What is the story about?
Orioles
10, Rangers 5
- Well that was unpleasant.
- Kumar Rocker had an outing that felt very 2025 from Rocker.
- A mental error leading to runs, a pair of homers allowed, the hook coming out early in the game.
- Its so frustrating, because every time you think Rocker has turned the corner, one of these games occurs.
- Rocker should have been out of the first with no runs allowed.
- After a Pete Alonso single and Jackson Holliday double put runners at second and third with one out in the first, Rocker got Tyler O’Neill swinging. Dylan Beavers followed with a hard hit grounder down the line at first that Jake Burger made a nice play on.
- It should have been an inning-ending 3-1 putout…only Rocker, once again, did not cover first. So instead of being out of the inning it was an RBI infield single, with Leody Taveras following with a double to make it 2-0 Baltimore.
- Two homers the next inning, accounting for five runs, made the game somewhat lopsided and un-fun from then on.
- We did get to see the 2026 debut of Jordan Montgomery. The concerns about his velocity continue to be borne out, as Montgomery averaged 90.4 mph with his fastball and 89.5 mph with his sinker in the 79 pitch appearance. As a point of reference, he averaged 92.1 mph and 91.8 mph on his fastball and sinker, respectively, in 2024, and 93.2 mph and 93.3 mph in 2023.
- I want Jordan Montgomery to make it back and succeed, but if he’s throwing 3 mph slower than he was in 2023, he’s got questionable value even as a long man.
- Montgomery gave up three runs in four innings of work, including a pair of homers, one of which scored the Kumar Rocker walk that Montgomery inherited. Honestly, it felt a little fortunate Montgomery only allowed three.
- Cole Winn pitched the final two innings and didn’t do much to make you feel good about how he’s going, as he walked three and allowed two hits, walking in a run, and avoiding more damage by getting two Ks and a fly out to escape further damage in a bases loaded, no one out situation in the ninth.
- Texas had some chances early — there were two on with one out in the second, and a Brandon Nimmo two out, three run homer in the third shifted momentum and seemingly got the team back into it before Baltimore piled on more runs. They put a pair on in the fourth and in the sixth but didn’t score, until finally scraping across a couple of runs in the ninth on a Cam Cauley walk, a Nicky Lopez triple, and an RBI groundout.
- Too little, too late, with too many wasted opportunities. 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one being the Nimmo homer.
- Unfortunate.
- On the plus side, Houston lost, so Texas is just a half game back in the West. Cleveland and Minnesota also lost, keeping them 1.5 games back in the Wild Card chase, though Detroit won, and so the Tigers are now just a game back of Texas.
- Kumar Rocker hit 96.8 mph with his fastball, averaging 95.1 mph. Jordan Montgomery’s fastball hit 91.6 mph. Cole Winn touched 97.2 mph with his fastball.
- Brandon Nimmo had a 107.1 mph home run. Justin Foscue had a 104.1 mph single. Ezequiel Duran had a 102.4 mph groundout. Jake Burger had a 100.8 mph single.
- Let’s start a new winning streak in Anaheim.
