PITTSBURGH – Orioles manager Craig Albernaz puts his relievers inside his circle of trust before they gather in the bullpen, knowing that they’ll have to produce in a variety of circumstances. High leverage can land in anyone’s lap. There’s only so much that can be mapped out in a pitchers’ meeting.

“All of our guys,” he said earlier today, “I feel comfortable with.”

Albernaz needed his crew to cover the last 3 1/3 innings today with the Orioles clinging to a one-run lead. Yennier Cano warmed in the fifth but didn’t pitch. Albernaz went through Rico Garcia and Grant Wolfram before placing the game in the inexperienced hands of Anthony Nunez in the eighth.

Nunez gave up a leadoff infield single and issued a two-out walk but appeared to get away unharmed when pinch-hitter Jake Mangum bounced to the right side of the mound. Nunez hustled for the ball but it deflected off his glove as the tying run scored.

Closer Ryan Helsley was summoned in the ninth in a tie game, and the Orioles fell two games below .500 with a 3-2 walk-off loss to the Pirates before an announced 27,949 at PNC Park.

Bryan Reynolds doubled with one out, Ryan O’Hearn was walked intentionally, and Nick Yorke delivered his first career walk-off RBI with a double over the head of left fielder Dylan Beavers on the eighth pitch of the at-bat – a slider that left his bat at 105.4 mph.

The Reynolds’ double, at 100 mph against Helsley’s 101 mph fastball, also cleared Beavers and reached the left field fence. Beavers had to play more shallow against Yorke with two runners on base.

“They’re tough plays but I would like to make both of them,” Beavers said. “It’s just frustrating.”

Helsley signaled to appeal the seventh pitch, a 99.1 mph fastball that should have been the third strike. The ball caught the bottom of the zone. But the Orioles used up their challenges – Coby Mayo in the second inning and Gunnar Henderson in the ninth. Yorke crushed a slider and the Orioles fell to 3-5.

“I mean, yeah, I thought it was a strike, and then found out later it was a strike. I mean, that’s part of the game, that’s where we’re at. It’s just unfortunate it didn’t work out,” Helsley said.

“I actually felt really good. I thought I threw the ball well. Bryan put a good swing on a fastball away. Once it got to 3-2 there, I didn’t want to load the bases, tried to compete in the zone and he put a good swing on a pitch and obviously won them the game.”

Helsley headed back inside the clubhouse and checked the video of the seventh pitch.

“Just wanted to ask and know where it was at,” he said, “because I thought it made a pretty good pitch.”
The new ABS system is a learning experience and Albernaz ideally wants to have at least one more challenge in the late innings. It worked during the homestand when catcher Samuel Basallo’s appeal gave Albert Suárez a walk-off strike.

“That’s just kind of my stance on that,” Albernaz said. “It just keeps everyone honest. It would’ve been great to have a challenge right there. I know Helsley wanted to challenge, but yeah, we didn’t have one.

“To me, they’re both fine. They both were ending the at-bat. They thought they were down. Like I said, I have no problem with challenging, but it’s one of those things you always wish you had one in the ninth inning. But I have no problem with those challenges just because it was the ending of the at-bat.”

Nunez was making his third major league appearance. He had allowed one run and struck out five in four innings.

“Definitely felt good giving him the ball there,” Albernaz said. “With everything he’s shown, the ability to get out both handedness, the strike quality in particular, kind of eluded him today. He looked like he was trying to be too nasty out there instead of just being himself. And you could tell it kind of sped up on him on the Mangum infield nubber. But yeah, he’s definitely someone we’re going to count on.”

To be trusted in high leverage meant something to Nunez, but the outcome soured the experience.

“I mean, I gave up the lead, so I wouldn’t say good. But internally, I would say I was pretty calm and collected out there. I was just trying to execute every pitch,” he said.

“That’s what you want as a reliever is to be in high-leverage situations and help your team win.”

The first inning brought out good and bad in Orioles starter Shane Baz.

It felt symbolic for the club in the infant stages of the season. The inconsistencies, the highs and lows.

Baz threw 26 pitches and put two runners on base, the pace slow and the results unwanted, but he recorded back-to-back strikeouts, disposing of O’Hearn with a 99.4 mph fastball.

Making his second Orioles appearance, Baz seemed to be invigorated by the escape. He held the Pirates to an unearned run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings but was denied his first win. Garcia stranded a runner for him in the sixth and has retired 11 of his 12 batters with one walk.

“Definitely a lot more in tune,” Baz said, comparing his debut to today’s start. “I think I was able to make the little adjustments pitch to pitch. Fall behind, get back in the count, stuff like that.”

