Orioles drop series in San Diego with 5-2 loss (updated)

SAN DIEGO – Be careful with the soft spots in the schedule.

The footing can get slippery.

The Orioles are playing teams below .500 in four out of the next five series, beginning with the Padres and including a trip to Oakland. A reprieve on paper. A trap on the field the past two nights.

Left-hander Blake Snell held the Orioles to two runs over six innings, the bullpen was sturdy, and the Padres won again 5-2 before an announced sellout crowd of 42,318 at Petco Park.

The Orioles have gone 3-3 on their West Coast excursion, and their lead over the second-place Rays is down to two games going into the off-day.

The quest for that 75^th victory is put on hold.

"Losing's obviously not fun, but they've got a really good team over there," said Ryan Mountcastle. "I thought we put some really good at-bats together, hit the ball hard. Just wasn't falling.

"We're just going to keep grinding and move on to the next series."

Mountcastle extended his on-base streak to 23 games with a solo home run in the sixth inning that reduced the lead to 3-2. The last real push from the Orioles.

Shintaro Fujinami, working on back-to-back nights, surrendered a home run to Trent Grisham in the seventh inning after Ben Gamel flied to the warning track. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled, and Fujinami didn’t finish the inning.

Tatis stole second base and kept running as Cionel Pérez’s pickoff attempt resulted in a throwing error. Tatis broke for home with Juan Soto batting, and Pérez never looked at him or made a throw.

The crowd roared, catcher James McCann bolted from his crouch, Soto backpedaled to avoid a collision, Tatis slid across the plate, and Pérez didn’t move.

"He's a very aggressive baserunner and very instinctual," said manager Brandon Hyde. "You have to be a little bit more aware. We have to have a little bit better awareness on the field in that situation. He's a plus runner, a great runner with instincts, and we didn't execute at all."

The Rangers’ Adolis Garcia had the last steal of home against the Orioles, against Eric Hanhold, on Sept. 24, 2021 in the top of the ninth inning at Camden Yards, according to STATS. Tonight was a straight steal, with no one else on base, the first time against the Orioles since the Mariners’ Dan Wilson on Aug. 1, 1999 with Mike Mussina pitching.

Teams have stolen home against the Orioles 26 times since 1974, per STATS.

"I saw (Tatis) creeping, creeping, and then he just took off," Mountcastle said. "I think by that time, Cionel was already coming set and the timing was perfect." 

Dean Kremer aided a short bullpen by retiring his last 10 batters to get through six innings, after a swift exit appeared more likely. He threw 22 pitches in the first inning and 28 in the third while falling behind 3-1.

The last three innings required 13, eight and 12 pitches to leave him at 94.

"He just had that one bad inning," Hyde said. "We're not scoring enough runs. That's the bottom line. We've faced six really good starters so far on this trip and have had a tough time scoring runs against starting pitching. Can't get four or five hits a game and expect to win."

The Padres tied the game in the third after Kremer walked Grisham, the No. 9 hitter, and Ha-Seong Kim and Tatis singled. The next two batters were retired, but Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth produced RBI singles on consecutive pitches.

Bogaerts was batting .193 with runners in scoring position before the at-bat.

"In the third, just kind of stopped the bleeding a little too late," Kremer said. "And then, the fourth, fifth and sixth, got in a groove and tried to eat as many innings as I could after that."

All four hits in the third were singles. Kremer wasn't getting hammered, but the Padres inflicted pain nonetheless.

"It's a little frustrating, but sometimes it's like that, sometimes it's like solo homers," he said. "It is what it is."

Manny Machado, traded to the Dodgers in 2018 for a five-player package that included Kremer, went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in their first matchup.

"Definitely kind of a full circle moment," Kremer said. "It's definitely weird being on the other side. I think it's been, what, five years since that happened? Kind of a full circle moment."

The Orioles were 44-11 when scoring first, and they manufactured a run in the top of the first inning. Adley Rutschman singled, moved to second base on a wild pitch and to third on Mountcastle’s line drive to deep right field, and scored on Anthony Santander’s sacrifice fly.

Rutschman doubled with two outs in the third and Mountcastle struck out.

Snell has the lowest ERA in the majors at 2.65, but he didn’t register a clean inning until the fifth. Mountcastle’s home run came with one out in the sixth, when he reached down for a curveball and drove it 408 feet to left-center field.

The offense couldn't muster anything else over the last three innings. Old Mill High's Josh Hader, a former Orioles draft pick, gave up a single to Gunnar Henderson in the ninth before recording his 27th save. Jordan Westburg flied to the right field fence.

"I think it's middle of August, I think we're a little banged up," Hyde said. "We've faced six excellent starters. Tonight, I thought we were a little bit impatient with Snell early in the count.

"We drove three or four balls tonight that would have been out in a lot of places, so take that away as a positive. Westburg had three. But just didn't make him work enough."

* Triple-A Norfolk’s Cade Povich allowed nine runs and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. He walked two batters, struck out two and surrendered two home runs to Memphis first baseman Juan Yepez.

DL Hall retired all three batters he faced, recording one strikeout.

John Rhodes hit his 12^th home run for Double-A Bowie and Max Wagner hit his first. Jackson Holliday had a triple and RBI. Dylan Beavers singled and doubled.

Connor Gillispie allowed one run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings.

High-A Aberdeen’s Kyle Virbitsky allowed one run and struck out six batters in five innings.

Isaac De León hit his fifth home run and Jacob Teter hit his fourth.

Mac Horvath, a second-round draft pick this year out of the University of North Carolina, hit his first home run with Single-A Delmarva. Randy Florentino hit his third home run, and Stiven Acevedo had a double and triple.

First-round pick Enrique Bradfield Jr. stole his 11^th base.

Reliever Raúl Rangel allowed an unearned run and two hits over four innings.