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There are moments that in an instant seem to encapsulate the Orioles’ 2025 season. You just have to look for them. They really aren’t hard to find.
The latest example came tonight when they stranded three runners in the first inning and immediately fell behind, a nasty predicament for a team that was 4-19 when the opponent scored first and too often putty in the hands of a lefty starter.
Change is good and the Orioles desperately needed it. They toyed with it. But old issues keep resurfacing.
They collected 10 hits off the Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore in 3 2/3 innings, broke a tie on Ramón Urías sacrifice fly in his third attempt with the bases full, were tied again and lost 4-3 at Camden Yards on a two-out infield single in the ninth inning off Félix Bautista.
Anything that could go wrong did go wrong.
Bautista walked two batters but a caught stealing in between seemed to less the severity of the jam. However, José Tena scored from second base with two outs when Ryan Mountcastle fielded Nasim Nuñez’s ground ball and threw late to Bautista covering first. Tena slowed and sped up when he noticed that Bautista wasn't watching, and the reliever's throw home sailed over Adley Rutschman.
A strikeout/caught stealing in the bottom of the ninth was the exclamation point that felt like a dagger.
“I haven’t seen it yet," said manager Brandon Hyde. "I think it was a plus-runner, slowly hit, so Mounty has to go for it or Jackson calls it right away. One of those two things. And I haven’t seen the replay.
"Just not many things went right tonight."
It was a grind all along. The Orioles left the bases loaded in three of the first four innings and stranded 10 in that stretch and 15 for the game. They led 2-1 through the fourth despite outhitting the Nationals 10-1, and the game was leveled in the sixth and again with two outs in the eighth on James Wood’s 421-foot home run off Keegan Akin. They struck out 15 times and made defensive blunders that cost them.
When the 15 left on base was mentioned to Hyde, he said, “Pretty much the biggest thing, yeah." After a pause, he added, "Kind of in disbelief, honestly."
"I thought we took really good at-bats until we had multiple runners on base against Gore," Hyde said. "I think Gore’s got Cy Young stuff. To get him out of the game into the fourth, that’s really impressive. We just didn’t get enough hits or moving the baseball with runners in scoring position. That was the issue tonight. I felt like we were dominating the game with how many runners we were getting on base and the score was 2-1.”
The clubhouse was closed to the media longer than usual and there weren't many players inside when the doors opened. The disappointment and frustration was never more evident, even in silence.
"I think we need to figure it out individually," said Ramón Laureano, "and we need to look ourselves in the mirror individually and we need to come back stronger and actually perform."
"I think we’ve got a great group in this locker room," Rutschman said. "A lot of leaders, a lot of guys with amazing character. Just got to show up tomorrow ready to go and just continue to take it day-by-day and try and learn from days like today and just do what we can. I’ve got a lot of faith in the guys in this locker room. We’ve got a lot of talent here, a lot of great leadership."
It still hasn't clicked for the Orioles through the second week of May.
“I think for us, it’s about just taking it at-bat, pitch-by-pitch, really just try to compartmentalize stuff and try to win those little battles within the game and make sure that guys know that everybody’s got each other’s back," Rutschman said. "And if the first guy doesn’t get it done, the next guy is going to pick him up and really just buying into the guys we have around. That’s what we can do, and I think we’re going to continue to try to lean on each other.”
Rutschman had his first three-hit game since Opening Day and Laureano produced his first four-hit game since May 21, 2021, but the Orioles fell to 15-28. They have 17 losses in their last 23 games.
“The season’s so far been tough, but we’re going to continue fighting," said left-hander Cade Povich. "You haven’t lost until you’re laying on the ground, not getting up. We’re going to keep getting up, we’re going to keep fighting until this thing is turned around.”
Jorge Mateo said via interpreter Brandon Quinones that he has "100 percent confidence" that the Orioles can recover.
"We have a really good group here," he said. "Things just aren’t going our way, but we’re confident that things are going to turn around.
"I think maybe we’re trying to do too much right now, trying to get those guys in and score them. Maybe we have to try not to do as much or try to keep it simple."
The go-ahead run in the sixth was unearned because third baseman Tena committed a fielding error that let Mountcastle reach after the Orioles first baseman fouled a ball off his right foot and hobbled up the line. Jackson Rutledge hit Laureano with one out and walked Ryan O’Hearn, leading to Urías’ fly ball to right field. Jackson Holliday lined out to right field at 106.5 mph.
