The Orioles offense wasted yet another good start on Saturday night, scoring just once in a support of Kyle Bradish as they lost their third consecutive game, a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the hosting Texas Rangers.
Another night, another putrid performance from an Orioles offense that was supposed to carry this team day-to-day. For the fifth time in the last seven games, the lineup scored one run or fewer. The Orioles are 0-5 in those games. It’s not a recipe for success.
The only run scored by the
Orioles came on a solo homer from Jackson Holliday in the very first inning, his sixth of the year. Holliday is the one member of the lineup that you could say is playing well at all lately. He went 2-for-3 tonight with the aforementioned dong, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. His batting average is up to .242 and his OPS to .737.
Outside of that, it was a bleak evening at the plate for the Birds. They collected six hits, three walks, and 10 strikeouts as a team. They went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, left six runners on base, and hit into two double plays.
The closest the Orioles came to a second run was in the eighth inning. Pete Alonso doubled with one out, and then the Rangers intentionally walked Holliday before Tyler O’Neill hit into an inning-ending double play. The force out at second base was very close, but not enough for a review. We were truly grasping at straws.
The subpar offense work wasted yet another nice start by an Orioles pitcher. It was Kyle Bradish’s turn to take a hard luck loss. He worked six innings and allowed two unearned runs on five hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. His season ERA dropped to 3.61
It was a sinker-heavy night for Bradish. Nearly half of his pitches were that variation of his fastball, and yet he gave up just three hard hit balls off of it. The slider is what was particularly effective though. The Rangers whiffed on it 47% of the time, putting a ball in play at all just once. The O’s ace was very good!
The two runs he gave up both came in the bottom of the second inning.
Ezequiel Duran singled with one out, and then moved to second base on a wayward pickoff attempt by Bradish. With the infield drawn in, Evan Carter hit a grounder at Gunnar Henderson. Henderson fielded cleanly and threw home. The throw was slightly up the first base line, pulling Carlos Narváez away from the runner and making way for Texas to score their first.
A wild pitch by Bradish then advanced Carter to second, which would prove to be a crucial 90 feet. Jake Burger followed by hitting a weak ground ball towards shortstop. Bradish whiffed on his barehanded attempt to stop it, and then Henderson bobbled away his try as well. The ball got just far enough from Henderson to allow the speedy Carter to cruise right around third base and score.
It was a frustrating inning made worse by the Orioles most glaring weakness: defense. It’s just not good enough. And it becomes a problem all the time because the Orioles don’t have the offense they expected would allow them to hit their way out of all these problems. It’s also not something that has gotten any better throughout the season. Maybe they are working on it, but it sure doesn’t look like it on the field most days.
For a while it seemed like the glovework is what would cost the Orioles the game, but that was before Grant Wolfram lost the strike zone in the eighth inning. After punching out the first two batters on the frame, the southpaw then walked two in a row, fell behind 2-0 to Corey Seager, and then grooved a fastball right into the ideal spot for a lefty to smack a long ball. Seager did just that, putting the Rangers up 5-1 and driving a final nail into the Orioles coffin.
This game alone is not going to lose the Orioles a spot in the playoffs. But considering they came into this weekend right behind these very Rangers in the standings, it’s been pretty disheartening to see the offense show so little fight. Or maybe it is just a complete lack of ability. Either way, it hasn’t been fun.
At least Bradish was good again. Just like Shane Baz was impressive on Friday night. Add in how great Trevor Rogers has been for most of the last two seasons, and it’s fair to wonder if maybe the Orioles have finally figured out the pitching secret sauce. Too bad it happened at the same time as their offense completely lost its way.
These two teams will wrap up the weekend tomorrow. Cade Povich (2-1, 3.91 ERA) will head to the bump for the O’s. He will be opposed by Kumar Rocker (4-8, 4.08 ERA). First pitch is set for 2:35 pm on MASN.
