Friday night’s 22 run and 21 hit outburst became just a memory with Saturday afternoon’s 11-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays (47-36). The Baltimore Orioles did save some face and made the game somewhat respectable with Ramon Laureano‘s two run homerun to left field in the ninth inning. The Birds managed to record just one-third (7) of Friday’s hits on Saturday.
Starter Zach Eflin (6-5) lasted just 1.0 inning and left the game with lower back discomfort. He allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, including a 465 ft. homerun by Tampa’s Jonathan Aranda that landed past Boog’s Bar-B-Q on Eutaw Street. Eflin was tagged with the loss in the end. Post-game, Interim Manager Tony Monsolino revealed that Eflin experienced the issue during his bullpen warm-up, which begs the question, why did they allow him to start?
467 FEET
Jonathan Aranda sends this one to the warehouse! pic.twitter.com/qApn5WfiOg
— MLB (@MLB) June 28, 2025
The hole Eflin put the team in meant that the bullpen was forced to cover eight innings. Four relievers covered 6.0 innings and infielder Luis Vasquez pitched the eighth and ninth. Mansolino said he was “thankful” for what Vasquez did and that his “high leverage relievers aren’t used to pitching in a touchdown game”.
Scott Blewett surrendered 4 runs over 2.2 innings, Kade Strowd gave up 1 in 1.1 innings and Andrew Kittredge gave up 2 in 1.0 inning.
Offensively, catcher Chadwick Tromp hit his first homerun as a Baltimore Oriole among his two hits on the day.
Jackson Holliday produced a three-hit day but did get thrown out at second base on a very close play in the third inning.
Coby Mayo recorded a hit after coming in as a defensive replacement for Ryan O’Hearn in the seventh inning.
When asked about the different Baltimore offenses over the past two games, Mansolinosaid he was going to “toss this one aside”. His blasé attitude is really starting to wear thin and one has to wonder if he really has a finger on the pulse of this team. Hello Tony, your team is currently 12 games below .500 and 7.0 games back in the wild card race! How long will you continue to chalk this up to it’s just baseball?
2025 Record: 35-47
Next Game: Sun. 6/29 @ 1:35 pm vs. Tampa Bay Rays