Rutschman’s home run accounts for only runs as Orioles’ offense continues slide in 4-2 loss to Tigers
DETROIT-What happened? With just 12 games to play, the Orioles’ offense continues to falter. Adley Rutschman’s eighth-inning, two-run home run, his first since August 18th, was all the Orioles could muster in a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
The Orioles have lost three consecutive series—to Boston, Tampa Bay and the Tigers, who are making a late push for a wild-card spot. They’re three games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East after the Yankees’ 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Since the Orioles scored 22 runs in two wins over the woeful Chicago White Sox, they have scored 21 runs in 10 games and lost seven of them.
“We’ve just got to get going offensively,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re not stringing together many hits. When we’re having opportunities, we’re not cashing them in. We had a couple of opportunities early and didn’t cross them. So, tough to be perfect on the mound right now. We’ve got to start scoring more runs.”
Riley Greene homered twice, a two-run shot against Cade Povich in the third and another off Gregory Soto in the eighth.
Jacob Webb was activated from the 15-day injured list and allowed a run in the sixth inning.
Can the offense get going? Only twice in the last 10 games have the Orioles scored more than three runs. The Orioles activated Heston Kjerstad from the 10-day injured list, and he grounded out twice.
The Orioles struck out only four times, but they grounded to second baseman Colt Keith nine times.
In the first four innings, the Orioles were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and were 1-for-8 overall.
“At times we try to get too big. At times we have inexperience,” Hyde said. “We’re not using the whole field. We hit a lot of balls at the second baseman today. He was very active. We’ve got to do a better job with better at-bats with runners in scoring position.”
Eloy Jiménez, who had a hot start after the Orioles acquired him on July 30th, hit for Kjerstad in the sixth. He grounded out twice and is hitless in his last 14 at-bats, and just 1-for-21 (.048) in September.
“Baseball’s just a game of ups and downs,” Rutschman said. “It’s a tough game. Everyone understands that. Our guys are really committed to their process, and everyone knows we’re going to turn it around. Everyone’s got confidence in each other.”
Rutschman was 2-for-3 with the home run, a walk and a lineout.
“I put a good swing on it,” he said. “You know at this point I think we are just focused on winning — that’s our main priority.”
What’s the mood among hitters? Rutschman thinks the offense will improve in the final two weeks of the regular season.
“I think you know everyone’s doing what they can right now,” Rutschman said. “We’ve had a good process, we’ve had a good process the last two years. We trust everyone around us. You know tomorrow’s a new day and we’ll come ready to play Tuesday.”
Rutschman doesn’t think the moment is too big for the Orioles.
“That’s the thing about our clubhouse: We’ve got a great group of guys,” he said. “I think our guys, they come ready to play every single day regardless of what they did the day before or what the team did. I think everyone here has got faith that we have the ability to do great things. We’re just going to try to stick with our process and learn from this and keep moving forward.
“Our guys are resilient. They always have been. This is a group of high-character individuals. Baseball is a tough game. Sometimes effort doesn’t equate to more success, especially when it comes to hitting. There’s no lack of effort or resiliency from our guys. There’s no lack of faith. Our guys trust in each other and trust in our process.”
How did Povich pitch? Povich allowed two runs on two hits in five innings, walking two and striking out eight. He said he tries to ignore the inability of the offense to score.
“I think the job is the same whether we score zero or 20,” Povich said. “Just to keep the team in the position to win ballgames.”
Hyde thought Povich pitched well.
“I thought he was good,” Hyde said. “He made that one mistake to Greene, and Greene beat us again, left-on-left twice, but besides that I thought he threw the ball really, really well. It was nice to see Webby get back out there. Unfortunately, he gave up that two-out hit there, but I thought we pitched fine. We just didn’t score.
“I think our pitching has been really good. We’ve given ourself a chance to win almost every single night out. We’re playing pretty good defense. We’re just not getting enough baserunners out there and when we do, we’re not getting them home.”
Povich has shown development, even though he has a 5.79 ERA and a 2-9 record.
“Yeah, 100 percent. I think honestly, every game I’ve been able to pitch I’ve been able to learn something, whether it’s gone really well or hasn’t gone necessarily the way I wanted to,” he said. “Continue to learn. Pile up a bunch of things I’ve been able to experience. Things that have gone well, things that have gone bad. Be able to carry on to the next start and next season.
“I think, when the starters are going well as a whole, I think it helps the staff as a whole as well in general. Being able to bounce off guys and kind of continue the momentum, you know, be able to learn from each other what is working and to carry it over to all our next starts.”
What could Kjerstad’s presence mean? Co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller is pleased that Kjerstad is back in the Orioles’ lineup.
“Really excited to have him back. It was awesome to see him today,” Fuller said. “He’s feeling normal, which we’re really excited about. Having him be a force in the middle of that lineup is something that we’ve always envisioned for him.”
What are the hitting coaches emphasizing? During this rough offensive stretch, Fuller and co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte and offensive strategy coach Cody Asche use psychology to assist players.
“When things are going well, guys are in a good head space. When they need you, you need to be there,” Fuller said. “We love the mental part of Ithe game. We have our own coaches that we talk to where we can get feedback from them.
“’Am I presenting this in the right way to these guys?’ This player might need it said a little bit differently than that player. It’s another piece of the puzzle that we love trying to put together every night.”
What’s the word? “When you struggle and you have a period when you’re not getting the job done, the thoughts in your head go from ‘excitement of I get to do this’ to ‘I have to do that. I have to get a hit here.’ When you have those feelings, those emotions come up, they make you a little bit drunk to what I need to do right now in the moment.”-Fuller on the Orioles’ struggles with runners in scoring position.
What does it mean? In most of the games the Orioles have lost this month, their starting pitching has given them an opportunity to win. The bats have to get going in these final two weeks to prepare them for the postseason.
What’s the stat of the day? 3. Rutschman has hit just three home runs in the second half of the season.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Danny Coulombe threw a spotless inning in his second rehab assignment in Triple-A Norfolk’s 4-2 win over Durham.
Coulombe is on the 60-day injured list after surgery for removal of bone chips from his left elbow.
Second baseman Terrin Vavra hit a three-run home run.
Designated hitter Creed Willems had three hits and drive in two runs in Double-A Bowie’s season-ending 5-4 loss in 10 innings to Erie.
The Baysox ended the season 62-77.
What’s next? The Orioles are off on Monday before opening a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m.Albert Suárez (8-5, 3.39) will start for the Orioles. The Giants have yet to name their starter.
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