BALTIMORE–What happened? The Orioles looked as if they were about to split Wednesday’s doubleheader, and Charlie Morton was going to record his first win.
Instead, Yennier Cano (0-3) allowed three runs in the eighth inning and, suddenly, the Orioles had their second doubleheader loss of the season.
The Orioles’ 8-6 loss to the Minnesota Twins before 10,169 at Camden Yards was the second time the Orioles lost when leading after seven innings.
“We’re grinding out there, trying to scrape out wins,” centerfielder Cedric Mullins said. “ But in terms of my thoughts, I’m not one to give up. And I’m going to continue to bring that energy and that confidence and the desire to win every single day to the team and continue to go out there and put our best foot forward.”
Willi Castro, who already had a home run, led off the eighth with a single, stole second and was balked to third. Royce Lewis walked, and Kody Clemens hit a three-run home run to turn a 6-5 lead into an 8-6 deficit.
The Orioles (15-26) packed all their scoring into one inning. The six-run third was keyed by Mullins’ grand slam, the fourth of his career, and the fourth of the season. Heston Kjerstad followed with his fourth home run. Early in the inning, Gunnar Henderson singled home a run.
As has happened often this season, after the Orioles have a multi-run inning, they failed to score. It happened in both games of the doubleheader.
“We’ve had a tough time adding on,” manager Brandon Hyde said. We’ve talked about that a lot. We thought we created a lot of traffic in both games and just the big hits were tough to come by for us. Ced, he got a big one with the grand slam. I thought we took really good at-bats late. So, they’re making plays. Teams are getting hits against us in big spots and we’re having a tough time doing that.”
In the bottom of the eighth, Mullins singled against Kory Funderburk. Tyler O’Neill hit a drive to left field that Castro caught after a long run. Emmanuel Rivera singled, and Adley Rutschman, who didn’t start the second game, pinch-hit for Maverick Handley and flied to center.
“O’Neill off the bench with a big — [Willi] Castro makes a heck of a play, possibly changes the game, changes that inning,” Hyde said.
Cole Sands retired the Orioles in the ninth for his first save and allowed Minnesota (23-20) to extend its winning streak to 10 games, half of them to the Orioles.
How can the Orioles reverse their season? Mullins debuted with the Orioles during the 2018 season when they lost a franchise-worst 115 games, and played on teams in 2019 and 2021 that dropped a combined 218 games. Since then it’s been winning—until now.
“First, you can’t really think about it. You know you’re coming from a deficit but it’s a long process, and it’s going to take one day at a time,” Mullins said. “Every guy being diligent with their work and their confidence in themselves — go out there and be their best. So, got a long way. Got a hard road ahead. But continue to push.”
Mullins has been with the Orioles longer than any other player and maintains confidence in his teammates.
“I think we’ve been pretty good at flushing the past. Going out, trying to win a game, any way we can,” he said. “There’s multiple ways to do it. Sometimes it’s slugging. Sometimes it’s pitching. Putting that all together is what we need to get it consistent, so that’s what we’re fighting for.”
How did McDermott throw? The Orioles recalled Chayce McDermott as their 27th man for the doubleheader, and in his first start of 2025, he allowed four runs on four hits in three innings. He acknowledged being nervous.
“A little bit going into it,” McDermott said. “Once I got into the first inning, though, I settled down. I’m nervous before every start, doesn’t matter where it’s at. So it was a cool experience.”
McDermott missed spring training after suffering a lat injury and had thrown two games for Triple-A Norfolk and one for High-A Aberdeen.
“I thought he struggled,” Hyde said. “I thought command was the problem. He’s got to be able to throw more strikes than that up here and be able to work ahead and probably a little bit nervous, too. It’s only the second big league appearance but tough time throwing strikes today.”
He was returned to Norfolk after the second game.
How did Morton throw? Charlie Morton relieved McDermott and nearly picked up his first win, allowing one run on two hits in 3 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out four.
“Charlie Morton was the one of the highlights of today,” Hyde said. “To go three things like that, only make one bad pitch — Castro got him but besides that — Charlie was really good. So, that’s something to build off of.”
What happened in the first game? The Orioles lost, 6-3. Dean Kremer (3-5) allowed four runs in the fourth inning, erasing a 3-0 Orioles lead.
Brooks Lee homered as Mullins nearly made a spectacular catch above the fence. Christian Vázquez hit a three-run home run. Two runs scored in the ninth, one unearned, against Keegan Akin.
In the third, Ramón Urías, in his first game back off the injured list, walked, and with two outs, Ryan Mountcastle doubled to score Urías and Gunnar Henderson hit his sixth home run, his third in four games.
The Orioles had just four hits, and didn’t have another hit until Henderson singled in the seventh. Mountcastle singled in the ninth.
What does it mean? The Orioles won just their third series of the season against the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend, and now have their ninth series loss. They’ve split two series.
What’s the word? “You come back tomorrow and you got a day game tomorrow. So, we got to put today behind us. That was a long day and a really disappointing day, and got to flush it and come back tomorrow.”–Hyde on forgetting about the loss.
What’s the stat of the day? The Orioles are 11 games under .500 for the first time since June 10th, 2022.
What’s next? Tomoyuki Sugano (4-2, 2.72) will face Chris Paddack (1-3, 4.76) on Thursday at 12:35 p.m.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich,@BaltimoreBaseball.com