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Left-hander Cade Povich doesn’t know whether he’s pitching for his spot in the Orioles rotation. Trevor Rogers can be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk at any time after serving as the 27th man in Saturday’s doubleheader in Boston and tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings with two hits in Game 2. Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer and Charlie Morton are confirmed for the weekend series against the White Sox.
Having off-days Thursday and Monday gives interim manager Tony Mansolino and his staff the freedom to bump, skip or just stay in turn.
Povich can look like he won’t budge, as he did tonight in the first three innings, but the immovable object got knocked around after that in the Orioles’ 6-4 loss to the Cardinals before an announced crowd of 14,491 at Camden Yards.
A two-run fourth and three-run fifth spun the game in the Cardinals’ favor. The Orioles left 10 runners on base and lost their 12th series. Their record is 19-36.
Povich allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings, walking three batters and tying his season high with nine strikeouts. He struck out the side in the third inning to give him six - on three fastballs, a sinker, curveball and sweeper. Lars Nootbaar led off the game with a single and the Cardinals didn’t have another hit until Masyn Winn’s leadoff single in the fourth.
St. Louis loaded the bases with one out, Nolan Arenado flied to shallow left and Jordan Walker plated two runs with a ground ball into left field that trimmed the lead to 3-2. A walk reloaded the bases but Povich struck out Victor Scott II with a sweeper.
Back-to-back doubles in the fifth preceded Brendan Donovan’s home run, and everything in the inning was hit hard, with exit velocities of 106.2, 103.2, 103.3 and 105 mph. Two singles in the fourth were clocked at 107.4 and 104.6.
"I looked over before his first inning, he threw a couple warmup pitches and, man, the ball was really jumping through the zone," Mansolino said. "I was standing next to Grant Anders and he made a comment about whatever the vert on it was and he kind of confirmed that it jumped through the zone. I just feel like kind of as we got in that third, fourth inning it seemed like it didn’t have the same life to it. Their hitters did a great job laying off some tough pitches and I felt like they kind of got in some plus counts, put some good swings on the ball and kind of got the ball moving in their favor a little bit."
Tonight’s outing left Povich’s ERA at 5.29. He threw 96 pitches, 56 for strikes.
“Stopped keeping the ball down," he said. "I think the first three innings, I did a great job of that, mixing stuff, and then just too many pitches that were thigh high and easy for them to hit.”
Asked whether the rain and cold were factors, Povich said, “I mean, no. I grew up in Nebraska. This was basically every day for me.”
The strikeouts are piling up for Povich, who has 24 in his last three starts.
"I think when I'm able to get ahead and use different stuff and work down in the zone, they're difficult pitches to hit," he said. "And then it's tough to fall behind and I don't think I did a great job of coming back, and when I did it was, I think, leaving a little bit too predictable pitches in too good of spots.”
The Orioles went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position last night and were 3-for-16 tonight through the fifth. No one else reached second base until two outs in the ninth. Ryan O'Hearn was the potential winning run, but he bounced out.
"You know what, it’s kind of been the story for most of the year," Mansolino said. "I do feel like it has trended up recently. That bullpen that they’ve got, and I think you guys see it, that’s a heck of a bullpen.
"I think the strength of that team is probably that bullpen and I think that’s probably what beat us tonight."
"Obviously, you want to score runs," said Jackson Holliday. "I thought we had a lot of really good at-bats. Just kind of in the middle of the game we slowed down a little bit. We’ve got to continue to work on that. It’s been kind of an issue. Obviously, scoring runs is very important. So yeah, we’ll keep working on it.
"Hitting is really, really hard. I think that probably has a lot to do with it. They match up guys in those situations to get guys out. It’s tough. But it’s part of the game, and it’s something we’ve got to do a better job at. And I’m sure we will."
O’Hearn's leadoff single in the second inning led to the game’s first run. He was 17-for-29 after that hit, which extended his streak to eight games. Ramón Urías singled to push his hitting streak to 11 games, and Cedric Mullins’ bunt single and a throwing error by starter Miles Mikolas gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals kept bouncing throws throughout the series. Maybe it’s the conditions.
Urías came home on Maverick Handley’s ground ball, the catcher’s third career RBI, and Mullins scored on Holliday’s second double in two innings. Holliday also singled in the ninth, and he's known for his dogged pursuit of base hits on Bark at the Park Night. He hit a grand slam on April 16 with his bernedoodle, Coconut, sitting in the stands.
The bottom of the order provided an immediate response to the Cardinals’ two-run top of the fourth. Mullins, Handley and Dylan Carlson singled to extend the lead to 4-2. Handley snapped an 0-for-20 streak.
The Cardinals had their own rapid response in the fifth.
Matt Bowman retired six of seven batters in his return to the Orioles. Andrew Kittredge inherited a runner on third base with two outs in the seventh and Iván Herrera doubled on the first pitch to give St. Louis a 6-4 lead.
The Orioles are 1-29 when trailing after the sixth and seventh, and 0-33 when behind after the eighth. Two singles in the ninth teased the smattering of fans who remained, in weather that's now becoming the uncomfortable norm.
"Obviously, I wouldn’t really want to come to a game either if it was raining all night," Holliday said. "It’s definitely a little tougher playing with not a packed house, in the rain and against a good team.
"It wasn’t as bad as last night."
