BALTIMORE–What happened? A day after the Orioles’ entertaining slugfest comeback, they suffered another potential injury to a key starting pitcher. They not only lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, but they also got only one inning out of the starter, Zach Eflin, who left because of lower back tightness.
Eflin allowed four runs on five hits and made a throwing error in his inning before he was replaced by Scott Blewett.
Unlike Friday night when the Orioles spotted the Rays a 6-0 lead before outscoring them, 22-2, there was no comeback on Saturday in the 11-3 defeat before 30,491 at Camden Yards.
Eflin (6-5), who’s dropped three straight, began by giving up a double to Josh Lowe, who scored on Brandon Lowe’s single. Lowe moved to second when Cedric Mullins’ throw from center wasn’t cut off.
Jonathan Aranda hit a two-run home run, his second in as many games, a 467-foot shot that reached Eutaw Street.
Chandler Simpson’s fielder’s choice scored Junior Caminero with the fourth run. Eflin’s wild throw allowed Simpson to reach third.
It was the shortest start of Eflin’s career and left the Orioles scrambling for innings.
Eflin missed more than a month earlier this season with a strained right lat. That occurred on April 7th. This was different.
“It kind of flared up in the bullpen prior to the game,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “Wasn’t too bad, felt like he could pitch through it. He’s had some lower back stuff in the previous part of his career, so was experienced with it. Went out there, you saw [pitching coach Drew French] kind of go out there in the first, we were hyper-aware of.
“After the first, he wanted to keep going. It was our decision to pull him out.”
Mansolino isn’t certain if Eflin will go on the 15-day injured list.
“That’s hard to answer that right now,” he said. “I’m sure the doctors will check it out, I would imagine there will be some imaging of some sort and then they’ll make the decision on that going forward.”
Catcher Chadwick Tromp, who hit his first major league home run since June 9th, 2021, said it was a difficult game with Eflin hurting.
“It’s a tough one because he’s obviously trying to compete but as a catcher, sometimes you kind of feel when something’s not right,” he said. “But I mean, at the end of the day, it’s, you know, it’s just his call.”
Blewett gave up four runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Walls and a three-run homer by Yandy Diaz to give the Rays an 8-0 lead.
“It’s my role. I’ve got to go out and eat innings when they ask me to,” Blewett said. “I thought I did a good job out of the gate kind of doing that, trying to keep the team in it. By the time I came in, it was 4-0 and of course this offense has a chance to come back in a game like that.
“As it went on, they battled me, they battled me in that last inning I was out there, I believe it was the fourth. It kind of all comes down to one pitch. I think the pitch to Simpson was borderline, and after that, Lowe battled me for quite some pitches, and by that time, the stuff wasn’t as sharp. I left some pitches over the plate and they put some good at-bats against me.”
Blewett was the opener on June 15th, but it’s different coming into a game in the second.
“I’ve kind of been in every role, and I’m prepared for all of them,” he said. “I’ve got to do a better job in that sense. That’s kind of the bottom line.”
Kade Strowd gave up a run on Walls’ sacrifice fly before Tromp’s homer off Zack Littell (7-7), who allowed the run on three hits in seven innings.
Gregory Soto pitched a scoreless sixth. Matt Thaiss’ two-run triple against Andrew Kittredge in the seventh made it 11-1.
Infielder Luis Vázquez pitched for the second time in a week, and threw two scoreless innings, allowing three hits.
Ramón Laureano hit a two-run home run, his 10th, against Joe Rock, who was making his major league debut, in the ninth.
What starting options do the Orioles have? If Eflin goes on the injured list, the Orioles can replace him with Cade Povich, who threw 4 1/3 innings in a rehab start on Thursday. Povich is on the 15-day injured list with left hip inflammation.
They also could use Brandon Young, who allowed four runs on five hits in his third major league start on Wednesday night.
Chayce McDermott has an 8.22 ERA in two starts for the Orioles this season and a 7.84 ERA in eight starts for Triple-A Norfolk.
What kind of shape is the bullpen in? With Blewett working 2 2/3 innings and Kade Strowd pitching 3 1/3 over the past two games, they should be the only Oriole relievers unavailable on Sunday if the Orioles don’t make another move for a pitcher.
“I mean you just go into survival mode,” Mansolino said. “We are trying to add up innings and figure out how we’re going to get through this thing and not be the front page of another story, which isn’t that fun.”
Keegan Akin, Bryan Baker, Félix Bautista and Seranthony Domínguez should be well rested.
“They got the day, so you feel pretty good about the bullpen going into tomorrow despite what we just went through,” Mansolino said. “But that’s the decision that you’re making when you put in a position player in the eighth … Will there be a roster move? I don’t know. We’ll talk it through in a second and see what it looks like.”
“So we’ll sit down and figure this out. By throwing Vázquez for the last two innings it gave us a chance for tomorrow,” Mansolino said.
The Orioles have one more home game before a six-game road trip to Texas and Atlanta.
“It’s been a long two weeks of baseball here,” Tromp said. “Missing [Eflin] is going to be tough, but it’s always tough covering the innings out of the bullpen.”
What does it mean? The Orioles lost by eight runs after winning by 14 on Friday. Perhaps there’ll be a lower-scoring game on Sunday.
What’s the stat of the day? The Orioles have made a least one transaction for the past eight days.
What’s the word? “I think you just feel for the players in those situations. And then you have to send a couple high-leverage guys out there in the sixth and seventh that aren’t used to pitching in a touchdown-type game.”-Mansolino on navigating the bullpen for eight innings.
What’s next? Dean Kremer (6-7, 4.60) will face Taj Bradley (5-5, 4.57) on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com