The Orioles win streak ends at three as the bullpen fell apart and the offense left way too many runners on base.
The Orioles’ modest win streak is over. A bad night for the bullpen and a lack of finishing from the offense added up to a 7-4 loss to the Cardinals at a soggy Camden Yards on Tuesday night.
It was an up-and-down type of game, or rather a down-then-up-and-finally-down game from the Orioles perspective. They got behind early, stormed back to take the lead in the middle innings, and then watched their bullpen piddle that lead away while the offense wasted opportunities throughout the evening.
Tomoyuki Sugano made the start on the mound. He has been, without a doubt, the team’s best starter through the season’s first two months. And despite early struggles in this one, he once again provided the O’s with one of his trademark solid outings.
A trio of first inning singles in the top of the first inning gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead out of the gate. It could have been worse. They loaded the bases with just one out, but Sugano worked out of the jam by getting a pop out and a groundout to limit the damage.
Lars Nootbaar added two runs to the lead with his eighth home run of the year. That scored Jordan Walker, who had led off the frame with a single and made it 3-0.
Sugano settled in from there. From the third inning through the fifth, he retired nine of the 10 batters that he faced. He returned for the sixth inning, gave up a double and recorded an out before he was lifted with a 4-3 lead and a chance to earn a win.
That lead was built up by some good work by the O’s offense in the middle innings.
In the fourth inning they got on the board when Heston Kjerstad grounded into a fielders choice with the bases loaded. Ryan Mountcastle came in to score and made it 3-1 at the time.
Ryan O’Hearn provided the power in the fifth inning. Ramón Urías had singled and Gunnar Henderson walked ahead of O’Hearn before he muscled a first-pitch fastball into center field for a three-run bomb.
But those moments of production were the outlier for this game. In most instances with runners on base, the Orioles offense fell short.
They wasted a lead-off double from Mountcastle in the second inning, leaving him stranded right at second base.
While they did score that one run in the fourth inning, it was disappointing given the context. They had loaded the bases with no outs. But Jorge Mateo struck out, Kjerstad could only ground into the RBI fielders choice, and the debutant Chadwick Tromp flew out to end the threat with a whimper.
The sixth inning saw Mateo lead off with a single and steal two bases to get all the way to third by himself. Strikeouts by Kjerstad and Tromp, followed by a Jackson Holliday groundout left him on the pond.
In total the Orioles went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position. That is not good!
Despite that, the Orioles still held a lead going into the seventh inning. All the bullpen had to do was hold out. Welp…
To the credit of Gregory Soto, he was very good. He came in for Sugano to finish the sixth inning, and that is exactly what he did. The hard-throwing lefty struck out Nolan Gorman and Walker to end the inning.
Keegan Akin came on for the seventh, but would not make it through. He issued a walk to Victor Scott II, and gave up a pair of singles to Nootbar and Masyn Winn to cough up the lead. The only out he recorded came when Nootbaar tried to stretch his single to left field into a double. A nice relay from Dylan Carlson to Gunnar Henderson to Holliday got Akin a much needed out. Yennier Cano was called on for the final two outs of the inning, and he got the job done with a strikeout and a pop out.
The eighth inning was handed to Bryan Baker, which would turn out to be a mistake. He gave up a solo homer to Nolan Arenado and then back-to-back triples to Gorman and Walker to make it 6-4. In Baker’s defense, the two triples would have probably been caught by capable outfielders, but instead he had Kjerstad and Mateo, respectively, patrolling the grass. But that does not excuse the fact that both balls were hit 100+ mph and went to the warning track.
Yaramil Hiraldo came on to make his MLB debut and try to help out Baker. He gave up a single to Winn for another run and then struck out Iván Herrera to open up his major league account. Hiraldo stayed off for the ninth inning and worked a 1-2-3 frame. All in all, not a terrible debut, but a tough way to enter with runners on base.
The O’s were shut down by Ryan Helsley in the ninth. All they managed was a Urías single.
They didn’t use Adley Rutschman or Cedric Mullins to pinch hit for Tromp, a reflection of how banged up the pair must be. The team needs to make a decision on Rutschman. If he can’t play, he needs to go on the IL. Carrying three catchers, two of which are not MLB-caliber hitters, is not sustainable. Tromp should not have been hitting in the ninth inning.
The Orioles do still have a shot to win this series. They wrap up the three-game set with the Cardinals on Wednesday. Cade Povich (1-3, 4.86) will head to the mound to face Miles Mikolas (4-2, 3.51 ERA). First pitch of the rubber game is 6:35.