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BALTIMORE—What happened? After a week of cool weather and smallish crowds, fans crowded Camden Yards eager to snap up their Orioles hockey jerseys and enjoy the warm weather.
After two straight victories and their first series win, the Orioles were hoping to get on a roll against the Cincinnati Reds.
Instead, Cade Povich allowed seven runs on six hits and five walks, and the Orioles lost to the Reds, 8-3, before a sellout crowd of 42,587 on Friday night.
Povich (0-2) allowed a career high three home runs in 3 1/3 innings. Elly De La Cruz hit a three-run home run in the third. In the fourth, Jeimer Candelario and Matt McLain homered. McLain also had a three-run home run.
It equaled the shortest start by an Oriole this season.
The Orioles’ offense, which showed some punch in the two wins against Cleveland, showed little against left-hander Andrew Abbott, who allowed a run on two hits in six innings. He struck out 11 and walked one.
The Orioles are hitting just .186 against left-handed pitchers this season. They had just four hits.
“Definitely not handling lefties,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “You try to rely on your right-handed guys to have good at-bats against him. Tonight, I thought we had too big of swings, didn’t take our walks. It was a tough night for us offensively. A lot of punchouts.”
The top four in the order — Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Tyler O’Neill and Ryan Mountcastle — were a combined 0-for-15 with nine strikeouts. The Orioles struck out a season-high 15 times.
“Every team is going to go through ups and downs,” Rutschman said. “I think for our guys right now, we’ve just got to continue to get back to who we are and I don’t think we need to reinvent anything. Our team knows how to win. We’ve got a great group in this locker room. I think we’re just going to continue to grow closer and continue to play as a team.”
Jordan Westburg, who hasn’t had a hit since April 6th, was hitless in three at-bats, and is now 0-for-27.
“A guy pressing. I gave him a day off a couple days ago,” Hyde said. “He’s really trying hard and he’s just out in front, getting in bad counts and all those things when someone is going through a tough time. He’s getting in bad counts and he’s expanding and it looks like he’s trying to catch everything way out in front and not trusting his hands.”
Hyde has said Westburg was “banged up,” but he’s not a candidate for the injured list.
Jorge Mateo, starting at second base, was 0-for-3 and is just 1-for-17. Mateo committed a throwing error in the sixth that led to Cincinnati’s eighth run.
Cedric Mullins’ fifth home run in the second gave the Orioles a brief 1-0 lead. By the time they got another hit, Heston Kjerstad’s two-out single in the fifth, they were down, 7-1.
Kjerstad hit a two-run home run against Scott Barlow in the eighth, and the Orioles were down, 8-3.
Austin Hays returned to Baltimore for the first time since his July 26th, 2024 trade to the Philadelphia Phillies. Hays, who was 2-for-4 with a walk, was greeted warmly and a video tribute was played in the top of the second. Hays stepped out of the dugout and acknowledged the ovation.
What’s wrong with Povich? Povich’s ERA rose to 6.38. In three of his four starts, he left before completing five innings. He had allowed only three walks and one home run in his first three starts.
“Just didn’t think the command was there,” Hyde said. “Some leadoff walks, hung a breaking ball to De La Cruz in that spot. I thought the curveball was pretty good early. Just a ton of arm-side misses, kind of uncompetitive pitches outside the strike zone.”
Povich knew he wasn’t sharp, which is essential because he lacks overpowering stuff. The Reds were teeing off on his misses.
“Command, I think, is kind of the obvious thing,” he said. “Felt, honestly, really good coming into the game, pregame bullpen. It was the first couple innings then, just honestly lost it and never made the adjustment I needed to.”
Povich thinks he’ll both learn from this game and try to forget it.
“A little bit of both. Obviously, I’ve kind of gotten out of the way of some of these games just limiting the walks and giving up probably too many hits than I want,” he said.
“This was a game where I gave up too many hits and had a lot of guys on base because of the walks. To learn, I think there’s a little bit of learning to do, just for the past couple of games. I did it at the end of the year last year. We’re a lot earlier in the year. So I’ll take a look at it like I did last year and figure it out.”
What does it mean? After two encouraging wins, this was a deflating loss before a sellout crowd. The Orioles hope that Brandon Young’s major league debut Saturday will turn out much better than Povich’s start.
What’s the word? “This team wants to win. Got a lot of competitors on this team. So, guys are used to winning. They want to win and guys are just going to continue to work. But no one likes losing.”–Rutschman on the Orioles’ mindset.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Reliever Nick Richmond allowed eight runs, six earned, on six hits and a walk without retiring a batter in Triple-A Norfolk’s 10-5 loss to Omaha. Shortstop Liván Soto hit a three-run home run. Centerfielder Jordyn Adams hit a two-run homer.
Trace Bright allowed four runs on seven hits in four innings in Double-A Chesapeake’s 10-0 loss to Richmond. The Baysox had only five hits.
High-A Aberdeen was held to just one hit in its 5-0 loss to Brooklyn.
Right-hander Keeler Morfe was removed from Single-A Delmarva’s 10-1 loss to Carolina with a sprained right ring finger. The Shorebirds committed five errors.
What’s the stat of the game? The crowd of 42,587 was the largest non-Opening Day April crowd since April 26th, 2015.
What’s next? Brandon Young will make his major league debut against Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene (2-1, 0.98) on Saturday at 4:05 p.m.
