Sunday’s game was one that was seemingly lost by one error in the 2nd inning. For the first time since Thursday, the Orioles took a lead over the Red Sox thanks to a two-out rally in the bottom of the 1st. Boston starter Payon Tolle began the frame by striking out Blaze Alexander and Pete Alonso. That brought up lefty-masher Coby Mayo, who extended the inning with a line drive into the left-center for a two-out double. Fellow lefty-hitting specialist Christian Encarnacion-Strand then hooked an 0-2
cutter from Tolle into the left field corner, scoring Mayo and giving the O’s an early 1-0 lead.
The RBI double from CES broke an 18-inning scoreless streak that started after the infielder’s two-run homer in the 9th on Thursday. The early lead gave Birdland some hope that we’d finally see a competitive performance against the Red Sox.
That hope immediately faded after the top of the 2nd. With one out, Kyle Bradish walked Caleb Durbin to put the tying run on first. Jarren Duran then chopped a ball to the right side, with the ball hit far enough to the left that Alexander could only get the out at first. With Durbin on second, Andruw Monasterio grounded the would-be final out to Gunnar Henderson at short. Instead, Gunnar booted the ball, allowing Monasterio to reach and the inning to continue. Two pitches later, Bradish left a slider over the plate to No. 9 hitter Eli White, who blasted it into the Camden Yards’ bullpens for a three-run homer.
After the Gunnar error turned a scoreless inning into a 3-1 Boston advantage, it seemed to take all the wind out of the Orioles’ sails. From the last out of the 1st to the bottom of the 5th, Tolle set down 10 straight Orioles, with 7 going down via strikeout.
Recent call-up Rece Hinds ended that streak in the 5th with a leadoff double to the right-center gap. However, the outfielder was then back-picked at second—with Hinds being called safe on the field, only for replay to overturn the call on a very close play. Tolle, now pitching with the bases empty, continued to mow down the O’s, striking out Leody Taveras and Carlos Narváez to post a scoreless 5th.
Pete Alonso would tag Tolle for a two-out single in the 6th, but Mayo couldn’t take advantage, grounding out to second to end the frame. Beating a tough left-hander like Tolle is never easy, but the Orioles made it extra difficult Sunday thanks to their lack of plate discipline. The Red Sox left-hander completed 6 innings on just 91 pitches, while striking out 12 and issuing no walks.
The Red Sox bullpen shut down the Baltimore bats until the 9th, when Boston closer Aroldis Chapman entered looking for his third save of the series and 400th of his career. In theory, the Orioles had the perfect part of their lineup ready to face Chapman, with Alexander leading off, followed by Alonso, Mayo and CES.
In practice, it was another exercise in disappointment for this Orioles’ offense. Alexander started by launching a towering fly to left, one that looked like extra bases off the bat, but quickly settled into an easy F7. Alsono then snuck a single through the right side to put the tying run on base. The Polar Bear then moved to second on a wild pitch, as Mayo ran the count full. However, the big league’s best lefty masher came up empty against Chapman, striking out on a 3-2 slider away for the second out. CES could do no better, striking out on a 101 mph fastball to seal the loss.
And as has often been the case with the Orioles of late, the pitching staff did enough to win the game, but simply didn’t get enough run support. In the top of the 3rd, Adley Rutschman led off the inning with a down the right-field line that skipped off the glove of a diving Alonso. Bradish worked around the leadoff extra-base hit, however, getting a pair of groundouts and a pop-up to strand Rutschman.
Bradish worked a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, but wouldn’t come back for the 5th after throwing 85 pitches over the first four frames. The Orioles bullpen in relief of Bradish was nothing short of excellent. The recently recalled Anthony Nunez worked scoreless innings in the 5th and 6th while racking up three Ks.
Luis De León then took over in the 7th, pitching the best inning of his young major league career as he got two weak ground outs and a high fly to center. Cam Sanders would give up a leadoff single to Trevor Story in the 8th, only to bounce back with three straight strikeouts to end the inning. Grant Wolfram then worked a scoreless 9th to keep the threat of a comeback alive, though the O’s failed to capitalize against Chapman.
The loss extends the Orioles’ losing streak to six, their longest losing streak of the season. It also drops the O’s to 4 GB of the Guardians for the final wild card spot, with Cleveland starting a three-game set in Baltimore tomorrow on Labor Day.
