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.
Bautista walked two batters but a caught stealing in between lessened the severity of the jam. 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.
A strikeout/caught stealing in the bottom of the ninth was the exclamation point that felt like a dagger.
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.
Adley Rutschman had his first three-hit game since Opening Day and Ramón 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 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.
Cade 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.
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.
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.