The Orioles changed their look tonight with the debut of their new City Connect uniforms. They also wanted to resemble the team that just swept the White Sox.

It was a balancing act.

It didn’t work.

Shane Baz allowed three runs and threw 99 pitches over five innings, Nick Raquet surrendered three in his debut with the club, and the Giants won the series opener 6-3 before an announced crowd of 32,294 at Camden Yards.

Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth, his fifth of the season. Leody Taveras was a late addition to the lineup with Tyler O’Neill scratched due to an illness, and he had a single and RBI double through the fourth inning against Giants starter Landen Roupp. Adley Rutschman doubled twice and singled through the fifth. Taylor Ward collected his 10th double. But the inability to stack hits cost the Orioles, who slipped below .500 again at 6-7.

“I feel like on the same night, we’re not pitching, hitting and playing defense consistently,” Baz said. “It’s kind of like one thing’s good, one thing’s bad. So once we start jelling together and getting some momentum, we’ll be fine.”

First baseman Pete Alonso has two hits in his last 28 at-bats. He made the final out in his first three at-bats, striking out twice, and is 9-for-51 (.176).

“I mean, for me, it’s frustrating,” he said. “I’m sure it is for everybody else. I wish I could have been better, not just tonight, but many nights before. There’s a lot of work going into behind the scenes so at gametime I can show up and perform. I could say, ‘Yeah, it’s a long season, it’s coming.’ But yeah, it stinks, first couple weeks, not performing up to my standards. You can work hard, you can try, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to win. And I expect more out of myself, and I know other people do as well. So it’s frustrating.

“But yeah, the best is obviously going to come. It’s frustrating, for sure. Wish I could perform better. But yeah, working hard, doing the best I can, but that’s not good enough. And I will be better.

“I just need to execute better, I need to be more consistent. I need to do a better job of controlling the strike zone, and when they come in the strike zone, I need to do a better job of putting it hard in play. Again, there’s a couple good at-bats, a couple good swings. But yeah, tonight obviously, I only had one good at-bat when the game was already out of hand.

“I wish I had better at-bats over the course leading up to that point. But for me, this is not my standard. Results-wise, yeah, it’s unacceptable for me, and I will be better. I know that. But yeah, it’s not fun. And I know, for me, if I’m not producing in big spots with guys on base, it’s not good for the team. I will be better. I feel bad. A lot of people believe in me, and I believe in myself, but I’m not delivering results. I will. I just haven’t. But I will.”
The walk showed that Alonso isn’t pressing with every trip to the plate, but that was small consolation.

“Yeah, I mean, you can look like yeah, walks are great,” he said. “It’s making good collective swing decisions. And even during the road trip, felt like I was hitting the ball hard with no results. But again, no one’s gonna go back and just be like, ‘Wow, it’s a good swing but that’s a line out.’ No, people expect to win and I need to do a better job of being more consistent at-bat to at-bat, pitch to pitch. That’s simple.”

Teammates don’t sense any change in Alonso in the clubhouse and aren’t worried about him.

“He’s been exactly the same guy,” Samuel Basallo said through interpreter Brandon Quinones. “It’s frustrating and it’s part of baseball sometimes, but everybody goes through that sometimes, even the best players in the game, which I believe he is one of the best players in the game. It’s just a matter of days until he gets it going here soon, and at the end of the season, we’ll be looking at him as one of the best players.”

“It looks like he’s trying to handle too much as far as the prep in his approach, which is not always a bad thing, but also it’s like he’s kind of searching a little bit on that end,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “It’s not his swing. It’s just more of the pitches to hit and what he’s taking and then what he’s swinging at.”

“He’ll be just fine,” Baz said. “It’s just one of those things. Sometimes you start hot. Sometimes you start a little cold. He’s been awesome.”

Players walked around the clubhouse this afternoon in T-shirts and hoodies that also had the 2.0 City Connect design on them. They approved of the color scheme and nod to their historic ballpark.

