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LOS ANGELES-What happened? The Orioles had a chance to tie the New York Yankees for the American League East lead with Corbin Burnes on the mound.
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They committed three errors for the third time this season, and Burnes allowed six runs, five of them unearned, in the Orioles’ 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers before 53,290 at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Orioles (77-57) remain a game behind the Yankees in the American League East after Washington’s 5-2 victory over New York.
On the night the Dodgers gave away bobbleheads of Shohei Ohtani and his dog, Decoy, Ohtani homered, his 41st, to lead off the first against Burnes. Ohtani’s dog delivered the first pitch to Ohtani, who was crouched behind home plate.
Ramón Urías, who has seven RBIs in the last three games, hit a two-run double against Walker Buehler in the second. Ryan O’Hearn reached on a two-base throwing error by third baseman Max Muncy, and Cedric Mullins, who was struck out, reached when Buehler threw a wild pitch on strike three before Urías’ double. James McCann’s two-out single scored Urías for a 3-1 lead.
Burnes (12-7) allowed four unearned runs in the third. Kiké Hernández reached on Urías’ error at third. Ohtani singled, and Hernández scored on Mookie Betts’ single. With two outs, Teoscar Hernández hit his 28th home run, and the Dodgers (79-54) led, 5-3.
Ohtani and Betts pulled off a double steal before the home run, the first of two bases Ohtani stole. In the fifth, he reached on a fielder’s choice, stole his 42nd base of the season, moved to third on McCann’s error and scored when Gunnar Henderson couldn’t field Gavin Lux’s grounder.
The Orioles had closed to within 5-4 when O’Hearn’s double scored Anthony Santander.
Buehler left after O’Hearn’s double. Anthony Banda (2-2), Ryan Brasier, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech combined to limit the Orioles to two hits in 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
“You’re going to make errors and we made a couple errors tonight that led to some runs, but had some opportunities to get out of it, too,” manager Brandon Hyde said.
“I thought Burnesy had good stuff again. But give Ohtani credit for that first homer, breaking ball down and away that he hits out. Just made a two-out bad pitch to Hernández there after getting him with two strikes. So, they gave us a couple runs there early, also.
“I thought we had some good ABs early, didn’t do much from the middle of the game on offensively, but, yeah, wasn’t our cleanest game.”
What’s wrong with Burnes? In his last three starts, Burnes has allowed 20 runs, 14 earned, on 23 hits in 14 2/3 innings.
He gave up five hits in five innings, striking out four.
“I think it was a step in the right direction,” Burnes said. “We threw the ball pretty well. Cutter command was better again today and got it down in the zone, and I think we took a positive step there with some swing-and-miss and some weak contact.
“That inning, obviously, stuff got away from us a little bit, threw some extra pitches and made a mistake up in the zone and he didn’t miss. So really, the two pitches on the home run balls tonight are kind of what changed that game. But, yeah, for the most part, I thought I threw the ball pretty well. A lot of weak contact outside of the two mistakes, and I just have to go out there and do what I can do.”
Burnes has a 7.39 ERA in his five August starts.
“I think the two prior to this one we were just up in the zone and getting beat,” Burnes said. “And the one before this, we kind of got singled to death in that inning. But I guess they are related in a way that there’s one big inning every time, which we did a good job of kind of avoiding throughout most of the year.
“Outside of those one big innings every time, they’re pretty good outings. So just have to find a way to minimize and not leave balls up in the zone, it’s just kind of what has hurt me the last couple. But tonight was definitely better than the last two.”
Hyde didn’t find fault with Burnes’ performance.
“Well, he only gave up that one earned run to Ohtani, the Ohtani homer, so he pitched much better than the line,” Hyde said. “We didn’t play our cleanest defensively. We had some chances to get out of the innings, but we’re not scoring a ton of runs, either, helping our guys out.”
Is the offense getting better? The Orioles did score four runs after scoring three runs in three consecutive games.
“Offensively, we’re kind of up and down,” Hyde said. “It would be nice to kind of get going offensively to help some things out. Urías picked us up with a big double, another big hit for us early. We’ve got to [wrap] some more consistent at-bats together throughout the game.”
Henderson was hitless in four at-bats, and he’s just 2-for-22. Santander is 1-for-13.
What was wrong defensively? Henderson made his 20th error of the season, McCann his seventh and Urías his sixth.
Hyde believes Henderson’s errors are growing pains.
“I think it’s his first year of playing every day at shortstop,” he said. “He’s going to improve on that. He’s 23 years old … and that’s his first full year of playing shortstop. This is a different surface. You kind of get to know everything when you play in the league. It’s totally different than anywhere else, surface-wise … Errors are going to happen. He’s going to be really good going forward.”
Can the Orioles win the East? The Orioles have just 28 games left, and are 28-32 since winning two of three at Yankee Stadium from June 18th-20th.
“We’re kind of at the point in the year when, everyone knows it’s a long season now,” Burnes said. “We’ve got some young guys who have been up here all year who are starting to wear it a little bit, which is what happens in a 162-game season.
“It’s a long season, and I think we’re showing signs of being able to kind of come out of the funk that we’re in. Last couple of games have been really good. Obviously, took a step back tonight. But I think the last week has been better, but I think we still definitely have some better baseball to play, and I think we’re close. I think we’re close to where we want to be.”
What went wrong with Tate? The Orioles designated right-hander Dillon Tate for assignment after they claimed outfielder Forrest Wall off waivers from Miami.
Tate missed 2023 with forearm and elbow injuries. He’s played five seasons with the Orioles.
“Last year was really tough for him,” Hyde said. “Missing all the year. I thought in spring training, he was trying to find the stuff he had when he was really lights out for us two years ago, and a big part of our bullpen.”
Tate was 2-1 with a 4.59 ERA with a save in 29 games for the Orioles this season.
“I’m hoping for the best for DT because I know how hard he’s worked to get back to that form and hope he latches on or we keep him in the organization because he’s got a lot of years left.”
What’s the latest on Heston Kjerstad? Kjerstad has been on the 10-day injured list with a concussion.
“He’s ramping up baseball activities now,” Hyde said. “He’s doing really well. I can’t give you an exact timeline on it, but I can just tell you everything’s progressing well.”
What does it mean? The Orioles need to do a better job of capitalizing on their scoring chances, and they also need to capitalize on nights the Yankees lose. They’re fortunate to trail New York by only one game.
What’s the word? “It’s a small sample size so I wouldn’t say that anything is particularly different. It works well. I think the coaching staff and I get along well, but it’s a little early for me to declare that anything’s going particularly well.”-Matt Bowman on recording his first win since September 5th, 2019. He’s retired his first 12 batters with the Orioles.
What’s the stat of the day? 68. The Orioles have made 68 errors this season. Henderson, McCann and Urías are responsible for 33 of them.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Third baseman Coby Mayo hit his 22nd home run in Triple-A Norfolk’s 2-1 loss to Jacksonville. The Tides had just three hits.
Trace Bright (0-11) allowed three runs on one hit and six walks in 3 2/3 innings as Double-A Bowie lost to Akron, 4-3. Catcher Creed Willems, who joined the Baysox on Tuesday, hit two home runs.
Luis DeLéon (2-3) allowed three runs on two hits and walks while retiring just two batters as High-A Aberdeen lost to Wilmington, 6-1.
Rightfielder Braylin Tavera and shortstop Maikol Hernández each had two hits as Single-A Delmarva lost to Salem, 7-2.
What’s next? Cade Povich (1-6, 6.10) will face Bobby Miller (1-3, 7.49) on Thursday at 10:10 in the final game of the series.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: [email protected]