BALTIMORE–What happened? The Orioles have fallen into an unfortunate habit of being held without a hit until late in games.
For the third time in five games, the Orioles were held hitless for at least six innings. On Wednesday night, it wasn’t until Colton Cowser led off the eighth with a single against Jacob deGrom that the Orioles managed a hit.
It was also the second time in five games the Orioles were held to one hit. After Cowser’s hit, Jacob Webb and Cole Winn retired the final six Orioles.
Before Cowser’s hit, the only ball close to being a hit was Jackson Holliday’s deep fly to left that was snared by Alejandro Osuna near the top of the wall.
By the time Cowser got his hit, the Orioles were far out of the game and lost, 7-0, to the Texas Rangers before 22,828 at Oriole Park.
deGrom (8-2) retired the first 18 Orioles before Holliday walked to start the seventh. After Jordan Westburg struck out and Gunnar Henderson flied to right, Ryan O’Hearn walked. Gary Sánchez grounded into a force play at second.
After Cowser singled to right to begin the eighth, Webb replaced deGrom and recorded three quick outs. Winn retired the side in the ninth, and the Orioles were shut out for the eighth time this season.
Cowser tries to forget about potential no-hitters when he’s at bat.
“Sure, it can be in the back of your mind but it’s just one of those things that you know people have 0-fors and a situation where it’s no-hitter then everyone is 0-for,” he said. “So no, nothing really changes, just trying to get a good pitch to hit and get something going.”
deGrom threw 89 pitches and struck out seven while issuing the two walks.
On Saturday, New York’s Clarke Schmidt held the Orioles hitless in a game the Orioles had just one hit in a 9-0 loss. On Tuesday night, Jacob Latz pitched six no-hit innings before the Orioles (34-46) scored five runs in the seventh in a 6-5 10-inning loss.
“I think tonight’s probably separate from the other ones. Tonight’s all Jacob deGrom,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said.
The Orioles have played 16 games in as many days and have a day off on Thursday. The heat has been brutal, and the Orioles’ offense has been subpar.
“I think there’s a little bit of fatigue right now,” Mansolino said. “This has been a grind. I think you can attribute a little bit of that to that. I think guys are trying to win. I think there’s a little bit of, not anxiety, but maybe a tick of pressing at times.
“I think we ran into some good pitching here recently. I think guys are a little bit tired. In this mix, too, we’ve scored some runs at certain points, too, so it hasn’t been every night. Just a tough night. But it’s Jacob deGrom. That’s what happened tonight.”
Oriole starter Brandon Young (0-2) allowed four runs in four-plus innings. Josh Jung drove in the first three on a run-scoring single in the second and a two-run home run in the fourth.
Corey Seager’s single scored Osuna in the fifth, which was charged to Young. Scott Blewett allowed two more runs in the fifth on a single by Marcus Semien and a sacrifice fly by Adolis Garcia,
Jonah Heim homered against Blewett in the sixth to give Texas a 7-0 lead.
What was it like facing deGrom? This was only the fourth time deGrom pitched against the Orioles. He faced them twice in 2015 while with the New York Mets, and they last saw him on April 5th, 2023.
“He’s been one of the best since he got in the league,” Jordan Westburg said. “It’s a really good fastball, it’s a really good slider, it’s a really good changeup, it’s plus command, putting it where he wants to and a mix of all three pitches at any time in any quadrant of the strike zone.
“I feel like he’s always in control. That’s what it feels like up there. That was my first time facing him. It’s a lot of fun saying I got to face Jacob deGrom, especially the way he looked today. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t do more offensively.”
Young was impressed, too.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “I’m in the dugout. I’m trying to focus on my job, but looking out there and seeing that guy, it’s pretty cool. My first start was Hunter Greene, second was Casey Mize, third is deGrom. That’s some pretty good pitchers to look at and learn from at the end of the day.”
How did Young pitch? Young missed a month with a right shoulder injury and was happy for a chance at his third major league start.
“Grateful to be out there, grateful to be healthy again, come back,” Young said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way I pictured it. Disappointing is all. Good to get back out there. It’s awesome to try to give my team a chance to win at the end of the day.”
What does it mean? Getting one-hit twice in five games is embarrassing, and the Orioles’ hitters should be too good to allow that to happen.
What’s the stat of the day? The Orioles were no-hit through six innings for the second consecutive game for the second time in franchise history. The last was September 11th-12th, 1964.
What’s the word? “When he’s on, that might be the toughest at-bat in the big leagues right now. You saw it tonight.”–Mansolino on deGrom
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Jorge Mateo hit a two-run home run in his first rehab game as Triple-A Norfolk beat Gwinnett, 5-2.
Nestor German allowed two runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings in Double-A Chesapeake’s 4-2 loss to Altoona.
First baseman Elis Cuevas hit a two-run home run in Single-A Delmarva’s 5-4 loss to Carolina.
High-A Aberdeen’s game at Hub City was postponed by rain.
What’s next? The Orioles play the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night in the first of a three-game series at Camden Yards. Tomoyuki Sugano (5-4, 3.55) will start for the Orioles. The Rays have yet to announce a starter. Game time is 7:05 p.m., and it will be shown exclusively on AppleTV+.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com