A frustrating loss, the Holliday emergence, and signing a catcher.
Good morning Birdland,
The Orioles pace of winning has slowed over the last week. Across their last nine games they are 4-5. That included a frustrating 6-5 loss to the Rangers on Tuesday night.
Despite a largely impotent offensive night, the O’s managed to get the lead late in the evening on back-to-back-to-back home runs. But Gregory Soto immediately coughed that advantage up, and then the lineup did nothing in extras. Add in a dash of bad defense throughout the game, and you have one of the more annoying losses of the season.
The game was something of an explainer for why the Orioles are in the position that they are. Some of their big names did not play, either because of injury or simply a night off. If the offense wasn’t homering, they weren’t scoring. And the defense, which has been a concern all season, reared its head all game.
With only a month until the trade deadline, the O’s room for error is quickly evaporating. Every loss pushes them closer to selling, which means our chances to watch guys like Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins in black and orange is running short. That’s a bummer.
Maybe a miracle is still on the horizon. A win tonight would give them the series over the Rangers, and then they finally get a day off for the first time since June 9. That could be a boost given all of the hot days they have played through recently.
Links
Young will pitch for Orioles on Wednesday, Westburg improving, Sugano pushed back | Baltimore Baseball
Tony Mansolino has been pretty considerate to when his players need rest. We have witnessed that a lot in the middle of this 16-day run without a day off. It’s a tough balance between putting the best team on the field, when they really need to win, and ensuring the players don’t break down any more this year.
Leftovers for breakfast | Roch Kubatko
There will be positives to come out of this season, and right at the top of the list might be Jackson Holliday’s emergence. The Orioles have not had a regular, true leadoff hitter since Brian Roberts. If Holliday can be that, it solves a portion of their lineup for years to come.
Killing AC on idle days at Camden Yards can mean payday for state, relief for energy grid | The Baltimore Banner
This is not really a baseball story, but just sort of interesting. And it makes sense for the Orioles to use less energy when there aren’t games going on. As the article explains, fans shouldn’t notice since it’s not something they will do when people are in the stands and concourses.
Which Top 100 prospect will debut next? | MLB.com
Samuel Basallo is the top pick in this thought project from the MLB Pipeline crew. The logic is sound. But I would assume he stays in Norfolk until September is much closer. The Orioles aren’t making a serious playoff push, so there is not a huge incentive to get him up in here sooner, and he does reportedly still have some defensive work to do.
Orioles Sign Jacob Stallings To Minor League Deal | MLB Trade Rumors
More catching depth! Stallings has spent time in the majors across each of the last 10 seasons, including 28 games with the Rockies this year. He was actually quite good for the Rockies in 2024 (.810 OPS over 281 plate appearances), but slumped to a .396 OPS this year.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Luke Scott turns 47 today. Acquired from the Astros in the Miguel Tejada trade, he slugged 84 home runs for the Orioles between 2008 and 2011.
- Ryan Kohlmeier is 48 years old. He appeared in 59 games for the Orioles, mostly out of the bullpen, between 2000 and ‘01.
- The late Dick Drago (b. 1945, d. 2023) was born on this day. His Orioles stint lasted just one season in 1977. That year he had a 3.63 ERA over 39.2 innings.
This day in O’s history
1961 – The Orioles and Angels combine to use 16 pitchers (8 each), a new MLB record. The Orioles go home winners when Ron Hansen hits a 14th inning homer.
1964 – The Orioles wrap up a sweep of the Yankees and take over first place in the AL.
1970 – The Orioles storm back from a seven-run deficit, tying things up in the ninth inning on a Merv Rettenmund home run. They go on to win, scoring six runs in the 14th inning.
2001 – Tony Batista is claimed off waivers by the Orioles. He had been hitting .207/.251/.399 with the Blue Jays when he was DFA’d.