BALTIMORE—The Orioles returned after their longest road trip of the season and continued to play uninspiring ball, losing the first of a two-game series to the Washington Nationals, 9-3, before an announced crowd of 28,058 at Camden Yards on Tuesday night.
Trevor Rogers made his third start for the Orioles since he was acquired from Miami on July 30th, and he allowed five runs in five-plus innings. Rogers’ first two starts came at Cleveland and Toronto.
Washington scored two runs against Rogers (0-2) in the first. James Wood’s RBI single scored CJ Abrams, and with Juan Yepez on third, Rogers tried to pick off Wood, who was tagged out in a rundown but not until Yepez scored with the second run.
The Orioles (70-50) scored on Ryan Mountcastle’s RBI single off Jake Irvin (9-10) in the second but had second and third with one out and didn’t score again. They tied it at 2 on Anthony Santander’s 36th home run in the third.
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Santander’s home run set an Orioles single season record for most homers by a switch-hitter, surpassing Ken Singleton’s 35 in 1979.
The Nationals took a 4-2 lead in the fourth on sacrifice flies by Ildemaro Vargas and Luis Garcia Jr., showing the situational hitting that the Orioles lacked in the second.
Washington (55-65) added three more runs in the sixth on a two-run single by Vargas against Bryan Baker, who relieved Rogers after Wood’s leadoff single, and Jacob Young’s single.
Irvin allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings.
Washington scored in the eighth against Keegan Akin when Wood doubled, his fourth hit of the game, and scored on Andrés Chapparo’s third double of the game. Chapparo became the fourth player with at least three doubles in his major league debut.
Kelbert Ruiz’s RBI single in the ninth gave the Nationals a 9-2 lead.
The Orioles added a run in the ninth on singles by Cedric Mullins and Jackson Holliday and a force play on Colton Cowser’s grounder that allowed Mullins to score.