WASHINGTON- What happened? For the first time since July 6th, 2022, the Orioles are five games under .500. Their 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals before 22,246 at Nationals Park was their third loss in four games in one-run contests.
Gregory Soto (0-1) allowed the crucial run in the eighth when Alex Call led off with a single and James Wood walked. Nathaniel Lowe grounded to Ramón Urias at third, whose throw to Jackson Holliday was in time for the force out at second base, but Holliday’s relay to first was not. Luis Garcia followed with a sacrifice fly to center that eventually won the game.
“You always think you have a chance,” Holliday said. “Sometimes, it’s hard to run across the base and make a good throw. I would like to put a little bit more on it. It’s a tough play, but it was bang-bang. So I’ll keep working on it and get it next time.”
Gunnar Henderson singled to lead off the ninth against Kyle Finnegan. Adley Rutschman lined out to Trey Lipscomb, who had been inserted at shortstop for the ninth. Ryan Mountcastle singled. Tyler O’Neill struck out and Heston Kjerstad popped to third to end the game.
Finnegan earned his ninth save.
There were some positive signs. After Tomoyuki Sugano allowed three runs in the first on a leadoff homer by James Wood and a two-run shot by Josh Bell, he allowed just two singles in the next six innings.
Sugano struck out one, and didn’t walk a batter for the second straight start. He’s gone 18 1/3 innings without a walk.
The Orioles took competitive at-bats, though they left 12 on base and were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the first seven innings.
“I’m really happy with how we played,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We play baseball like that, we’re going to win a lot of games. I thought we competed really well offensively.
“We hit a lot of balls hard that we weren’t rewarded for. I thought we took really good at-bats for the most part. We did a nice job running the bases. To be able to give up three runs the way we did early and scratch back to tie it, I’m proud of that.”
In the seventh, trailing 3-1, Cedric Mullins singled against José Ferrer, and with one out Rutschman walked, and Mountcastle was hit by a pitch. O’Neill drove Mullins in with a sacrifice fly to right against Jorge López and Kjerstad flied to center.
Jordan Westburg, who had been 3-for-32, tripled to start the eighth and scored on Urías’ sacrifice fly against López to tie it at 3-3.
At 9-14, the Orioles have some work to do to get back to .500. They haven’t been there since they were 3-3 on April 2nd.
“Obviously, we have a very talented team, and we’ve had a very talented team for a couple years,” Holliday said.
“I know this is my kind of first beginning of the season up in the big leagues, but this team expects to win, and it’s obviously frustrating to not win and perform at the level I think we all know we can. But we’re going to keep pushing and keep being competitive and try and push through this. Like I said, we have a really good team, so I’m not too worried about it.”
How did Sugano throw? Hyde has watched two straight seven-inning outings from Sugano.
“He hung that one to Bell in the first, but I thought he mixed really well after that,” Hyde said. “Didn’t show any sign that he was getting tired. Just knows how to pitch. Really did a great job mixing speeds and keeping ‘em off-balanced for seven innings.”
Sugano hung in nicely after that rough start.
“I always have this mentality of going deep every time I pitch, but the first inning, homers, it hurt, but I didn’t have any walks today, so that was a positive outcome,” he said through his translator.
“He’s awesome. Every time he goes out there, we know we’re going to get a quality start, he’s going to throw a bunch of strikes and get late into the game,” Holliday said. “It’s very fun to play behind him, for sure.”
What does it mean? Even though Hyde rightfully complimented his team with their play, if they don’t win on Thursday, and suffer a series sweep, the kind words will be meaningless.
What’s the word? “Breaks are kind of hard to come by right now a little bit. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve just got to continue to play that way.”-Hyde on how the Orioles played.
What’s the stat of the day? Holliday, who went 2-for-3, had three multi-hit games in his first eight, but hadn’t had one since April 5th.
“I mean, obviously you want to cash in and score runs,” he said. “But I thought, as a team, we put together some good at-bats and had runners in scoring position. So yeah, you’ve got to take the positives when you can get them.”
What’s going on in the minor leagues? In his first game of the season, Trevor Rogers allowed two runs on four hits, struck out three and walked one in Double-A Chesapeake’s 3-2 loss to Altoona. Rogers is rehabbing his dislocated right kneecap.
Braxton Bragg, who was just promoted to the Baysox, pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out eight and walking two.
Catcher Silas Ardoin had a two-run home run.
Michael Forret pitched five innings, giving up a run on four hits and striking out seven in High-A Aberdeen’s 3-2 loss to Wilmington in 10 innings.
Chase Allsup allowed six runs, five earned on six hits in three innings as Single-A Delmarva’s 6-2 loss to Augusta.
Triple-A Norfolk’s game against Memphis was postponed. They’ll play a doubleheader on Friday.
Right-hander Zach Fruit is on Chesapeake’s injured list with a lat strain. Delmarva catcher Miguel Rodriguez had surgery to repair a fractured left ankle.
Right-hander Cohen Achen has been promoted from Delmarva to Aberdeen. Left-hander Deivy Cruz has been promoted from the FCL Orioles to Delmarva.
What’s next? Cade Povich (0-2, 6.38) faces MacKenzie Gore (2-2, 3.41) on Thursday night at 6:45 p.m.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich,@BaltimoreBaseball.com