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ANAHEIM – The Orioles started their series in Anaheim hot, with three runs in their first two offensive frames.
Tonight, though, it was the Angels’ turn, as Baltimore fell 5-2.
Los Angeles recorded three straight singles to start the game, and in the blink of an eye, it was 2-0 Halos. After a few more baserunners and nearly 30 pitches, Kyle Gibson worked out of the remaining trouble, but the early damage had been done.
The O’s did the same to veteran Kyle Hendricks last night. But after three early runs, Hendricks settled in, because “that’s what a veteran pitcher does,” as Brandon Hyde noted last night. Gibson did the same for tonight's second and third innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth. We’ll get back to that.
"I think the teams have been pretty aggressive," Gibson said of his recent first-inning struggles. "So, best way to combat that is maybe use a little off-speed a little bit earlier or just execute a few pitches here and there a little bit better."
The Orioles snapped a five-game losing streak last night with a 4-1 victory in Anaheim and will try tonight to win back-to-back for only the third time.
Jackson Holliday moves atop the order for the second time in his career. Cedric Mullins is lowered to sixth.
Mullins went 0-for-5 last night and is in a 1-for-30 slump. He’s hitless in his last 15 at-bats.
Gunnar Henderson is the designated hitter and Jorge Mateo is at shortstop. Emmanuel Rivera had two hits and an RBI last night and he’s at third base again tonight.
Kyle Gibson makes his third Orioles start tonight after allowing 12 runs and 16 hits with six homers in 7 2/3 innings. He’s registered a 5.83 ERA and 1.452 WHIP in 15 career starts against the Angels, and he owns a 7.27 ERA and 1.587 WHIP in seven starts in Anaheim.
MINNEAPOLIS – Dean Kremer deserved much better and wasn’t asking for it. Baseball can be a fickle and frustrating game. He knows it. Just keep going after hitters and accept the outcome.
Kremer completed seven innings again today and held the Twins to two runs, exiting with the score tied and the Orioles having left runners on base in each of the first six frames. He retired 10 of the last 12 and 18 of 21, and hoped that the worst part of the day would be a no-decision.
He couldn’t enjoy a team victory. He had to dress and eat inside another quiet clubhouse.
Brooks Lee drove in two runs with a two-out double off Gregory Soto in the bottom of the eighth inning and he scored on Ty France’s single to give the Twins a 5-2 win and complete the sweep at Target Field.
The Orioles had 10 hits for the second day in a row and stranded nine runners, their failings with men in scoring position littering the scoresheet. Trevor Larnach finally made them pay with a game-tying home run off Kremer in the sixth inning. The slightest of margins was erased with one swing, and Kremer spun around to wait for a new ball without watching the old on land.
MINNEAPOLIS – An off-day didn’t provide a reset for the Orioles. Facing a right-handed starting pitcher wasn’t a reprieve.
Striking out 11 times against the Twins’ Pablo López in five innings and 17 overall wasn’t going to bring them back from an early deficit.
Cade Povich allowed five runs in the third, including Carlos Correa’s 458-foot shot into the second deck in left field. López had hitters barreling air, and the Orioles lost their third consecutive game 9-1 before an announced crowd of 19,779 at Target Field.
It seemed like the appropriate venue for target practice.
Povich retired six of the first seven batters, with Correa reaching on an infield hit leading off the second, but Trevor Larnach and Willi Castro singled with one out in the third and Byron Buxton put the Twins ahead with a 109.7 mph double off the left field fence. Ryan Jeffers followed with a two-run single into right field with the infield in.
Orioles reliever Yennier Cano stood with his hands on his hips. He did it once, twice, as if in a state of disbelief.
He had no other reaction. The season hadn’t prepared him for it.
Cano surrendered his first earned runs in 13 appearances and his first homers, with the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino going back-to-back to break a tie in the seventh in an 11-6 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 31,956 at Camden Yards.
Kansas City began the series ranked last in the majors with 15 homers, but they set the club record with seven today and have 10 over the past two games. The Orioles hit four, including a pair from Jackson Holliday, and fell way short, lowering their record to 13-20 as they ready for their next road trip following an off-day.
Every homer today was a solo on Star Wars Weekend until Michael Massey’s two-run shot off Matt Bowman in the ninth. The jokes write themselves.
Jackson Holliday moves up to sixth in the order for tonight’s series opener against the Royals at Camden Yards.
