BALTIMORE–What happened? Against the team that traded him last July, Trevor Rogers threw an excellent 6 2/3 innings. Unfortunately for him, Gregory Soto allowed an inherited baserunner to score, and the Orioles’ offense did nothing to help him.
The Orioles were held to six hits and lost to the Miami Marlins, 6-0, before 34,332 at Camden Yards on Saturday.
Their best opportunity to score came in the first when Gunnar Henderson doubled with two outs against Miami starter Janson Junk (4-1). Ramón Laureano singled to right, and ex-Oriole Kyle Stowers threw home and easily nabbed Henderson.
The Orioles (43-51) didn’t get a runner to third base after that.
Rogers (2-1) didn’t allow a hit until Dane Myers singled leading off the fifth. He had retired 10 straight since Otto Lopez walked with two outs in the first.
After Myers was thrown out trying to steal, Stowers walked, and Rogers retired seven more in a row until Myers singled again with two outs in the seventh.
Rogers was traded for Stowers and Connor Norby last July 30th and had a 7.11 ERA in four starts with the Orioles last August. He’s glad facing his old team is behind him.
“It was very weird,” Rogers said. “Had an adrenaline rush, definitely, in the first inning. I had a tough time trying to calm myself down, but just focused on my breathing, and once I got that third out, I was able to settle in and really make some pitches.”
Soto hit Stowers with a pitch, and Derek Hill singled to left, scoring Myers. Pinch-hitter Jesús Sánchez’s RBI single against Seranthony Domínguez made it 2-0.
Junk allowed five hits in seven innings, and though Henderson doubled with two outs in the sixth and Cowser singled and stole second with one out in the seventh, the Orioles didn’t score and were shut out for the 10th time.
“Wasn’t our best day. I think Junk threw the ball pretty good,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “Ball kind of jumped out of his hand. We had the shot right there to score a run early in the game. The way they set up their defense kind of fell right into their lap and how they set that thing up, how tight the outfielders were playing. It was tough getting anything going from there.”
The Marlins (43-51) scored four runs with two outs in the ninth against Scott Blewett. Stowers singled, stole second and scored on an infield hit by Hill, who took second on the throw home. Javier Sanoja’s single scored Hill, and Xavier Edwards hit a two-run home run to put Miami ahead, 6-0.
Ronny Henriquez and Anthony Bender each threw a scoreless inning.
How did Rogers throw? Rogers was obviously excited to face the Marlins, for whom he pitched from 2020-through last July. He was caught by Jacob Stallings, with whom he played in Miami in 2022 and 2023.
“He threw the ball great. He looked great in the ‘pen so I was hopeful it would carry over and it did,” Stallings said. “First two times through the lineup he used a ton of fastballs and third time started mixing a little bit more. He was fantastic, really, really good.”
Rogers followed Stallings’ advice.
“It definitely helped a little bit, but I knew that first inning was going to be a challenge,” he said. “After we got that third out, he came up to me, he’s like, ‘Great pitch right there, now we can settle in and really focus on the game plan.’ He did a great job back there again today.”
Rogers is a far better pitcher than he was a year ago, and he was comfortable facing the Marlins.
“If I were to face them with the stuff I had last year, it probably would have been a 50-50 tossup,” Rogers said.
“But with the work that I put in this year and where my stuff is now, I’m really confident going into it. But at the end of the day, they’re in the big leagues for a reason. Got to execute my pitches, and I was able to do that today.”
What does it mean? The Orioles missed an opportunity to move to six games below .500 for the first time since May 3rd. They’ll have to win 11 of 14 games between Sunday and July 30th to be at .500 at the July 31st trade deadline.
What’s the stat of the game? Rogers lowered his ERA to 1.53.
What’s the word? “I would say probably, but I would also say he really made it a point not to be too amped up. He talked about it before the game and he talked about it on the way from the pregame ‘pen. He’s been throwing so well lately that I think if he tried to do too much it would hurt him and I thought he did a really good job of just making pitches.”-Stallings on whether Rogers was too excited about facing the Marlins.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Enrique Bradfield was 0-for-2 , grounding out to the pitcher and hitting into a double play, and reliever Keagan Gillies got the game’s final out in the National League’s Futures team 4-2 win over the American League.
Bradfield, who did not start, entered in the fourth inning and played the final four innings of the seven-inning contest in center field.
There was a bottom of the seventh even with the visiting AL team trailing, and Gillies retired Esmerlyn Valdez, a Pittsburgh Pirates prospect, on a flyout to Bradfield.
What’s next? Brandon Young (0-3, 6.14) will start the Orioles’ final game before the All-Star break against Eury Pérez (2-2, 4.00) 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