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Cedric Mullins got the right break on the ball, with the proper angle and exceptional footspeed. He laid out for it, made the diving catch and held on through the crash landing. Tomoyuki Sugano waited for Mullins after the top of the second inning to give him a congratulatory pat, to thank him for the assist.
It was the last moment today that the Orioles really felt good about the game. As they keep discovering, adversity can strike quickly and with tremendous force.
No. 9 hitter DaShawn Keirsey Jr. gave the Twins a lead with a two-run shot in the third inning, Byron Buxton followed with his 10th homer, and the Orioles were swept in another series after a 4-0 loss before an announced crowd of 30,926 at Camden Yards.
The Orioles (15-27) slipped to 12 games below .500 for the first time since the conclusion of the 110-loss 2021 season. The Twins (24-20) have won 11 in a row, six against the Orioles.
Having the opponent score first creates a mess for the Orioles, who are 4-19. Ryan Mountcastle doubled in the fourth and was thrown out trying for the triple. Chris Paddack hit Adley Rutschman to begin the fifth, Ryan O’Hearn singled and the next three batters were retired – two on strikeouts. Mullins doubled off reliever Louis Varland in the eighth and Heston Kjerstad was drilled on the right elbow with a 98.9 mph fastball with two outs, but Jackson Holliday popped up.
Rutschman and O'Hearn singled off Jhoan Duran with two outs in the ninth for the last sliver of hope, and Tyler O'Neill struck out for the third time.
The level of concern over rebounding as a team naturally is on the rise as the season moves into the middle of May.
"I mean, I think it’s human nature," O'Hearn said. "This is frustrating. Losing sucks. It’s not fun. Nobody in here is having a good time, and I promise you nobody cares more than the guys in this clubhouse. With that being said, we have to keep fighting, there is no other option. You have to keep fighting. You can’t give up. You can’t give in. I believe in the guys in this clubhouse. We have talented players. We just have to keep fighting. There is no other option."
Taking two of three in Anaheim felt like a turnaround, but again, the Orioles are facing in the wrong direction.
"You’ve got to be optimistic," O'Hearn said. "I don’t ever show up to the ballpark thinking that we’re going to lose. It was a good series in Anaheim, and this feels like a kick in the nuts, for sure. The mindset is show up tomorrow and win a baseball game, and that’s what we’re going to do."
The shutout loss was the sixth for the Orioles, who went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Paddack retired his last nine batters and completed seven innings with only three hits allowed.
"A lot of our guys are in between right now," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Late on fastballs, in front of off-speed. That’s a tough combo. We’re having a tough time getting hits, a tough time just getting on base.
“We continue to work. Obviously, we’re hitting .220-something (.226) as a club, so that’s gonna be a tough recipe with giving up over five runs a game. We’ve got to continue to put the effort in. I thought we swung the bat better in Anaheim, OK at times yesterday, and today we had a tough day.”
The Orioles are 0-23 when trailing after the sixth, 0-24 after the seventh and 0-26 after the eighth.
“If we get into the fifth, sixth, seventh and we're down a couple runs, I still believe that we're going to come back and win," O'Hearn said. "I still have that feeling that we've done it a lot over the last few years and I know the integrity of this team and guys don't want to give at-bats away and, unfortunately, there's just ... Some guys are struggling right now but it's not for a lack of effort. I see everybody's grinding in the cage trying to figure out their deal and that's the only answer is to keep rolling, keep doing it. Eventually, things got to change.”
Sugano retired the first six batters before Royce Lewis led off the third with a single. Keirsey homered with one out, his first, and Buxton launched a sinker 401 feet to center field for a 3-0 lead. Sugano appeared to register his fifth quality start with three runs and four hits over six innings, but he returned for the seventh at 93 pitches and the Twins scored again on Willi Castro’s one-out double and Lewis’ single.
“I thought he was great besides that one inning," Hyde said. "I thought he threw the ball extremely well, gave us every opportunity to win. Just left like a slider there to Keirsey, but not many mistakes. That wasn’t the story. He gave us every opportunity. We just had a tough time off Paddack and didn’t score any runs.”
Sugano threw a U.S. career-high 103 pitches in 6 1/3, and the four runs allowed also were the most since he left Japan. Hyde tried to squeeze another inning out of him with a short bullpen after yesterday’s doubleheader.
“He felt good," Hyde said. "Frenchie (Drew French) went down to him, and he felt good. ... There’s a lot of guys you don’t want to use when you’re losing 3-0 after a doubleheader day because then these guys are unavailable tomorrow. (Cionel) Pérez. Seranthony (Domínguez) didn’t pitch yesterday. We’re hoping that Sugano could get through that seventh inning. He almost did. He made some good pitches, just bad luck there.”
Another Twins injury delay before the seventh kept Sugano in the dugout a little longer than preferred.
“I know there was a moment there and I was put into a difficult position for a second, but we had a doubleheader yesterday," he said via interpreter Yuto Sakurai. "Wanted to go the distance a little bit today for them.”
The Orioles have lost 16 of their last 22 games.
Hyde isn’t performing daily checks of the standings. He knows where his club sits. He also knows how much season is left, and how to block out some of the outside noise that won’t help matters.
“I don’t look at much right now, to be honest with you,” Hyde said this morning. “My head’s kind of down, and trying to get some wins. When you’re struggling, you tend to not read or watch as much as normal. I still follow the league. I go home and watch some West Coast baseball normally after our games, or that kind of thing. But the focus is really on our club.”
The Twins lost two players to injuries during yesterday’s doubleheader, and Buxton and shortstop Carlos Correa collided today while pursuing Mullins' shallow fly ball leading off the third. Buxton made the catch, reaching down for the ball, and slammed into Correa’s back. Both players were sprawled on the grass as the Twins’ athletic trainers raced out of the dugout, and Correa made a slow walk to the clubhouse. Buxton left the game in the fourth, and both players are in concussion protocol.
A series of massive substitutions and switches led to Kody Clemens playing three positions, including second base twice.
Every combination is working for the Twins, the exact opposite of the Orioles.
“I actually think about it every day, how to get out of this, but I’m pretty sure all the guys are thinking about the same thing," Sugano said. "I don’t try to think about how to fix this. But I just try to work on things on a day-to-day basis.
“I believe we can turn things around, and each and every individual has stuff in mind. I’m going to come here tomorrow and reset and go from there.”
Asked how the team is handling the adversity, Sugano said, "It’s not really a good crowd, but obviously, try not to fix things forcefully. But work on things day to day.”
* Hyde said Kjerstad was feeling OK "as of right now," and added, "I’m sure he’ll be sore tomorrow."
* Here are the starters for the series against the Nationals at Camden Yards:
Friday: LHP Cade Povich vs. LHP MacKenzie Gore
Saturday: RHP Kyle Gibson vs. RHP Jake Irvin
Sunday: RHP Zach Eflin vs. RHP Michael Soroka
* Vimael Machín had a three-run triple today for Triple-A Norfolk. Dylan Beavers had four hits and an RBI.
Roansy Contreras allowed five earned runs and six total in 2 1/3 innings, and Dylan Coleman allowed five runs in one inning.
