BALTIMORE-What happened? The high point of Saturday night came when Oriole legends of the past were introduced as part of the team’s Hall of Fame induction of Adam Jones.
Chris Davis, Jim Johnson, Nick Markakis and Bud Norris came to honor Jones. So did Orioles Hall of Famers Jim Palmer, Cal Ripken Jr., Melvin Mora and Mike Devereaux.
There were also loud cheers for longtime first base coach Wayne Kirby, whose teaching helped Jones secure his legacy as a Gold Glove-winning centerfielder.
Even louder cheers were heard for Buck Showalter, who managed Jones from 2010-2018 and presented him with his green team Hall of Fame jacket. Showalter mingled with team owner David Rubenstein on the field before the game, and there was an aura of positivity at Oriole Park.
Then, the game began.
The Orioles, who won on Friday even though they had only three hits, managed just four hits on Saturday in an embarrassing 11-3 loss to the Athletics before 30,078.
Brandon Young (0-6), whose control was as bad as the Orioles’ offense, allowed six runs in three innings, his shortest major league start.
Shea Langeliers hit a two-run home run, his 23rd, in the first, and Brent Rooker hit a three-run homer, his 24th, in the third. The Athletics’ sixth run came on Darrel Hernaiz’s sacrifice fly.
“It’s just disappointing letting the team down,” Young said. “Almost every time I go out. It’s just really frustrating. Pretty disappointed. I’ve just got to be better. That’s on me. I’m not sure specifically the challenges I was facing. It was just get in bad counts, leaving balls over the middle and they were making me pay for it.”
Yaramil Hiraldo gave up four runs, though three were unearned when he booted an easy grounder by Hernaiz in a five-run fifth that gave the Athletics (52-67) an 11-3 lead. Corbin Martin allowed the final run of the inning on Langeliers’ double.
Gunnar Henderson hit his 14th homer, a three-run shot, in the bottom of the first against Jack Perkins (1-2), who didn’t allow a hit after Henderson’s home run. The Orioles also scored all of their runs in the first in Friday night’s 3-2 win on a two-run homer by Adley Rutschman and a solo shot by Ryan Mountcastle.
The Orioles (53-64) have seven hits in the first two games of the series.
“Back-to-back nights like that, probably not what we would want,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “There’s a lot of pressure on those top five guys to create something. I just think, with where the roster is at and where the lineup is at, there’s a lot of pressure on those first five guys and they’re going to live up to it and they’re going to have better nights than they did tonight.”
The A’s Michael Kelly pitched two hitless innings. Mountcastle singled against Hogan Harris with two outs in the ninth.
What’s wrong with Young? Young has started 10 times without a win, the longest streak in club history since Jimmy Yacabonis’ 11 starts without a win from June 28th, 2018-August 4th, 2019.
“There’s some big misses early on,” Mansolino said. “I don’t think that helped. Similar to the last outing, I thought he got to two strikes a few times and wasn’t able to kill the at-bat. Just some big misses.
“It didn’t set up the next pitch and obviously the pitch count kind of got way up there real quick. Just wasn’t his best night. He’s definitely had better nights than tonight. Tonight was not his best.”
Young was eager to follow the feel-good vibe of the pregame ceremony with a strong effort.
“I felt good overall heading into it,” Young said. “Just, that makes it a little more disappointing when it’s a Hall of Fame night, bigger crowd, chance to go two up in the series. Like I said, letting the team down, it sucks.”
Is there anything that can be done to help the team? Mansolino is hoping the team can get better, but with the loss of nine players at the trade deadline and injuries to outfielders Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill, he knows there’s not much he can do.
“With where the roster’s at, at the configuration, there’s going to be good nights and there’s going to be bad nights,” he said.
“You start to think about the Opening Day roster and how many of those guys are still here, right? And a lot of the guys who are here now started in Triple-A, so they weren’t in the big leagues because they had things to work on, and now they get thrusted into the big leagues.
“With that, once they get here, there’s going to be some tough nights. There’s going to be some really good moments, and we’ve seen that since the roster kind of turned over. And there’s going to be nights where they get beat up, and that’s just going to be part of the deal here for a little bit until they get more experience and more time and are able to slow the game down a little bit.
“Tonight was not a good night. As you sit through that game — and those are the games we do not want. You go in there and you play your butt off and you lose a 5-3 game, a 5-4 game, I think those are going to be the good bad nights, I guess, so to speak. But when you play through those games like that, that’s not good.”
What does it mean? Young must find his command and give the Orioles longer starts if he’s going to be a candidate for the 2026 rotation.
What’s the stat of the day? Dylan Carlson was hitless in three at-bats, and he’s now 0-for-34.
What’s the word? “Honestly, I’m going to try to forget it as quick as possible, really. I feel like I’ve been dwelling on the past few, but now this one, it’s like, you know, I’ve just got to get out of my head. Onto the next one, really.”-Young on his start.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Designated hitter TT Bowens hit a two-run home run as Triple-A Norfolk beat Rochester, 8-7.
Alex Pham allowed two runs on four hits as Double-A Chesapeake lost to Akron, 5-1.
Luis DeLeon pitched six scoreless innings, giving up three hits, striking out 12 without walking a batter as High-A Aberdeen beat Wilmington, 8-0.
Centerfielder Thomas Sosa drove in four runs and hit a three-run home run. Designated hitter Vance Honeycutt had three hits.
Chase Allsup struck out 10 in four scoreless innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits in Single-A Delmarva’s 3-2 loss to Fayetteville.
What’s next? Cade Povich (2-6, 5.25) will face Luis Morales (0-0, 4.50) on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com