The bullpen, damaged by injuries to Andrew Kittredge and Keegan Akin and taxed from the rotation’s short starts, tried to form a bridge to Helsley. Wolfram struck out two in the seventh and worked around a leadoff single.

Marcell Ozuna was 1-for-26 before reaching on an infield hit to start the eighth. The next two batters were retired, but Nunez walked Nick Gonzales and misplayed Mangum’s bouncer that was scored a hit.  

I just got too excited,” Nunez said. “Trying to make the play quick instead of just taking my time. Just it was sped up out there.”

The Orioles scored twice in the top of the fourth, collecting four singles and a walk. That was it for the offense.

A sloppy bottom of the fourth inning gave the Pirates a run on Spencer Horwitz’s sacrifice fly. Baz was charged with an error after fumbling Reynolds’ roller, O’Hearn singled, and Mayo bobbled Ozuna’s double-play grounder and settled for the out at first base.

“Just kind of got stuck in my glove,” Baz said.

“I think the PFP portion could be better, the one with Baz and then the one with Nunie in the eighth,” Albernaz said. “Mayo had a tough play with the slow hit by Ozuna. But other than that, defense was solid today.”

Baz hit No. 1 prospect Konnor Griffin with a 91 mph cutter and Horwitz sliced the lead in half. The right-hander threw only 11 pitches in the second and eight in the third, but the mistakes forced 20 out of him in the fourth. He retired eight in a row before his error.

The Pirates drafted Baz in the first round in 2017, making him the 12th overall selection. He hadn’t pitched at PNC Park until today.

A full six-inning start seemed reasonable until Baz walked Brandon Lowe and Reynolds with two outs in the fifth. Pitching coach Drew French came to the mound and O’Hearn flied to center. Baz had another 20-pitch inning to run his count to 85. He was removed at 98 after Horwitz’s two-out double.

“That was awesome to see,” Albernaz said. “He settled in. We really wanted to kind of let him go, like, get through six. But at (98) pitches, it’s tough. You don’t know what the Nick Gonzales at-bat is going to do. If that gets grindy, then you’re getting into uncomfortable territory. So, that’s why we put in Rico, but it was a great outing by Shane.”

Adley Rutschman led off the second with another opposite-field hit, a single against Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski. Rutschman has reached base in all seven of his games. He produced a 106 mph single with one out in the fourth, and Henderson scored on Beavers single to right.

Mayo walked to load the bases and Rutschman came home on Leody Taveras’s 103.3 mph line drive single to right.

An opportunity to bust open the game didn’t materialize, with Colton Cowser striking out and Blaze Alexander bouncing into a force.

Tyler O’Neill pinch-hit for Cowser in the sixth after Taveras drew two-out walk against left-hander Hunter Barco. O’Neill lined to short at 102.1 mph.

Barco walked two batters in the seventh and O’Hearn made a sliding catch near the right field line to rob Rutschman. Mayo singled with one out in the eighth and was picked off.

Believers in bad omens probably sensed what was coming.

“It looks like the fourth inning, we did a great job grinding out at-bats. Then after that we just couldn’t get anything going,” Albernaz said. “Credit to the pitching staff over there. They did a great job keeping us off balance, but I think the Coby Mayo pick was tough. That kind of ended that inning rally. But we just couldn’t get anything going after that.”

The Orioles need to get their season rolling. They avoided a sweep to the Rangers and are in another bind in Pittsburgh.

“I couldn’t be more confident,” Nunez said. “It’s just early in the season, all these guys are out here working, and there’s going to be a point where it’s going to turn around. It’s going to be very soon, and just get on a roll.”

“I think we’re competing really well,” Helsley said. “Sometimes baseball doesn’t go your way. Both sides are trying to win. I thought we played a good game today, just obviously didn’t work out in our way. We got another chance tomorrow, and we got a lot of baseball left and we just have to go get ’em and turn the page.

“Our lineup’s really good. We got a lot of talent in here, all across the board. You know, it’s obviously frustrating not winning games, and to lose a game like that when you lead the whole way just adds to it. Hopefully we can learn from it and move on.”

“I think everyone’s pretty confident,” Beavers said. “I think we have a lot of really good players in here and they’re just trying to put it all together and hopefully tomorrow everything aligns.”

*Down on the farm, Double-A Chesapeake left-hander Luis De León allowed four runs and four hits in four innings, with three walks and five strikeouts in a 4-2 loss to Hartford.

Shortstop Brandon Butterworth, hitting leadoff, went 3-for-5. Right fielder Thomas Sosa doubled twice and drove in two runs.

Triple-A Norfolk’s game in Memphis was rained out.