Bats can’t reward strong Povich start as O’s fall 5-1 to Red Sox

Henderson home provide Orioles’ only run, as lineup wastes career-best start from rookie left-hander

One day after scoring 10 runs and still losing, the Orioles bats let them down in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Red Sox.

The Orioles struggled to even put balls in play against Boston start Brayan Bello, as the 25-year-old held them hitless through the 5.2 innings of the game. The O’s particularly struggled to pick up Bello’s changeup, as they started the game 0-12 against the offspeed offering only managing to put it in play twice.

Gunnar Henderson finally broke up the no-hitter with two outs in the 6th in the most Gunnar way possible. With the Orioles trailing 1-0, the All-Star SS jumped on a first-pitch change, blasting it over the right-center wall for his 32nd HR of the season.

While the bats were discouraging, the bullpen was also downright bad. After Gunnar tied things at one, Yennier Cano came in with one on and one out in the 7th looking to preserve the tie. Instead, Cano gave up a double to the first batter he faced to give Boston two runners in scoring position. Two batters later, Jarren Duran lined a 2-2, two-out fastball into CF to score two runs and give Boston a 3-1 lead.

After Cano gave up the lead, the offense made their only attempt at rallying and getting Baltimore back in the game. Jackson Holliday led off the bottom of the 7th with a single on a bouncing ball into right field for the O’s third hit of the game. Two batters later, Ramón Urías reached on an infield single down the third base line to move Holliday into scoring position.

Brandon Hyde then called on the banged-up Adley Rutschman to try and provide some heroics. Rutschman was only able to send the ball to the warning track in right field, as Holliday tagged up and moved to third. Colton Cowser then walked to load the bases, and with two outs, the Orioles’ hopes fell on the shoulders of Anthony Santander. Tony Taters launched a towering foul ball down the right-field line, but couldn’t come up with the big hit—ending the inning on a weak grounder to second.

Burch Smith took over for Cano in the 8th and couldn’t do his part to keep the Orioles in the game. After Smith gave up a leadoff single to Tyler O’Neill, cleanup hitter Rafael Devers took a fastball above the zone and deposited it into the right-center bleachers. The two-run homer gave the Red Sox a 5-1 lead and seemingly ended any possibility of an Orioles comeback.

In the bottom of the 8th, Gunnar Henderson started the inning with an infield single, only for the next three batters to pop out, fly out and ground out. The only offensive sign of life for the offense in the 9th came from pinch hitter Eloy Jiménez. The powerful righty destroyed a Kenley Jansen cutter, sending a 104mph laser to center, only for Duran to rob the HR.

The offensive woes wasted a great outing from starter Cade Povich. The rookie was brought up Saturday to give previously scheduled starter Albert Suárez an extra day of rest. Given his previous struggles at the big league level, to say little was expected of the lefty was perhaps an understatement. And yet, Povich defied all expectations by delivering the best start of his young MLB career.

The key to Povich’s success was an aggressive approach that saw the southpaw consistently attack the strike zone. He started his outing by getting Duran to fly out on a first-pitch fastball. He finished the 1st with a K of O’Neill, burying a sweeper in on his hand, and cruised through the opening frame on eight pitches.

The efficient and effective Povich continued his assault on the Boston lineup in the second. Despite giving up a two-out single to Romy Gonzalez, the Orioles starter put up another scoreless inning on just nine pitches. The Orioles starter worked another 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, finishing off the inning with a high fastball blown by Duran for another strikeout.

Povich powered through another inning in the 4th, getting Rob Refsnyder to fly out on the first pitch, before getting O’Neill to fly out to the warning track in center and Rafael Devers to roll over a curveball to third. The way the lefty consistently got ahead of batters defined his early dominance, as he threw a first-pitch strike to 11 of the first 13 batters he faced.

The rookie only grew in the game more as the evening wore on. He started the 5th by punching out Danny Jansen on a perfectly executed curveball at the knees. Povich followed that up by striking out Gonzalez looking, painting the bottom of the zone with a fastball at the knees. Triston Casas would break up a streak of nine straight batters retired with a single to center, but it didn’t phase Povich. He’d finish out another scoreless inning by getting Connor Wong to groundout to Gunnar Henderson at short.

Povich would pitch into the 6th inning for only the second time in his career, and it was in that 6th that he ran into his first real bit of trouble. Ceddanne Rafaela became the first leadoff batter to reach base when he lined a single up the middle. Two batters later, Refsnyder rocketed a single past Henderson at short to move Rafaela into scoring position. O’Neill then delivered the game’s first run, lining a changeup into center to score Rafaela.

That could have spelled the beginning of the end for Povich, but he battled back in the 6th. He got the All-Star Devers to fly out to left on a high fastball and then got Jansen to pop out to shallow center to end the inning.

The rookie would come back out for the 7th for the first time in his career. He started the inning by punching out Gonzalez for the second time. However, after Casas singled to center on a sweeper away, Brandon Hyde decided to turn to the bullpen. Because Cano allowed Casas to come home, Povich’s final doesn’t do his performance justice—finishing with 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB and 6 K.

**

The loss means the Yankees maintain their one-game lead atop the AL East. Suárez will get the ball tomorrow looking to salvage a series split. If the O’s can earn the split, they’ll also clinch the season series vs. Boston with one more series in Fenway at the beginning of September.