The Orioles had plenty of chances, but failed to cash in on enough of them, wasting a great start from Trevor Rogers and losing the series opener to the Braves 7-6 in extra innings on Friday night in Baltimore.
This was yet another strong showing for Rogers. The lefty worked seven innings, six of which were pretty smooth. His one tough frame came in the fourth, when he gave up a pair of runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly. But outside of that, he was dominant.
Rogers pounded the strike zone. Over
his seven innings he threw 88 total pitches, 72 of which went for strikes. So it’s no surprise that he didn’t issue any walks. This was his third start of the season without a free pass.
The stuff looked good too. His fastball velocity was up slightly over his season average (from 93.5 to 94.3 mph). He encouraged a 62% chase rate and saw the Braves lineup whiff on 31% of all swings. Those are good numbers.
This latest outing from Rogers lowered his ERA even further. Back on May 24, he had a season-worst ERA of 6.96 after a bad showing against the Tigers. Since then, he has seen it drop like a rock. Now, after allowing two runs on six hits, no walks, and six strikeouts tonight, his ERA is down to 4.17. His ERA in the month of July is a minuscule 1.04. The 2025 version of Rogers has fully arrived in 2026.
The Orioles offense, meanwhile, battled against Braves starter Grant Holmes. They had runners on base in four of the five innings that Holmes was in the game. Ultimately, they cashed in for three runs against him.
In the second inning, Leody Taveras walked with two outs, and Jackson Holliday followed with a single into right field to put runners on the corners. Christian Encarnacion-Strand then brought them both home following a seven-pitch battle (which featured four foul balls) that ended with a two RBI double into the left field corner that gave the O’s a 2-0 lead at the time.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Orioles answered the two runs that the Braves had scored in the top of the inning with a run of their own. Taylor Ward led off with a single, scooted to second on a Colton Cowser walk, advanced to third on a Taveras sac bunt, and then finally scored on a Holliday sac fly. It was an old-fashioned way to score a run, but sometimes that’s what a lethargic lineup like this needs.
Rico Garcia came on to relieve Rogers in the eighth. It didn’t go well. He gave up a solo home run to Drake Baldwin, tying the game at 3-3 and removing Rogers’ great effort from the win-loss decision altogether.
The Orioles had a chance to win the game within the regulation nine innings, but failed to do so in the bottom of the ninth. They loaded the bases with two outs, when Gunnar Henderson was intentionally walked in front of Taylor Ward. Ward went up 3-0 in the count against Elieser Hernández before the count was eventually pushed to 3-2. On the payoff pitch, Ward hit the ball 102 mph on the ground right at the third baseman Austin Riley, who fumbled it for a moment or two, but managed to gather himself, throw out Ward, and leave the three runners stranded.
The top of the 10h inning would, unfortunately, be the low point of the game for the Orioles. With the Manfred runner on second base, Joey Bart led off with a single to put runners on the corners. Jim Jarvis then hit a bouncer to the right side of the infield that Holliday did well to dive for and successfully field. Where he went wrong was his throw towards Henderson covering second base. It was airmailed into left field, allowing not only the run to score but the two other runners to advance into scoring position too. Andrew Kittredge almost got out of the jam, striking out Baldwin and Ozzie Albies. But Craig Albernaz decided to pitch to Matt Olson rather than walking him to the open base at first and facing Michael Harris II. It didn’t work out. Olson launched a 416-foot, three-run homer to right field, blowing the game open and giving the Braves a 7-3 lead.
Credit to the Orioles, or at least to Encarnacion-Strand, for showing some fight in their half of the 10th. Tyler O’Neill led off with a single, which pushed the Manfred runner to third. The two batters that followed were retired before Encarnacion-Strand hit what is already his third major league homer of the season to make it a 7-6 game and bring the tying run to the plate. Unfortunately, the bench was empty at this point, and that meant Sam Huff had to take the at-bat. He struck out on a slider that was hung in the middle of the plate, sealing the Orioles frustrating loss.
The goodness in this game was largely contained to two players: Rogers and Encarnacion-Strand. Rogers is back to being an ace. That’s good news for the Orioles. Their either have a dependable arm for the final two months of the season, or they have one of the most attractive trade chips in the sport. Encarnacion-Strand is playing himself into being the team’s everyday third baseman, at least for right now. They need help scoring runs, and he’s making it happen. Keep playing him until he proves otherwise.
The bad was much more widely shared. The Orioles went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. It’s nearly impossible to win with numbers like that, and they happen far too frequently for this crew. It doesn’t help that the current catcher situation, with Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo both on the IL, is an offensive black hole. Holliday made a rather terrible error. He had done the hard part, which was catching the ball. Maybe he should have just taken the easy out at first. At the very least he can’t let the runners take another base. And the bullpen, specifically Garcia and some blame to Kittredge, wasn’t good enough. That’s nothing new, of course, but it is a problem that will have to be addressed if Mike Elias and company do decide to buy at the deadline.
These two teams will be back at it again on Saturday night in Baltimore. The Orioles will start Brandon Young (8-2, 3.25 ERA) against the Braves’ Bryce Elder (6-6, 4.06 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:05 from Camden Yards.
