Now we just need the Orioles to not go right back into losing, like they’ve done so many times this season.
Hello, friends.
The Orioles did it! They ended the stupid losing streak that got Brandon Hyde fired as manager and then added a few more ugly losses just for good measure. The O’s were in danger on Wednesday afternoon of ending up with the longest losing streak in all of MLB so far this year, longer even than the 8-40 Rockies have done (eight in a row, twice). They trailed in the late innings, they blew leads twice in extra innings, and they still got the win. Check out Andrea SK’s recap for more of the lovely totals.
Along with the win comes a variety of “first time since” factoids that go a long way to explaining why the Orioles have done as badly as they’ve done since around the All-Star Break last year. If I heard Kevin Brown right on the MASN broadcast yesterday, the win was the first in which the Orioles had trailed after seven or eight innings since last August. Adley Rutschman’s three-run home run in the 11th that made the game comfortable was his first home run as a righty batter since July.
It’s bad that these things had been true until yesterday snapped those streak. So much is bad! It’s bad that the Orioles finally had Félix Bautista pitch multiple days in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday and he wasn’t good in either of those outings. It’s bad that Ryan Mountcastle is below a .600 OPS, that Bryan Baker might be the most trustworthy reliever currently in the bullpen, that Heston Kjerstad blew three scoring opportunities yesterday before finally cashing one in, and so much more.
You don’t get to be 16-32 without a whole lot going wrong. It’s been a whole team effort. Starting rotation, bullpen, offense, defense. At times even the good hitters have contributed with long cold streaks. The only guy who looks like he has belonged as an MLB-level starter this year is Tomoyuki Sugano, who went six innings with two runs allowed yesterday. Injuries have thrown some wrenches and the substitutes are not up to the task of filling in.
Now that the 2025 season is pretty much toast for reaching what hopes anyone had for the team in the preseason, it’s easy to feel like nothing matters on a game-to-game basis. The team sucks. Who cares? I feel that way myself sometimes. Except, as numbing as it’s been, all of this does still matter.
It is going to be important for having hope for next year to have the team demonstrate that an offensive core built around Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jackson Holliday can be competitive. Having starting pitchers who will be around for 2026 start get back to a place of performance (Dean Kremer) or health (Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish) to where they look like they belong.
Any inexperienced pitcher who’s been acquired by Mike Elias showing that, yes, Elias can find useful pitcher without having spent high draft pick capital on them would also help. Guys in this group include Cade Povich, Chayce McDermott, and Brandon Young. Relievers like Bautista and Yennier Cano settling down would also be nice.
And not that it’s any fun to spend two months looking at it all in these terms, but the players who are almost certain to be trade bait performing well between now and then to create more demand for their services and increase the return the Orioles could get in July is important too. None of that was happening. It’s why Hyde is gone and everything is gloomy. I know better than to hope for it happening now, but all of this is what needs to happen and every game still matters for all of this.
Having pulled off the win yesterday, the Orioles are on to Boston today to start a four-game set against the Red Sox. The coming series is set to have the Orioles face zero lefty starting pitchers, so that’s something. It will also have Charlie Morton pitching. He’s been better lately! For tonight, it’s Povich, with the Red Sox sending Lucas Giolito to the mound. Giolito has been bad through four starts. It’s scheduled to get under way at 6:45 Eastern.
Orioles stuff you may have missed
Three years after Adley Rutschman’s callup, he’s regressed. So have the Orioles. (The Baltimore Banner)
Yesterday was three years since Rutschmas, if you can believe it. The excitement from that day, when my dad and I excitedly texted one another that morning and eventually bought tickets to go see the game, feels so far away now.
Kittredge returns, plus an update on Laureano (MASN)
Secondary in the middle of all of the rollercoaster stuff going on yesterday was the season debut of reliever Andrew Kittredge, who was activated from the injured list and pitched a scoreless inning. If he can be a solid guy, that’ll help.
The Orioles are nowhere (Defector)
One sign of how bad the Orioles are is when places who would usually have nothing to say about them square up to take some licks.
41 candidates to be the next manager of the Orioles (The Dishwasher)
It’s a wide net here, including an ex-Orioles manager (Buck Showalter), very recent ex-Orioles (Kyle Gibson), more distant ex-Orioles (Ryan Flaherty), and a whole lot of guys who were never Orioles in any capacity.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
The most recent Orioles victory on this day happened three years ago. The 2022 team was able to win for the first time in the Adley Rutschman era despite starting pitcher Spenser Watkins rocking the no-outer. Austin Hays tied the game with a two-run ninth inning double and eventually in the 11th, Rougned Odor hit a walkoff fielder’s choice that scored Rutschman, giving the O’s a 7-6 win over the Rays.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2019-21 infielder Rio Ruiz, 2010-11 pitcher Rick van den Hurk, 2001 pitcher John Bale, and 1987-91 pitcher José Mesa. Today is Mesa’s 59th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: electromagnet inventor William Sturgeon (1783), Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle (1853), baseball Hall of Famer Al Simmons (1902), actor Laurence Olivier (1907), surgery namesake Tommy John (1943), actress Maggie Q (1979), and tennis star Novak Djokovic (1987).
On this day in history…
In 1453, a rebellious force led by Richard, Duke of York, defeated men loyal to King Henry VI in battle at St. Albans, leading to Henry’s capture. This is recognized now as the first battle of the Wars of the Roses.
In 1849, Abraham Lincoln received a patent for an invention he had come up with to lift boats. He is the only president to hold a patent.
In 2002, one of the four KKK members who bombed a Birmingham, Alabama church in 1963, killing four Black girls, was convicted for the murders. This was the third and last trial for these cases; the fourth man died in 1994 without ever facing justice.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 22. Have a safe Thursday.