“I think they’re great,” Rutschman said. “It’s just a phenomenal colorway, really good palette. Just the accents to the stuff, the stadium, the green, the patch on the sleeve. I think it’s constructed very creatively.”

“I think they rock,” Alonso said. “They’re fantastic. I think they’re really exciting, and a huge ode to Camden. I think they did a great job of just putting together a great looking uniform.

“I especially love the detailing of the brick kind of inlaid along throughout the jersey. Yeah, fantastic, very well done.”

“I think they’re pretty sick,” said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle. “I like the little cream color and it’s pretty dope.”

“I like them,” said outfielder Dylan Beavers. “I think they’re definitely different with the green. I don’t have any shoes or anything to match them, but working on it. Yeah, I think they look good.”

Albernaz also weighed in during his pregame media session.

“I love them,” he said. “They did a great job. Love the detail. The green’s a different touch, too. The cream pants and the cream uniforms, they’re really cool.”

The consensus appeared to be that the Orioles upgraded from the previous, more basic uniform with black as the dominant color and “BALTIMORE” written across the chest. Having “BMORE” as the short-handed name to represent every neighborhood in the city, and the ornithologically correct Oriole bird perched on the “R,” took creativity to the next level.  

“These have got a little more flavor to them,” Mountcastle said. “I think they’re cool.”

“They’re different, especially compared to the last City Connects, the all black,” Beavers said. “They kind of strayed away from that. I like them. I think they’re interesting. I think they’ll grow on us if we’re winning games.”

Proof of that theory wasn’t available tonight.

Baz walked Luis Arraez with one out in the first and got a 4-3 double play against Matt Chapman. Jung Hoo Lee doubled with two outs in the second and Heliot Ramos struck out on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Baz retired the first two batters in the third and Willy Adames drove a knuckle-curve 402 feet to right field for a 1-0 lead.

A walk and single put runners in the corners before Rafael Devers bounced to the mound.

Casey Schmitt led off the fourth with a double, Lee was robbed on a diving stop by second baseman Jeremiah Jackson and Ramos singled.

Adames had a two-out RBI double after Patrick Bailey’s single to bring pitching coach Drew French to the mound.

Devers was 0-for-12 with five strikeouts against Baz before his one-out single in the fifth. Schmitt doubled again, but Baz got out of the jam and was done.

“Just that one inning,” Baz said. “I was a little bit predictable with my stuff. They were trying to get their swings off early in the count.  Just being really aggressive. Just wasn’t really making quality pitches to a few guys and just kind of got away from the fastball, I think a little too much.”

Ward wore a T-shirt today with a picture of batting gloves on it, thumbs locked and fingers spread to create the bird gesture that the Orioles use to celebrate hits. Rutschman was first to do it with his two-out double in the first, but Alonso took a called third strike.

Rutschman doubled again with two outs in the third, moving Henderson to third base after his walk, but Alonso struck out again. Rutschman poked a single into right field at 68.1 mph with two outs in the fifth and Alonso grounded out.

Mountcastle pinch-hit after back-to-back walks with two outs in the eighth and flied out.

The Orioles got their run against Roupp in the fourth when Beavers drew a one-out walk and scored on Taveras’ double.

Ward’s double followed the Henderson homer in the ninth.

Schmitt’s third double plated Chapman in the seventh and Lee followed with a two-run shot to spoil Raquet’s debut with the Orioles.

Albert Suárez made his first appearance since April 1, and Ward robbed Harrison Bader of a home run.

*Triple-A Norfolk’s Nestor German allowed one run tonight in 4 2/3 innings against Jacksonville. He threw 82 pitches.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. hit a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh and had a tie-breaking two-run single in the eighth.

Double-A Chesapeake’s Luis De León allowed two earned runs (three total) and three hits in five innings. Aron Estrada and Carter Young hit their first homers, the latter a three-run shot. Ethan Anderson had three hits and three runs scored.

High-A Frederick’s Joseph Dzierwa impressed again with two runs allowed and no walks in seven innings. Hans Crouse had a scoreless and hitless inning with two strikeouts on his rehab assignment. Victor Figueroa hit his third home run.