PITTSBURGH – The Orioles have played seven games and their starting pitcher hasn’t completed the fifth inning in four of them.

Shane Baz is an exception and he lasted 5 1/3 in his debut.

Manager Craig Albernaz doesn’t waver in his support and his praise of a unit that’s totaled 35 innings to rank 17th in the majors. The 4.37 ERA is 19th and the 1.46 WHIP is 25th.

“It’s right where it should be,” Albernaz said after yesterday’s 5-4 loss to the Pirates. “It’s still very early, but yeah, I love our rotation.”

Trevor Rogers has accounted for 13 of those innings, and the rotation ERA is 6.14 without him. Kyle Bradish, the presumed Opening Day starter until Albernaz announced Rogers, has totaled 8 2/3 innings in his two outings.

“Stuff’s not the problem,” he said. “It’s execution.”

Bradish was asked whether he felt frustration over his inability to complete five innings. He paused as if wondering what other emotion he possibly could possess.

“Yeah,” he replied. “It’s very frustrating.”

The Orioles don’t expect it to last.

“He’s really good and he has some really good stuff,” Albernaz said. “That’s why I think it’s just, once he kind of fine-tunes that a little bit, I think he’s gonna be a problem.”

Baz faces the team that selected him 12th overall in the 2017 draft and traded him with pitcher Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows to the Rays for pitcher Chris Archer on Aug. 14, 2018. Smart pick, dumb deal.

Baz allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings in his Orioles debut against the Twins. He made his only career start against the Pirates on April 1, 2025 in Tampa and shut them out over six innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Pirates right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski, the 31st overall pick in 2020 out of South Carolina, allowed two runs and struck out eight in 4 1/3 innings against the Mets. His only appearance against the Orioles consists of two scoreless and hitless relief innings on Sept. 10 in Baltimore.

Here are a few leftovers from yesterday:

*Former Orioles reliever Gregory Soto was the closer and earned his first Pirates save. He struck out three batters in the ninth but also surrendered a solo homer to Gunnar Henderson with two outs.

Henderson fell behind 0-2, fouled off two pitches, took a sweeper out of the strike zone and launched another sweeper 397 feet to right-center field.

Manager Don Kelly called upon Soto with right-handed hitters Blaze Alexander and Taylor Ward batting ahead of Henderson and Pete Alonso behind him. Albernaz was asked this week about teams using left-handed relievers against his club in the late innings, supposedly to match up with Henderson. Doesn’t matter who’s batting around him.

Did we see another example yesterday?

*A pivotal moment in the game arrived in the seventh inning after Ward’s run-scoring double and a two-out walk to Alonso. Left-hander Mason Montgomery replaced right-hander Yohan Ramírez with the Pirates ahead 5-3, and he retired switch-hitting Adley Rutschman on a ground ball.

With two runners in scoring position, left-handed hitting Samuel Basallo was allowed to bat and struck out on four pitches. Montgomery attacked with fastballs clocked at 99.1, 99.3 and 99.7 mph and threw a curveball at 88.3 that dived into the dirt and eluded Basallo’s bat.

Ryan Mountcastle moved on deck to hit for Dylan Beavers if Basallo reached. Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo were on the bench. Albernaz showed confidence in Basallo and just didn’t get rewarded for it.

*Pirates fans already are out of patience with Marcell Ozuna, who signed a $12 million contract in February with a $16 million mutual option and a $1.5 million buyout.

Ozuna went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, and every out was booed with gusto.

Or maybe they were saying, “OOOOOzuna.”

The 14-year veteran is 1-for-23 with four walks and six strikeouts in six games. Teams usually want more production out of their designated hitter. The crowd at PNC Park feels the same.

*Rutschman drew a leadoff walk in the fourth inning and came through with a run-scoring double in the fifth.

Mitch Keller threw three consecutive changeups in the fifth and Rutschman went to the opposite field with the last one.

At the risk of overreacting, these at-bats are like flashbacks to 2023 and early 2024.

*The Orioles didn’t have a long reliever with Albert Suárez unavailable. Left-hander Dietrich Enns was supposed to give them more than an inning after replacing Bradish, but he threw 39 pitches in the fifth and allowed a run on Ryan O’Hearn’s sacrifice fly.

The three walks were the issue.

“Just bad counts,” Albernaz said. “Not filling up the strike zone. Yeah, that’s it.”

*Still worried about Tyler Wells?

Seriously, don’t be.

He allowed a run in each of his first three appearances, with bad luck a contributing factor, but he retired all six batters yesterday and struck out two.

Wells threw 23 pitches, 15 for strikes. The four-seamer topped at 94.7 mph.

*Left-hander Joseph Dzierwa isn’t close to the majors. The kid is pitching at High-A Frederick. But keep an eye on him anyway. He’s gonna be a fast riser.

You may remember Dzierwa from Spring Breakout and his eight strikeouts in three scoreless innings. The second-round draft pick out of Michigan State made his professional debut last night and tossed six scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and nine strikeouts.

MLB Pipeline ranks Dzierwa as the organization’s No. 12 prospect. Seems pretty low all of a sudden.