Heston Kjerstad is in right field and Ramón Laureano is in left. They occupy the last two spots in the lineup.
Dean Kremer is trying to lower a 7.04 ERA and 1.565 WHIP over six starts. He’s surrendered 40 hits in 30 2/3 innings.
Kremer faced the Royals on April 4 and allowed two earned runs (three total) and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. He owns a 3.98 ERA in four career starts against them.
Bobby Witt Jr. is 4-for-11 with a home run. Salvador Perez is 3-for-11 with a double and homer.
DETROIT – The Orioles began the day with an injury update that removed a second outfielder from the roster. They sent a rookie to the mound for his second major league start in the first game of a doubleheader and watched him walk five batters in two innings.
A tall order against the first-place Tigers kept growing, along with an organization’s collective frustration.
Brandon Young battled through 4 2/3 innings in a 4-3 loss in Game 1 at Comerica Park. He gave the Orioles a chance with a later departure than anticipated and only two runs on the board when he left, but the bullpen had to shoulder another heavy load.
Bryan Baker let his first inherited runner score and the Orioles, unable to win back-to-back games for a second time, fell to 10-15.
Young was charged with three runs to give him a 6.23 ERA in 8 2/3 major league innings. He allowed four hits and struck out six, and his walk total held at five with all of them condensed into 1 2/3.
Tyler O’Neill is out of the Orioles’ Game 1 lineup today as he continues to receive treatment for neck discomfort.
Outfielder Dylan Carlson is on the taxi squad. He didn’t play yesterday in Triple-A Norfolk’s doubleheader.
Reliever Colin Selby also is on the taxi squad. The Orioles won’t announce their 27th man until the conclusion of Game 1.
Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle also are on the bench. Jordan Westburg remains the designated hitter. Heston Kjerstad is in left field and Rámon Laureano is in right.
Jackson Holliday is the second baseman.
The Orioles needed an effective start out of their rotation. They needed a big swing that might deaden their slump. Perhaps they could regain some authority and quiet a few critics.
Dean Kremer spun 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball tonight and Jackson Holliday marked his return to the lineup with a grand slam. They filled the order.
Heston Kjerstad made a clutch grab to strand two runners, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O'Hearn homered, and the Orioles defeated the Guardians 9-1 before an announced crowd of 13,964 at Camden Yards. The record improved to 7-10 with their fourth win in 12 games and they get another chance to claim their first series.
A four-run eighth, which included O'Hearn's long ball and Kjerstad's two-run single, put the game out of reach. Ramón Urías had a 398-foot sacrifice fly.
Holliday was hitless in his last 17 at-bats and didn’t play last night. He batted with one out in the second inning after Cedric Mullins walked, Ryan Mountcastle singled and Urías walked to load the bases.
The Orioles will try to win tonight for only the fourth time in 12 games and to keep alive their chance to claim their first series.
Jackson Holliday and Heston Kjerstad have returned to the lineup. Kjerstad is in left field and batting sixth. Holliday is at second base and batting eighth ahead of third baseman Ramón Urías.
Jordan Westburg takes a seat. He’s hitless in his last 20 at-bats to lower his average to .196 with a .631 OPS.
Cedric Mullins is batting cleanup. Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter.
Dean Kremer has an 8.16 ERA and 1.674 WHIP in three starts. He’s gone 5 1/3, 4 1/3 and 4 2/3 innings.
Gunnar Henderson batted cleanup last night, relinquishing the leadoff spot to Jordan Westburg in a right-handed heavy order. Cedric Mullins stayed in center field, but Jorge Mateo played second base instead of Jackson Holliday. Ramón Urías, batting .343 with a .410 on-base percentage, sat on the bench.
A decision also was made to withhold Heston Kjerstad against Guardians left-hander Logan Allen and put right-handed hitting Ramón Laureano in left field.
The Orioles played their 16th game and used a 15th different lineup. They could blow past the 144 last season.
The evolution of settling on a lineup has carried the process well beyond a manager sitting in his office with the card, a pencil and a hunch. Analytics are a major factor, of course. Where haven’t they infiltrated the sport? And it’s become more of a group effort.
“I am not involved with lineups,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said yesterday.
Questions about contract extensions for young players are posed to Elias each time that he speaks to the media. And he’s always provided the stock answer about how it isn’t beneficial for either side to share details and possibly damage the agents’ trust.