Dylan Crews drew a one-out walk in the seventh and went to third base when Gregory Soto fielded Tena’s comebacker and fired the ball into center field. Cedric Mullins threw to third, which allowed Tena to take second, but Bryan Baker entered and struck out Jacob Young and Nuñez.
Keegan Akin got two outs in the eighth and left a slider over the plate that resulted in Wood’s 12th homer. And the Nats didn’t get a ball out of the infield while taking the lead in the ninth.
Povich surrendered two runs and three hits and struck out nine batters in 5 2/3 innings, but Wood’s two-out single in the sixth scored Nuñez with the tying run. Nuñez drew a leadoff walk, stole second base with one out and kept going to third base on Rutschman’s passed ball. Povich struck out Wood twice before seeing him again as Soto warmed.
Asked about the passed ball, Rutschman said, "Runner stealing, changeup and just, I don’t know, the movement … it’s on me. I’ve got to at least try to stop the ball, if anything, just because as a catcher, you’re trying to throw a guy out and get a little bit anxious and pull your glove a little bit early and it goes off the end. But that’s on me. That’s a big run. So that one is on me and you have to keep that one in front, if nothing else.”
The start was delayed 12 minutes due to rain and the threat of a tornado. Povich was working on nine days’ rest, so the short wait couldn’t rattle him.
Nathaniel Lowe tried his hardest with a solo home run in the second inning.
Povich got ahead of Lowe 0-2, threw back-to-back sweepers and surrendered his eighth homer in his last six starts. And it happened after the Orioles left the bases loaded.
Being pushed back to that extent didn’t seem to bother Povich, who threw a few more side sessions.
“I think gave me a little extra time to relook over some things, I guess, really sit down, rewatch some games, look at what’s worked, why certain things haven’t gone the way we want them,” he said. “Just continue to attack on what I’ve been doing really well.”
Mountcastle extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the first inning. Rutschman and Laureano followed with singles, a rally that began after Nuñez made a diving catch to rob Gunnar Henderson. Mountcastle reached on a line drive, Rutschman bounced a ball up the middle and Laureano poked a two-strike changeup into right field at 68.1 mph. The early approach offered encouragement.
That was before Gore struck out O’Hearn and Urías to take the air out of the rally.
The Orioles were batting .179/.258/.253 against left-handed starters before tonight, but they kept coming at Gore.
Holliday led off the second with a double to center field and Gore struck out Mullins, Jorge Mateo and Henderson. The Orioles were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position in two innings. But they took a 2-1 lead in the third on back-to-back, one-out doubles by Rutschman and Laureano, followed by O’Hearn’s single, a Urías walk and Holliday’s chopper over Lowe at first base that resulted in an infield single.
Mullins and Mateo struck out again and the Orioles were 4-for-11 with RISP and seven stranded. They filled the bases again in the fourth on Rutschman’s infield single – a generous ruling from the official scorer – Laureano’s single and O’Hearn’s walk. Plate umpire Alfonso Márquez punched out Urías on reliever Cole Henry’s full-count fastball outside the strike zone.
Gore produced one of the strangest lines you’ll see with two runs, 10 hits, two walks and nine strikeouts in 3 2/3. Laureano improved to 9-for-11 against him.
Mateo had a bloop single off Andrew Chafin with two outs in the fifth, making him 5-for-33 this season. He stole second and third base, but Henderson struck out for the third time to strand an 11th runner. Henderson fanned again to end the seventh.
Povich has faced the Nationals twice and allowed three runs in 12 1/3 innings. Mullins made his nightly highlight catch in the third when he raced to the warning track, reached out and snatched Nuñez’s fly ball with his back to the infield before slamming into the fence. Povich raised his cap and applauded.
Young took his turn in the fourth by leaping at the center field fence to rob Mountcastle of a home run. Almost as painful for Mountcastle as the foul ball.
Not nearly as painful as the final score.
Does something more need to be said to the team?
"We’ll see," Laureano replied. "I’m kind of new here at the same time, but I let them know here and there. But at the same time, we need to flush it and come back tomorrow."
"Sometimes you need to say a lot, sometimes you don’t need to say anything," Mateo said. "I think we all understand what’s going on and the game that we played. But, you know, it is what it is. Tomorrow we have to come back and be ready to win."
“It’s about leaning on each other right now," Rutschman said. "Like I said, we’ve got a great group of guys here, and it’s easy when stuff like this is going on to kind of just be on your own. I think leaning on each other is the most important thing right now, because we have every capability to be able to turn it around and go out and win a lot of ball games. But it really is on us, and it’s on us leaning on each other and really just buying into that. Doing what we can to scrape out victories.”
