This isn’t how the Orioles were supposed to reset after a disastrous 2025 season and reclaim contender status.

They weren’t supposed to sit in last place, swept in four games in the Bronx and three in St. Petersburg in their first two road division series.  

A .500 April is followed by a 6-13 May and the Orioles are reeling again. Not at all how they expected to be playing.

Four outs away yesterday from claiming a win at Tropicana Field, the Orioles mishandled a 3-1 lead and lost 5-3. A quality start from Shane Baz was wasted. And they were left scrambling again to come up with answers.

“It’s a big-time gut punch for sure,” manager Craig Albernaz told the media afterward.

“It’s just a matter of getting settled in a little bit,” said Shane Baz, “and learning how to win and how to be consistent.”

The Orioles are on the clock. The 2025 season got away from them in May. They don’t need any flashbacks.

They can’t stay on their backs for long and trust that they’ll rise again at any time.

Former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald dived head-first into the analytics debate yesterday and offered his own viewpoint of the team’s plight on MASN’s postgame show.

“We can talk about analytics and what could happen and what should happen if you hit the ball hard, but I don’t care if you hit the ball hard. Like, I don’t care if you hit it hard and you hit it to somebody. You’re out. I don’t care how hard you throw ball four. I don’t care what your spin rate was on your breaking ball if you bounce it three feet in front of home plate. I don’t care.

“What I care about is, do you make plays? Do you make pitches? Do you get hits when it matters? And that’s what the Orioles are struggling to do right now. They are struggling to complete ballgames. They are struggling to have all phases of the game go right at the same time. That’s where the struggle is. So all this nonsense is eyewash to me about all this analytical stuff. You either do or you don’t. And right now, the Orioles don’t. They are not doing it and they’re not playing well right now. That’s the bottom line.”

On this off-day, let’s keep the theme going on unexpected developments.

Trevor Rogers wasn’t going to duplicate last season’s 1.81 ERA in 18 starts, but a 6.87 ERA and 1.658 WHIP in his first eight games, plus a trip to the injured list with the flu, didn’t enter the chat. It wasn’t even a thought.

Rogers had traffic on Opening Day but tossed seven scoreless innings. He allowed four runs over 19 innings in his first three starts. The ace was still doing ace things. But it’s falling part for Rogers, who’s surrendered 25 earned runs and 27 total with 33 hits in his last five starts over 19 innings.  

“Excuse my French, but they beat my ass tonight and I let down everyone in this room,” Rogers told the media after he allowed seven earned runs (eight total) in 3 23 innings Monday night, “and I’m just not doing my job right now.”

But why?

“Can’t explain it,” Albernaz said during his media session. “It’s one of those things where he came out of the gates really strong and hot, and he had a bad outing, and then he got sick. And here we are.

“It feels like he’s searching to regain his own form from earlier in the year. But for Trevor, he needs to keep on pushing and keep on working to get back to where he was. It might seem like a stretch, but I don’t think he’s far off.”

Rogers hopes that Albernaz is right. He needs to improve his results with two outs, when opponents are batting .433/.493/.600.

“The past four or five starts, it’s just been one inning where I’ve just gone off the rails with two outs. Just nothing has gone my way,” he said.

“I feel like I’m really close. I still have the belief in myself. I know how good I can be. I’m just doing the complete opposite right now.”

Unfortunately for the Orioles, the rotation is providing reminders of 2025, when it registered a 4.65 ERA to rank 22nd in the majors. That unit in the third week of May consisted of Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton, Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and Cade Povich. Five different starters on May 21, 2026 have contributed to a 5.11 ERA that’s last in the American League and 28th in the majors. And that’s after Baz held the Rays to one run yesterday in six innings.

Taylor Ward hit 36 home runs last season with the Angels and has two with the Orioles – on April 19 in Cleveland and Tuesday in St. Petersburg.

The dimming of power couldn’t have been anticipated. But Ward began yesterday ranking among the major league leaders in walks (first with 45), doubles (tied for second with 15), times on base (tied for third with 91) and on-base percentage (fourth at .416).

So, there’s that.

Ward walked in the third inning yesterday after challenging a strike call, and he scored the tying run on Pete Alonso’s 111.8 mph line drive single. He walked again to give him 47.

Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million contract, the second largest in Orioles history, to create one of the biggest offseason splashes in baseball. He went 2-for-4 yesterday with his ninth home run and two RBIs and is batting .228 with a .744 OPS and a team-leading 28 RBIs.

Alonso hit .198/.306/.362 in 21 games in March/April. He’s shown signs of heating up, building a nine-game hitting streak that ended May 9. He was 8-for-25 with four RBIs over six games until going 0-for-3 with a walk Tuesday.