The Orioles are the only team in the majors since 2019 that hasn’t signed a player to an extension of four-plus guaranteed years. They aren’t short on candidates with high draft picks Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser on the roster. And they’re under new ownership since billionaire David Rubenstein purchased the team.
“I’m aware of what’s going on and I’m aware of the conversation around us. I guess I’ll be a little more revelatory than I have been,” Elias said.
It wouldn’t be a typical scrum today.
“This is something we’re working on,” Elias said. “There’s guys on this team that we would like to have on this team longer than they’re currently slated for. It’s not a point-and-shoot thing. It’s case by case. There’s different players, different skill levels, different representatives, different philosophies around how to handle players at different age levels. We’ve got some really good ones, and on top of that, we’ve had a very recent ownership change after a kind of protracted thing during a rebuild.
Bench coach Robinson Chirinos made his managerial debut this afternoon after Brandon Hyde was ejected. Ryan Mountcastle lined a ball over the left field wall that used to torment him. Tyler O’Neill almost nailed Mr. Splash with his home run into the Bird Bath section. Gunnar Henderson showed signs of busting out of his slump with three hits in the first four innings. The bullpen couldn’t hold a three-run lead in the eighth, and the Orioles stranded the winning run at second base in the ninth.
Peel back the many layers and the Orioles still don't have a series win.
The Orioles couldn't score in the bottom of the 10th inning, leaving Jordan Westburg at third base, and the Blue Jays prevailed 7-6 before an announced crowd of 27,193 at Kids Opening Day at Camden Yards.
Myles Straw's infield hit off Matt Bowman scored automatic runner Andrés Giménez. Bowman left two on base, but Ramón Laureano took a called third strike from Jeff Hoffman for the final out of the day. Hoffman blew a kiss toward the Orioles' dugout, his response to the contract offer reportedly rescinded after his physical due to concerns about his shoulder. The Braves did the same and he signed with the Blue Jays for $33 million over three years.
"When I'm thinking about the games before the games are being played and stuff, yeah, obviously that's definitely in my head. But once I'm in the game, in the moment, I'm focused on making pitches," Hoffman told reporters outside the visiting clubhouse.
The forecast in Kansas City is calling for rain and cold temperatures throughout the day. The Orioles are supposed to start a three-game series and the last time that I checked, Kauffman Stadium isn’t equipped with a retractable roof. Then again, I wasn't invited to the ballpark tour. Maybe there's an upgrade like the Camden Yards sound system.
If not, think warm and dry thoughts.
The mailbag isn’t waterproof and must stay indoors while I’m gone. I decided to dump out some of its contents to prevent an overflow when I get home. Hopefully, I haven’t covered a doubleheader.
You ask, I answer (most times), and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original.
Editor’s note: Some questions have been edited for … well … there was this one time that I … nope, nothing. I’ve just withheld the ones with the words “Roch” and “sucks.” Does that count as editing?
The mysterious uptick in Charlie Morton’s velocity didn’t return in the first inning today. His four-seam fastball was 93.3 to 94.6 mph against leadoff hitter Jarren Duran and topped at 94.7. And his third strikeout came on a curveball to Trevor Story, a pitch that produced only one out in his Orioles debut in Toronto.
If Morton was getting back to normal, he couldn’t enjoy it. Rafael Devers walked with one out in the first and Alex Bregman hit the next pitch, a sinker, to deep left field for a quick Red Sox lead.
Wilyer Abreu led off the second with a full-count walk, Kristian Campbell also worked the count full, and Morton hung a curveball that was launched to left at a distance of 389 feet.
The new dimensions in left aided Campbell. Bregman’s ball traveled 397 feet and didn’t need the benefit of a drawn-in wall. But both swings stung the Orioles in an 8-4 loss to the Red Sox before an announced crowd of 16,656 at Camden Yards that dropped them below .500 heading into their next road trip.
Morton struck out 10 batters in five innings, four short of his career high and the 28th time that he’s reached double digits, and he exited with his pitch count at 98. He allowed five runs and six hits and walked two batters, and his ERA is 9.72 in two starts with the Orioles.
TORONTO – Heston Kjerstad and Gary Sánchez make their first starts this afternoon against the Blue Jays.
Kjerstad is playing right field and batting sixth. Sánchez is catching and batting seventh.
Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter and Ryan O’Hearn is playing first base. Ryan Mountcastle, Tyler O’Neill and Jorge Mateo are on the bench.
Jordan Westburg is batting cleanup. Jackson Holliday is the shortstop.
