Orioles waste plenty of scoring chances, drop series finale to Tigers, 4-3

It could have been the day the Orioles clinched a playoff spot, but they decided to strike out a lot with runners on base, instead.

The Orioles entered Sunday right on the doorstop of the playoffs, with a chance to clinch a Wild Card slot in their final home game of the season. That would have been nice.

Instead, they wasted scoring chance after scoring chance and dropped the series finale to Detroit, 4-3. For a second, it seemed like they’d pull it off. Down 3-0, the Orioles tied the game in a thrilling fifth that featured a two-run Cedric Mullins home run and an RBI double by the newly reactivated Jordan Westburg. But bad luck struck: with a chance to take the lead, Colton Cowser’s 397-foot blast got gobbled up by Detroit outfielder Parker Meadows leaping over the right-center wall. What would have been the game winner ended up a third out, and Detroit homered the next inning for a lead they wouldn’t give up.

It would be wrong, though, to chalk up this latest Orioles loss to pure unluckiness. Baltimore had plenty of chances to close a one-run gap, with the leadoff hitter on base four times, yet they failed. Ultimately, an 0-for-8 effort with runners in scoring position sunk the Orioles once more, the same problem we keep seeing over… and over… and over.

Starting pitcher Albert Suárez was not bad, but this offense is giving their starters no room for error, and today his errors were glaring. It’s odd because he looked to be pounding the zone and even had a bit more heat on the heater—the pitch averaged a brisk 94.9 mph today. But his offspeed stuff has been flawed in September—hitters are slugging .706 off the changeup this month—and indeed, so it was today, as the righty allowed four extra-base hits in two consecutive innings on a cutter, curve, and a pair of changeups.

In the second inning, a diminished Spencer Torkelson snuck a first-pitch cutter inside the left-field foul pole, then two Tigers infielders hit back-to-back doubles, scoring a second run. The next inning, outfielder Kerry Carpenter socked a flag-court blast to make it 3-0 Detroit after three innings.

Suárez did strike out the side in the fourth on a lot of heaters, at which Oriole Park played Janet Jackson’s “Nasty,” which was a nice touch. But the problem was obviously that, with the offense so leaden this month, a 3-0 hole seemed truly insurmountable. And four quick innings with one measly Orioles hit didn’t do much to convince you otherwise.

The best moment of the day was that fifth-inning rally, which was kicked off by Ramón Urías in his first game back since an Aug. 31 ankle sprain. Urías’s one-out line drive single to center injected some life into a frustrated Camden Yards crowd, which got more to cheer for when Cedric Mullins deposited a first-pitch fastball over the right-center wall!

The O’s even managed to tie it up, if you can believe it. On the heels of Mullins’ blast, Gunnar Henderson scorched a changeup, 106 mph off the glove of the second baseman, for a third consecutive Baltimore hit. Another newly returning Oriole, Jordan Westburg, took his turn and crushed an RBI double that rolled all the way to Mt. Walltimore, tying the game, 3-3.

With what we now know, Colton Cowser’s home run-that-wasn’t was a huge turning point in the game. The blast, just reeled in by a leaping Meadows, would have made it 5-3 Baltimore. Instead, Cowser came up empty, and in the top of the sixth, Albert Suárez, who’d set down eight in a row to that point, served up his third four-bagger of the day to make it 4-3 Detroit. Suárez walked the next guy, and that was it for him. Too bad. It was almost a decent start for the righty, who struck out six. But four runs in five innings on five extra-base hits—including three home runs—isn’t gonna cut it.

Certainly not—because you already know how this one ended—with the Orioles offense suddenly drying up again. They wasted a leadoff Adley Rutschman double in the sixth, and a leadoff Gunnar Henderson walk in the seventh. Henderson made the fourth time the O’s got the leadoff man on … and still there was nothing doing. Instead, Westburg grounded into a fielder’s choice that moved Henderson to second, Santander stared at a called strike three, and Cowser flew out to the warning track, to give this team an annoying 0-for-8 batting line with RISP.

One positive, despite the offense’s being absolutely infuriating right now, was a bullpen quartet of Keegan Akin, Danny Coulombe, Cionel Pérez and Yennier Cano that turned in a sparkling four scoreless innings, with Akin, Coulombe, and Pérez combining for five strikeouts in the sixth and seventh innings alone. If this team makes it to the postseason, a stabilized bullpen will be critical. I still believe the Orioles will do it, but even if they do, it’ll be like watching a marathon runner with a broken ankle dragging herself across the finish line. This season is exhausting.