April 29 was a day that diehard Orioles fans will soon want to forget. Every team, from Single-A short season up to the Baltimore Orioles themselves, took a loss. To make matters worse, every team except Chesapeake boasts a losing record, and Chesapeake sits at .500 at 11-11. Despite the O’s system going 0-5 in a very rough season, there were small victories in the sea of big losses:
Aberdeen IronBirds (Lost 16-7): The Orioles’ first round draft pick of 2024 (22nd overall) Vance Honeycutt had a great day at the plate, going 3-5 with a double, 1 RBI and 1 run scored. 2nd baseman Aron Estrada continued his very good season with an identical stat line. Estrada is batting .313 with 10 stolen bases this season.
Delmarva Shorebirds (Lost 6-4): The closest game in the 0-5 day, the Shorebirds had a rough start from pitcher Chase Alsup, but relief pitcher Eccel Correa delivered 4.1 Innings with 0 ER, 1 hit and 3 walks. It was Correa’s second consecutive outing without giving up an earned run, his last one coming April 23 when he went 5 full innings and gave up only 3 hits.
Chesapeake Baysox (Lost 7-4): Baysox pitcher Preston Johnson came on in relief in the 6th inning and pitched all the way until the end, delivering 2.1 innings of perfect baseball, striking out 2. Johnson was the 197th overall pick in 2022 from Mississippi State, and has had a much-improved year in AA ball boasting a 1-1 record, 3.46 ERA and 13 innings pitched.
Norfolk Tides (Lost 1-6): Fan favorite Trevor Rogers got lit up for 4 runs in 1.2 innings in this game to take his first loss of the season, but Yaramil Hiraldo continued an impressive season in relief, pitching 3 innings and surrendering only 3 hits and no walks while striking out 3. Hiraldo was signed from free agency back in October of 2024 after playing in the Dominican Winter League. Hiraldo carries an almost perfect ERA of .064, pitching 14 innings in April and giving up only 1 run while striking out 15.
Baltimore Orioles (Lost 15-3): This is the hardest game to find anything positive about. Kyle Gibson, a veteran pitcher who most hoped would bring at least some stability to an ailing rotation, was lit up for 9 runs in 3.1 innings and actually gave up 3 consecutive solo shots to begin the game. Maverick Handley made his MLB debut but struck out in both of his at-bats. Jorge Mateo did finally register a hit, but easily the most surprising stat line in this game was Charlie Morton’s 2.1 innings with 1 run, 0 earned runs and 2 strikeouts. Morton’s relief outing lowered his ERA below 10 for the first time this season, giving the Orioles a glimmer of hope that he could be used out of the bullpen in future games.
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