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The Orioles couldn’t conclude the unofficial first half of their season until downing a few more shots of misfortune.
Another player went on the injured list. The start was delayed 1 hour and 38 minutes due to rain. And a former teammate homered three times as part of a five-hit, six-RBI day.
It kept getting incrementally worse for the Orioles, who lost to the Marlins 11-1 before an announced crowd of 17,759 at eventually sunny Camden Yards. They were outscored 17-1 in the last two games but avoided their 11th shutout on Ramón Laureano’s 426-foot home run in the eighth.
The chance to win three straight series for the first time this season disappeared along with four baseballs thrown by rookie Brandon Young.
Kyle Stowers produced a solo homer and a pair of two-run shots within the first five innings, and he also singled twice to further celebrate his return to Baltimore. Otto Lopez also went deep, and the Orioles were down 7-0 before the bottom half of the fifth.
The buyer versus seller argument got a little louder on one side. The Orioles are 43-52 heading into the break. A sweep would have left them five games below .500. They get the Rays and Guardians on the road after resuming play.
The Orioles are under .500 at the midway point for the first time since being 28-61 in 2021. They were 46-46 in 2022, 54-35 in 2023 and 58-38 last season.
"For the team, it’s disappointing," said Jordan Westburg. "I don’t think anybody going into the season thought we were going to be in the situation we are now. But it is what it is. It doesn’t help to dwell on that. So I think for us in the clubhouse, we’re going to take these three days to reset, we’re going to cheer O on during the break and then come back with some energy, with some vengeance maybe, and hopefully turn some things around."
Asked what needs to change, Westburg couldn't pinpoint one area.
"Honestly, I feel like we’ve played really good baseball the last month," he said. "We’ve had one of the better teams over the last month. I think the record probably indicates that. We're very capable of playing good baseball. How it changes? Who knows. Things can happen fast. It’s not on the guys in the clubhouse to look that far into the future. I think for us, it's taking it one day at a time. So that first day, Friday after the break, I think our job as players is to focus on winning that game, going 1-0 to start, and then just seeing what happens from there."
Westburg isn't consumed with the trade deadline and how much the team could change.
"I don't find that difficult at all," he said. "I'm a player. I show up every day. I do my job. Those decisions and those things are beyond my control. So for me personally, it does me no good. It doesn't help me prepare for the game. It doesn't help me prepare to go face Eury Pérez. And I would think everybody in this clubhouse would echo that. So no, I don't think that that weighs on anybody.
"Maybe the guys that might think they get moved, maybe. But I mean, that's on them. Like, if you want to be a part of this club and turn things around here, the focus has to stay here. Playing good baseball, picking each other up when we're struggling, and just being collectively a cohesive group."
The bullpen was missing Scott Blewett, who allowed four runs in the ninth inning yesterday and went on the injured list with a sore right elbow. Corbin Martin already was designated for assignment when the Orioles recalled left-hander Grant Wolfram. They didn't know about Blewett's elbow until later, and they sent him for an MRI.
Twenty-five players have gone on the IL this season.
Wolfram entered today after Young allowed seven runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Young retired the side in order on nine pitchers in the first, eight of them strikes, but Stowers led off the second with a 403-foot shot to center field. Stowers will head to the All-Star Game with 19 home runs this season after following Agustín Ramírez’s RBI single in the third with a 398-footer to right-center and reaching the flag court in the fifth after Ramírez doubled.
Lopez went back-to-back with Stowers in the third by barreling a cutter. The other homers came on a splitter, curveball and four-seam fastball.
“It looks like he paid dearly for some of the mistakes that he made," said interim manager Tony Mansolino. "I don’t know if the split, the first home run to Stowers, was much of a mistake. It didn’t quite get probably as low as we probably wanted the thing, but the next pitch was the breaking ball, kind of got him. The two-strike fastball ran back middle. But just paid for some location issues.”
"I made a lot of mistakes today," Young said. "Very disappointed. That’s on me. I’ve just got to do better than that. Made a lot of mistakes.”
Stowers had four hits after his 110-mph single off Colin Selby in the seventh, and he scored on Dane Myers’ single. He set a career high with his fifth hit in the eighth inning, a 102.5 mph single that also resulted in his sixth RBI to tie his career best.
“A lot of gratitude," he said. "I’m very grateful for the support I’ve had here. Again, that’s not to say I didn’t have that in Baltimore, because I certainly did. Just, fun to do it with these guys. They’ve been really rooting for me and Connor (Norby) this series, as we all have for various people who have played against former teams. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of love for the Orioles organization, but it definitely felt really good to have a game like that against them.”
The Orioles ran into three outs in the first two innings, enabling Pérez to face the minimum through the fifth.
Jackson Holliday had a leadoff single in the first and advanced on a passed ball. Pérez fielded Gunnar Henderson’s comebacker with one out and fired to Lopez, who tagged Holliday diving back to the bag. Henderson was thrown out trying to steal.
Laureano doubled in the second inning and made the final out when catcher Nick Fortes thwarted his attempt to swipe third. His homer in the eighth snapped the club’s scoreless streak at 17 innings.
David Bañuelos became the 51st player used by the Orioles when he batted for Jordan Westburg in the seventh and was hit by a pitch. Mansolino began to empty his bench, also sending up Luis Vázquez and Coby Mayo.
“For me at that point, we’re down by eight, it’s been a tough day, it’s been a tough end to the half," Mansolino said. "I did not want somebody to get hit and break a hand. I did not want somebody blowing out a hamstring running down the line in an eight-run game because they’re gonna play hard. And for me it was, OK, we’re at this point. Let’s just make sure we get out of this thing healthy, considering how this half has gone with our health.”
The franchise record for catchers used in a season remains at six. Bañuelos didn’t replace Alex Jackson.
The Orioles would like to replace most of the first half and start again. Or at least these last two games.
“Disappointing," Mansolino said. "I think today we knew it was going to be an absolute battle against Eury Pérez, just kind of, you look at where his numbers were at coming into this. Not indicative of how good he is. If you look at the last three or four starts, he’s been really, really good. It’s essentially an ace is what you’re facing.
"Disappointed more in how yesterday went. Just not putting up any points yesterday, and then getting in a scoreless situation in the eighth and getting things kind of matched up how we want and not making it through that. So I think you combine the two days and it’s just not a good way to finish.”
"Yeah, it’s disappointing," Westburg said. "We wanted to win that series and go into the half on a high note. But it’s by us. O (Ryan O'Hearn) is going to go represent us in the All-Star Game. The rest of us are going to have a three-day break to mentally check out, which is huge, and kind of hit a reset button, hopefully, coming into the second half."
* The Orioles didn’t draw walk, ending their franchise-record streak at 172 games in a row.
* Zach Eflin allowed two runs and five hits in four innings with Double-A Chesapeake. He walked a batter, struck out two and surrendered a home run. Eflin threw 58 pitches, 38 for strikes.
Eflin will face hitters Friday in Florida and is expected to be reinstated from the injured list.
Cade Povich retired all nine batters faced and struck out three with High-A Aberdeen. He’ll make another rehab start Saturday.
Samuel Basallo had a double and his 19th home run today with Triple-A Norfolk.
