as Double-A Bowie lost to Erie, 8-6. Catcher Silas Ardoin hit his fourth home run and drove in three.

Basallo is the third-ranked prospect in the Orioles’ organization and the 11^th in minor league baseball.

Centerfielder Douglas Hodo hit a two-run home run and designated hitter Leandro Arias drove in two runs as High-A Aberdeen beat Winston-Salem, 7-6, in 11 innings.

Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall and leftfielder Ethan Anderson both drove in two runs as Single-A Delmarva beat Down East, 5-4.

The Orioles claimed right-handed pitcher Brooks Kriske off waivers from Cincinnati and optioned him to Norfolk. Left-hander Nick Vespi was designated for assignment.

Norfolk outfielder Daniel Johnson was on the taxi squad as Mullins sat out his third game with a left quadriceps injury. Johnson, who played 35 games for Cleveland in 2020 and 2021, is hitting .267 with an .812 OPS, 20 home runs and 70 RBIs for the Tides.

He’s played with Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, Coby Mayo, Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers, all of whom have played for the Orioles this season.

“Having all those guys, five, six prospects down there, you play with them, they get hits you want to hit too,” Johnson said. “You can see how advanced they are for being that young.”

What’s next? After a day off on Monday, the Orioles travel to Dodger Stadium for their first visit there since 2016. Cole Irvin (6-5, 4.82) will face Jack Flaherty (10-5, 3.00), who spent the last two months of 2023 with the Orioles. Game time is 10:10 p.m.

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