NEW YORK–What happened? The Orioles were an inning away from a winning seven-game road trip to Tampa and New York. Leading 2-1 with Bryan Baker on the mound, Jazz Chisholm doubled in Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt with one out in the eighth, and Chisholm scored when catcher Gary Sánchez dropped a throw home from Gunnar Henderson.
The 4-2 loss to the Yankees before 45,571 at Yankee Stadium on Sunday gave them a 3-4 road swing, and they’ll head home for six games with Texas and Tampa Bay.
Rice singled against Baker (3-2). After Clay Bellinger grounded to first, Giancarlo Stanton singled, and Chisholm doubled for a 3-2 lead. DJ LeMahieu grounded to short, and after Sánchez’s error it was 4-2.
The Orioles (33-44) scored two runs in the first against Will Warren, and it should have been more. Jackson Holliday led off with a single. Ramón Urías was hit by a pitch. Holliday was picked off second by Warren.
Henderson walked, and Ryan O’Hearn scored Urías with a single. After Ramón Laureano flied to right, Colton Cowser’s double scored Henderson, but O’Hearn stumbled after touching third and had to retreat, costing the Orioles another run.
“We had great energy this morning and kind of to start the game, and they came out of the gates pretty good,” interim manager Tony Mansolino siad. “They took advantage of some mistakes and got the ball moving around the field. You’ve got to credit their guy. He did a good job of settling down. But at the end of the day you have a 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning with Bake, you feel pretty good about it.”
The Orioles had just four singles in the last eight innings after producing just one hit in a 9-0 loss to the Yankees on Saturday.
“I felt like we had some opportunities to get there,” Henderson said. “Just didn’t come through. But ultimately, I was happy with the way we played on the road trip and, yeah, I feel like that’s what we can take away from it.”
Dean Kremer allowed one run in the second on Chisholm’s double. LeMahieu singled to left, and Cowser’s throw was up the third base line, and catcher Maverick Handley and Chisholm collided as the ball arrived. Chisholm scored, and Handley left the game and was replaced by Sánchez.
“He got hit pretty hard,” Mansolino said. “We haven’t seen a collision like that at the plate probably since all the new rules came in. So we’re evaluating him right now, full body, every part of it. We’ll have more information tomorrow.
“After the Buster Posey rules of taking out catchers at the plate, you don’t see that. The difference there, too, is Mav’s running full speed at a guy that’s flying down the line, so it’s very scary.”
Kremer (7-7) allowed a run on five hits, walking one and striking out seven in 5 2/3 innings.
“I felt pretty good about it,” Kremer said. “Command was good. Shapes were good. And then ultimately the plan we kind of went in with worked.”
The Yankees (44-33) had runners on second and third with none out in the sixth when rightfielder Dylan Carlson made a diving catch on Bellinger’s liner, keeping Aaron Judge at third. After Stanton struck out, Keegan Akin retired Chisholm on a fly to Carlson.
Seranthony Dominguez had runners on first and second in the seventh before striking out Judge to end the inning.
The Orioles didn’t get a runner to third after the first inning. Tim Hill walked Henderson and O’Hearn to start the eighth before Fernando Cruz struck out Laureano, Cowser and Cedric Mullins.
What was the issue with Baker? Baker has been excellent recently and Mansolino didn’t think of using left-hander Gregory Soto to start the eighth against left-handed hitters Bellinger and Chisholm.
“Bake’s kind of really settled into that spot for us, too, and if you look at it, you’ve got [Paul] Goldschmidt sitting down on the bench, so what they’re probably going to do is go Goldschmidt against Soto, and Goldy’s I think got a 1.200 OPS against lefties this year, and then Bellinger’s a little bit of a reverse,” Mansolino said.
“I mean, Bellinger’s killed lefties all year, so a little bit of a reverse right there. We’ve been using Bake, he’s kind of been our guy. He’s on two days, he’s full rest. We were going with our guy right there.”
“Couple good at-bats,” Baker said. “First two guys, it felt like I threw 100 pitches to them. Kind of wore me down and put some good swings on the ball and didn’t go to a defender.
“Summer weather’s coming and we got in at about 4 or 5 a.m. on Friday morning and it’s an 11:30 game. I think all those things play into it, for sure. But we’ve just got to execute better and make a few plays and things will turn out better, for sure.”
What kind of a road trip was it? The Orioles are disappointed with how they played on the road trip. Sunday’s was a winnable game had they made fewer mistakes, and they blew an 8-0 lead in a 12-8 loss to Tampa Bay.
“I thought we did a good job hanging with them,” Henderson said. “I wish we could’ve got the one today, but, yeah, kind of stalled out towards the end of the game and they did a good job of pushing some runs across.”
Baker thought the record could have been better as well.
“We played a lot better than 3-4,” Baker said. “I think we probably should have been 5-2, kind of let a few get away from us. We’ve got to clean a few things up and execute and put away games … 3-4, we’d like to be better than that, especially in-division, against a couple good teams. We’ll rebound and get to work tomorrow.”
What does it mean? Despite the brave talk in the clubhouse, the Orioles needed a stronger road trip than they had, and time is running short for this season.
What’s the stat of the day? It was Kremer’s sixth straight start without allowing a home run.
What’s the word? “He struck out the side yesterday. When he’s right, he’s a ground-ball machine and a really good big league reliever. I think everybody knows that, including him. So I expect to see him very soon.”-Baker on Yennier Cano being optioned to Norfolk.
What’s next? The Orioles open a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Monday night. Trevor Rogers (0-0, 3.12) will face Patrick Corbin (4-6, 3.91). Game time is 6:35.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.