Dean Kremer makes his first start today. He has a 4.82 ERA and 1.536 WHIP in 11 career games against the Blue Jays. He’s allowed 10 runs and 24 hits in 22 1/3 innings at Rogers Centre.
TORONTO – Charlie Morton paced back and forth in the dugout, the frustration keeping the veteran starter on his feet. His Orioles debut lasted 80 pitches in only 3 1/3 innings, two inherited runners scored and a lead fell apart like his outing.
There will be better days and nights for Morton. This one was a challenge from the beginning with a barrage of hard-hit balls from a Blue Jays team perhaps still ornery from yesterday’s Opening Day beatdown.
Jackson Holliday homered in the third inning and Tyler O’Neill had a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but the Jays put five runs on the board in the bottom half and won 8-2 at Rogers Centre.
No one’s getting a sweep in this series.
The Orioles raised the bar yesterday with 12 runs and six homers, but the bats calmed tonight. They were held to three hits and committed two errors.
The Orioles couldn’t play baseball yesterday because of the rain in D.C. In hindsight, it wasn’t worth rushing out of North Port on Sunday.
Grayson Rodriguez did some long tossing in the outfield at Nationals Park. Cade Povich told the assembled media that he hasn’t decided between Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady” for his walk-in song. The roster held at 41 players after the Orioles selected Matt Bowman’s contract over the weekend and put Tyler Wells on the 60-day injured list, then shrank to 36 after Kyle Gibson was optioned to minor league camp yesterday and Maverick Handley, Vimael Machín, Emmanuel Rivera and Luis Vázquez were reassigned.
The two questions hanging heavy in the damp air remained whether Jorge Mateo replaces Gunnar Henderson and which reliever replaces Andrew Kittredge.
Mateo went from a “no” to “pretty doubtful” to a real possibility for Opening Day. The Orioles won’t bring him to Toronto if they think he needs more swings in Sarasota or if he isn’t ready physically, but the fact that they’re giving him heavy doses of at-bats the next two days is a positive sign. Of course, they’re doing the same with Henderson, but that’s more about limiting how much time he spends on the IL.
Livan Soto remained the favorite if Mateo isn’t on the roster. Machín and Vázquez also were exceptional in camp and they’d have guaranteed jobs in past years when the Orioles weren’t as deep and talented.
SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles didn’t mean to become a spring training cliché. It just happened. Nothing they could do about it.
Their roster appeared to be mostly set, with few decisions pending. They were proceeding without new injuries. But a team can’t get too comfortable because something always seems to happen.
Or multiple things happen, which is worse.
Imagine being told before pitchers and catchers reported that the Orioles would begin the season with Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez on the injured list. Oh yeah, and their new reliever, Andrew Kittredge, would appear in one exhibition game and need surgery on his left knee. How long until panic set in and counseling was recommended?
This isn’t just an Orioles thing, though some locals would argue it. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole underwent Tommy John surgery and won’t pitch this season. Rookie of the Year Luis Gil could miss three months with a lat strain. Giancarlo Stanton had platelet-rich plasma injections in both elbows. The Rays got back their ace, Shane McClanahan, after he missed the 2024 season following Tommy John surgery, and he walked off the mound Saturday with a triceps injury.
NORTH PORT, Fla. – The Orioles aren’t required to set their Opening Day roster until noon Thursday, and a few decisions could bump against the deadline.
Most of mystery has dissolved. Cade Povich is the No. 5 starter, which puts Albert Suárez in a relief role. Félix Bautista had avoided the injured list. Only one spot remains in the bullpen and it could come down to Bryan Baker or Matt Bowman, who had an opt-out in his contract for today. Roansy Contreras is the third in-house consideration.
Jorge Mateo played second base today and will get simulated at-bats Monday and Tuesday before the Orioles determine whether to bring him to Toronto. His availability seems to directly impact Livan Soto, though Luis Vázquez and Vimael Machín also remain on the camp roster.
The shuffling is caused by Gunnar Henderson’s strained right rib cage muscle that is keeping him in Sarasota. Henderson would be eligible to return on April 3 with his IL stint backdated to Monday.
“I mean, it’s unfortunate that he’s going to miss the start of the season, but it is a long season,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We do feel like we have other options. We have a lot of talented infielders. We’re still kind of finalizing the last position there, but Gunnar’s one of the best players in the league, so it’s hard to replace. Hopefully we can pick up the pieces around him a little bit and play well while he’s gone.”
