The Orioles can still salvage a series split if they can win the finale.
The great and terrible thing about baseball is that there’s pretty much always another game coming the next day. This is great when things are going well and you get another chance to prove it. It’s terrible when things aren’t going well and there is no escape from that fact.
The Orioles, after blowing an 8-0 lead last night to ultimately lose 12-8 to the Rays, are more on the “terrible” end of the fact that there’s a game today. The feeling that they’ve got your number has to be strong. Honestly, giving up the 12 runs in the way they did was absurd. The fact that they got no further hits (or even walks) after their eight-run offensive outburst in the second inning was wild too.
Of course, that should have been enough, but once it started to look like maybe it wouldn’t be, they needed to be able to get things going again. They didn’t. That’s the 2025 Orioles for you. They do not have the “it” that regularly is displayed by good baseball teams or even less regularly is displayed by mediocre teams.
MLB players are a lot better than I would ever be at putting such disappointments behind them. Even as glum as I am about some of these individual players and about the team broadly, I’ve seen them show some resilience (if less than we’d all like) in many of their wins this year, especially as they’ve played better over the last three weeks or so.
One turns to the Earl Weaver stand-by: Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher. As the Orioles try to pick themselves back up and avoid a tailspin after a grim loss, they turn to Charlie Morton. This is not heartening when considering his season-long 6+ ERA. The trend line is better since the start of May, with a 3.41 ERA over his last nine games. If he can keep that up, the signing might not even seem like a complete bust by season’s end.
Orioles lineup
- Jackson Holliday – 2B
- Adley Rutschman – C
- Gunnar Henderson – SS
- Jordan Westburg – DH
- Ryan O’Hearn – 1B
- Ramón Laureano – RF
- Colton Cowser – LF
- Ramón Urías – 3B
- Cedric Mullins – CF
Morton’s recent good games were all caught by Maverick Handley, who is not here now that Gary Sánchez is healthy. He and Rutschman will have to come together to find some success for Morton tonight.
Rays lineup
- Josh Lowe – RF
- Brandon Lowe – 2B
- Yandy Díaz – DH
- Jonathan Aranda – 1B
- Junior Caminero – 3B
- Jake Mangum – LF
- José Caballero – SS
- Kameron Misner – CF
- Danny Jansen – C
The Rays starting pitcher is Drew Rasmussen. He is not left-handed, which is good, but in spite of this, Mullins and Urías are batting .000 through a combined 22 at-bats against Rasmussen. It would be nice to see those guys change that tonight.