The struggling Atlanta offense busted out for 12 hits, Reynaldo López dominated the O’s bats, and a late Kyle Stowers dinger wasn’t enough.
Even the Orioles, apparently, cannot win ’em all.
The Birds’ six-game win streak came to an end with a flat performance in the afternoon finale against the Braves, 6-3. New NL ERA leader Reynaldo López blanked the O’s offense for six scoreless innings, while a previously dormant Atlanta offense scored two runs within the first four pitches and piled on from there.
Before some fans even realized the Orioles had started playing, the O’s found themselves in a multi-run hole. The Braves ambushed Cole Irvin, as Michael Harris II singled on his first pitch, Ozzie Albies doubled on his second pitch, and Marcell Ozuna roped a double on the fourth pitch that plated both runners. Well, that escalated quickly. In a span of three batters and four pitches, the Braves matched their run total for the entire first two games of the series, taking a 2-0 lead.
Irvin recovered to retire the next three batters, stranding Ozuna, but the Braves never really stopped hitting him. They collected a single in the second and a hit and a walk in the third, with Irvin keeping the runners off the board, but things got wonky in the fourth. After Adam Duvall’s leadoff single, Irvin set down the next two, and appeared to have the final out when Jorge Mateo ranged up the middle to field a Harris grounder. But on Mateo’s toss to second, Gunnar Henderson missed the ball, allowing the inning to continue. Gunnar’s error proved costly when Albies doinked a bloop single to left, plating Duvall to make it 3-0. Albies is now 6-for-8 in his career against Irvin.
Irvin worked a perfect fifth, keeping his pitch count under control enough to start the sixth, but he didn’t finish it. Duvall again began the rally with a single, and two batters later Orlando Arcia roped an RBI double down the left-field line. With two outs and Irvin at 100 pitches, he was finished for the day. Irvin gave up four runs and nine hits in 5.2 innings, which wasn’t great, but he also had eight strikeouts, the most of his Orioles career.
He was no match for his counterpart, Reynaldo López, who tossed an absolute masterpiece for the Braves. The 30-year-old right-hander has been an out-of-nowhere success story for Atlanta after signing as a free agent this past winter, entering the day with an incredible 1.85 ERA in 11 starts. He didn’t have quite enough innings to qualify for the NL ERA leaderboard, and was four points shy of the lead. Well, today, he took care of both of those issues.
López, handed an immediate cushion, had no problem making the Braves’ lead stand up. He allowed a leadoff single in both the first and second innings but, in each case, mowed down the next three batters to keep the runner stranded.
After that, López stopped bothering with baserunners at all. Starting in the second inning, he retired 14 consecutive batters, fanning seven, before Adley Rutschman drew a two-out walk in the sixth. Undeterred, López retired Ryan O’Hearn on a liner to center, putting a bow on his magnificent outing. Six scoreless innings. two hits, eight strikeouts. Seriously, where did this guy come from? Before the Braves signed López, he was a journeyman reliever who had made only one MLB start in the previous two seasons, and now he’s back in the rotation throwing filth. Good find by the Atlanta front office.
And with that effort, López officially earned enough innings to qualify for the ERA leaderboard, and he jumped right to the top of the list with his now 1.69 mark, surpassing the Phillies’ Ranger Suárez (1.81). For the Orioles, there’s no rest for the weary: they’re going to face Suárez tomorrow.
Believe it or not, there was a fleeting glimpse of hope for the Orioles in this game. Against reliever Pierce Johnson — whose name describes something I would never, ever want to do — the Orioles put two runners aboard on a Jordan Westburg double and a Cedric Mullins walk, bringing up Kyle Stowers with two outs. This was the first start in five days for Stowers, who was slowed by a sore wrist, and he certainly made the most of it.
Stowers pounced on a first-pitch curveball and crushed a 439-foot Earl Weaver special into the center-field bleachers, his first major league home run since 2022. With one mighty swing, the O’s had carved their four-run deficit to just one, and the sizable Camden Yards crowd of 33,700 finally had something to go crazy for.
Unfortunately, the good vibes were short-lived. The O’s never closed the remaining gap, and the Braves added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth against Cionel Pérez, with a run-scoring wild pitch and a Matt Olson RBI double doing the damage. The Birds did manage to put two runners aboard against closer Raisel Iglesias in the ninth, bringing up — you guessed it — Stowers as the possible tying run. Another home run would have forever cemented Kyle’s place in Orioles lore. But alas, he flied out to shallow center, with Harris making a sliding catch, and pinch-hitter Ryan Mountcastle bounced to second to end the game. Goodbye, winning streak.
I was going to close this recap by writing, “Hey, at least the Yankees are losing,” but in the time it took me to type that out, they scored three runs in the eighth to take a 3-2 lead in Kansas City. Thanks for being useless, Royals. (UPDATE: The Royals rallied in the bottom of the ninth for a walkoff win, so, good job on not being so useless after all!)