Hello, friends.
The Orioles are back down to .500. Monday’s exciting comeback win availed them of absolutely zero momentum, even though Trevor Rogers was the next day’s starting pitcher and Kyle Bradish was the guy the day after that. They lost an annoying one to the Diamondbacks yesterday to close out the homestand. Check out my recap of the extra innings 8-5 loss for more of the not-so-lovely totals.
For me, there were two stories of the game. One played out all through the game, and that was the outfield
defense. An alignment that any idiot could have looked at and thought, “Hmm, I’m not sure that’s going to work” did not work. You cannot get by with a corner outfield consisting of Weston Wilson and Johnathan Rodríguez with a center field manned by Blaze Alexander. Maybe you could deal with one of those things at a time, but all three was asking too much and the O’s paid the price for it.
The other story is Tyler Wells, who has not been up to snuff in high-leverage innings so far this season. I thought he’d be able to do it. I figured the Orioles would be okay with him in the eighth inning. It’s not happening, or at least not so far. After yesterday’s 10th inning clunker, his ERA is up over 5 for the season. That’s barely worth having him as the guy who comes in the fifth inning when the starter got knocked out early by injury or ineffectiveness, let alone putting him in any kind of leverage spot.
Maybe Wells can turn it around. It’s early to give up on anybody. But the team can’t afford to have him out there in crucial situations like this. I think the Orioles know this. There’s a reason Wells didn’t come in until the tenth inning. The only guys left in the bullpen were Rico Garcia, who had pitched the two previous days and was probably unavailable, and Albert Suárez, who based on his own early-season struggles is below Wells on the depth chart. Yesterday’s game played out in a way that there was no hiding Wells and he showed us all why they were trying to hide him.
Cleveland awaits next. This is another team on the pile that’s hovering at or just around .500 so far this season. The Guardians are fresh off losing two out of three to the Cardinals. We don’t really know a lot about who’s for real and who isn’t yet. Anybody might fix some of their problems and anybody might have their problems continue or get worse. The 2026 season story continues at 6:10 Eastern tonight.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
“There’s no running away from it”: Wells on extra-innings loss (Baltimore Baseball)
“I asked for the fire,” said Wells on expressing that in spring training he said he wanted the leverage situations. He has been falling short, he knows. Can he fix it? Always the question.
Gunnar Henderson aims to curb frustration, says emotion has “just been me” (The Baltimore Sun)
There’s a fine line between being a “fiery competitor” and being an on tilt mess. Henderson is trying to stay on the right side of the line. He could help by working on his two-strike approach this season.
The Orioles can learn a lot from Samuel Basallo’s stint as everyday catcher. So can he. (The Baltimore Banner)
It would have been better if the Orioles didn’t have to find out in these circumstances, but here we are in them so hopefully he can make the best of them.
Mountcastle on frustration of fractured foot (School of Roch)
Ryan Mountcastle scootered along to speak with Orioles media before yesterday’s game and among the remarks confirmed that he suffered the broken bone in his foot while running between first and second base. What a freak injury.
For the first time since 2019, Frederick hosted a game as an Orioles affiliate (Steve on Baseball)
Orioles prospect expert checked in from the scene of the first Keys home game of the year. The affiliate has an exciting roster as their season begins – though who knows how long that will last before the strong performers start getting promoted.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
In their 18th game last year, the Orioles beat the Guardians, 6-2, to move to 8-10 for the season. Tomoyuki Sugano got the win while pitching seven innings with two runs allowed. Each of Gunnar Henderson, Ryan O’Hearn, and Heston Kjerstad homered in the game, with O’Hearn’s homer driving in three runs.
There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2017-20 reliever Richard Bleier, and 1972-73 catcher Sergio Robles. Today is Robles’s 80th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Revolutionary War loser Henry Clinton (1730), aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright (1867), actor Charlie Chaplin (1889), author Kingsley Amis (1922), actor Martin Lawrence (1965), singer-songwriter Selena (1971), and actress Anya Taylor-Joy (1996).
On this day in history…
In 1746, Jacobite rebels in Scotland supporting the so-called Stuart Pretender were defeated by a British army led by the Duke of Cumberland in the Battle of Culloden. One consequence of the battle was that traditional Scottish tartan kilts were banned by an act of Parliament except for those in the military.
In 1917, the exiled Vladimir Lenin returned to Russian soil, having secretly been aided in his return by Russia’s World War I enemy, Germany.
In 1945, the Soviet Army launched an assault on German positions surrounding Berlin in the Battle of Seelow Heights. Over one million Russian men were involved in the attack, outnumbering the Germans nearly 9:1, in what proved to be the start of the final offensive of the European theater of World War II.
In 1963, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. penned his letter from the Birmingham jail. One of my college professors summed up this letter as a response to white clergy members who asked why he was in jail, with King offering this distilled reply: “Why aren’t you in here with me?”
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on April 16. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!