His last home run before yesterday was May 8, when he hit four in eight games.

The Polar Bear needs to go on the attack and, if necessary, carry this team on his back during this difficult stretch. He was fierce yesterday.

One of the biggest surprises of the season is Alonso and Colton Cowser being tied for the team lead in outs above average (OAA) with three. Alonso didn’t bring that kind of defensive reputation to Baltimore.

Alonso started a 3-6-3 double play yesterday in the third inning and made a sliding stop and throw to Baz to get the out in the fourth. He also made a backhand pick of Gunnar Henderson’s throw in the dirt to end the sixth inning, falling again but maintaining contact with the bag.

The Orioles ranked 25th in the majors in OAA at minus-10.

I didn’t hop on a flight home from spring training predicting that Leody Taveras would rank among the team leaders in games played with 40 as a projected fifth outfielder.

Blaze Alexander ranked ahead of him with 42 after yesterday’s start in center field, but infield injuries figured to make him busier than the typical utility player.

Henderson leads the Orioles with 10 home runs, but I didn’t think he’d head into yesterday slashing .211/.264/.412. His three hits in the series finale raised hopes, and his average to .220 with a .687 OPS.

His average is at its highest since April 15.

I didn’t know that Weston Wilson would be on the club, let alone carrying a .290 average and .421 on-base percentage before yesterday. I also didn’t know that he’d have three relief appearances.

Rico Garcia let his first inherited runner score Tuesday, and he was charged with only his second run in 22 appearances. Jonny DeLuca’s single in the eighth inning was the first hit allowed by Garcia to a right-handed batter, and his .063 opponent average (4-for-64) led the majors in a minimum 40 at-bats.

Garcia has been shocking people as an overnight sensation at age 32, but he’s raised the bar so high that his last two outings make it seem like he’s slumping.

Two more inherited runners scored yesterday in the eighth inning after Garcia replaced rookie Anthony Nunez. Richie Palacios had a tie-breaking single, and a double steal gave Tampa Bay a 5-3 lead.

That also counts.

Nunez strung together five scoreless appearances in a row before yesterday, but his ERA has swelled to 5.16. His 22 appearances this season are tied with Yennier Cano for second on the club behind Garcia’s 23 – also an unexpected development, considering that the Orioles optioned him in camp.

Garcia and Nunez need to get back on track because the bullpen has been one of the brighter spots in a season that keeps dimming.

You know that the injury situation is bad when a reduction to 12 players on the IL seems like progress.

Jackson Holliday was reinstated Tuesday and made his 2026 debut the following night. He played third base for the first time yesterday, though only for an inning.

Eflin and Jordan Westburg underwent elbow reconstructive surgeries and won’t return before 2027. Eflin made one start. Westburg never made it to the active roster.

None of this could have been predicted in the weeks leading up to spring training. Westburg was supposed to be the regular third baseman, Holliday the regular second baseman, and Eflin the fifth starter after the Orioles optioned Kremer late in camp.

Félix Bautista could return late in the season from his August shoulder surgery to repair his rotator cuff and labrum.

None of the returns seem imminent, though outfielder Heston Kjerstad is on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk. He could be reinstated and optioned, unless the Orioles want his left-handed bat as a replacement for Dylan Beavers. He’s eligible to return today.

Beavers has a right oblique strain. Ryan Helsley is throwing on flat ground and eventually will go on a rehab assignment, pushing his return into June. Kremer is rehabbing a strained right quadriceps in Sarasota, with no updates on a possible rehab assignment. He was eligible to return May 5.

Ryan Mountcastle also is in Sarasota while recovering from a fractured bone in his left foot. His absence will be marked in months, not weeks.

Povich received a cortisone injection in his left elbow due to the inflammation that forced him on the IL. The shot removed any chance of Povich returning when eligible. And the club is discussing treatment options for Colin Selby, who’s on the 60-day IL with right shoulder inflammation.

Yaramil Hiraldo has the same injury and is on a throwing progression.

Grant Wolfram is on a throwing progression for a lower-back strain and also could need time in the minors before the Orioles consider reinstating him.

Infielder Luis Vázquez, a candidate to break camp with the Orioles before breaking his right thumb on a hit-by-pitch in an exhibition game at Camden Yards, began his injury rehab assignment Tuesday with High-A Frederick.

Vázquez, a plus defender at shortstop, appeared in 36 games with the Orioles last season and went 8-for-50.

The Orioles signed Vázquez to a new contract on Nov. 1, designated him for assignment on the 18th to remove him from the 40-man roster and was outrighted on the 23rd.