BALTIMORE–What happened? Of the Orioles’ final 10 games in this most disappointing season, seven are against the New York Yankees, who trail the Toronto Blue Jays by three games in the American League East.
The Orioles would love to spoil the Yankees’ chances of catching the Blue Jays, but they’re going to have to play better than they did on Thursday night.
In front of a large national television audience on FOX, the Orioles had just three hits and struck out 15 times in their 7-0 loss to the Yankees before 25,253 at Camden Yards. It was their 15th shutout loss of the season.
Oriole starter Cade Povich (3-8) gave up three runs on five hits in five innings. Chayce McDermott, who gave up four runs while recording only two outs on Tuesday night in Chicago, allowed four more and got only one out in the seventh inning. McDermott’s ERA is 15.58.
The Orioles (72-81), who were coming off a three-game sweep against the White Sox, can no longer have a winning season, and would have to win their final nine games to register a .500 record.
New York starter Max Fried (18-5) threw seven dominant innings, allowing just three hits and a walk and equaled his career high by striking out 13.
Coby Mayo singled in the second and Ryan Mountcastle, who was leading off for the first time in his career, singled in the sixth. Gunnar Henderson sent Mountcastle to third with a single, but Tyler O’Neill struck out on a high fastball. Henderson was the only Oriole who didn’t strike out against Fried.
“He’s one of the best guys in the game,” O’Neill said. “He’s got eight or so pitches and he’s able to locate them, good movement, deceptive windup, so it’s always a battle facing him.
“It’s tough when you’ve got eight-plus pitches to cover, man. He did a good job of locating. Got some big chases from us. We just weren’t able to execute at the end of his string there.”
Paul Blackburn pitched two hitless innings as the Orioles were shut out for the 15th time this season.
Povich allowed a two-run double to Amed Rosario in the first and a run-scoring single to Austin Wells in the fifth.
“They have a lot of really good hitters top to bottom, a lot of big names you might say,” Povich said. “So, it’s cool to face a lot of those guys. Some guys I watched when I was younger that were on teams that I grew up watching. So, yeah, good lineup. It is really good to kind of see where I was at so far against them and come in prepared and just attack them.”
McDermott walked three and gave up an RBI single to Paul Goldschmidt, a sacrifice fly to Aaron Judge and a two-run double to Giancarlo Stanton.
The Orioles could add another bullpen arm for Friday night and McDermott could be optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
How good was Fried? It was one of Fried’s best starts of the season, and interim manager Tony Mansolino marveled at his mastery.
“I would probably say that tonight is all about Max Fried,” Mansolino said. “That was about as good as you’re gonna see him, and I’ll be curious to see what kind of the comments come from over there, how good he really was.
“But it’s not so much the swing-and-miss but just the overall underperformance from some of the key guys that we’re gonna need to turn this thing around, similar to the way Toronto kind of turned around their key guys.
“We need our key guys to turn it around this winter and into next year. And there’s probably a variety of things that need to get turned around with some of those guys. And they will. I’ve got faith in those guys, I’ve got faith in the staff. That’s really going to be the No. 1 thing for us this winter is in-house getting these guys moving on the right track.”
How does Povich evaluate his season? Povich has one more start remaining.
“I think I’ve learned a lot, similar to last year,” Povich said. “Unfortunately, I think, if you take away a couple of games, I think some of the numbers start to look a little better. But I think the biggest thing I’ve learned and seen is, set aside those games, it’s more so the big innings that I’ve had throughout the year.
“Whether it be just finishing guys earlier, ending at-bats earlier, kind of compressing those bigger innings, I think, allows numbers to be better, allows you to go deeper into games, allows pitch count to go down, allows stress to be taken off of the bullpen, allows the bats to kind of come in and find a groove.
“All things that I think I’ve learned and over the past seven or so games have really tried to make a focus on. Not necessarily worrying about results but just trying to get guys in and out as soon as possible and the majority of the time when you do that, good results follow.”
What does it mean? The Orioles don’t have a pitcher as good as Fried, and their lineup was simply overmatched.
What’s the stat of the day? Relief pitcher José Castillo was the 69th player used by the Orioles this season, extending their team record. The Miami Marlins used a major league record 70 players last season.
Castillo pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings, giving up a hit and striking out three.
What’s the word? “We love veteran players, yes. We love our young kids a lot, but we also know that veteran hitters are different guys.”-Mansolino on whether Orioles need an established hitter in the lineup.
What’s next? Trevor Rogers (8-2, 1.43) will face Will Warren (8-7, 4.44) on Friday night at 7:05.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com