Saturday was Induction Day for the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame where longtime Baltimore broadcaster Tom Davis and former outfielders Joe Orsulak and Adam Jones received their green jackets as members of the Orioles HOF.
On a day filled with pomp and circumstance and a celebration of excellence, the Baltimore Orioles put on a performance befitting of the Hall of The Not Very Good, falling 11-3 to the Athletics (52-67) in front of 30,078 fans.
For the second day in a row the Orioles scored three runs in the first inning. A three-run homerun off the bat of Gunnar Henderson (401 ft.) scored Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg, both of whom reached base on singles, to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. Henderson’s homerun countered the two-run homerun the Athletic’s Shea Langeliers hit in the top of the first.
A Hibernating Offense
In a case of deja vu all over again, the Orioles were once again stymied by Athletic’s pitching, managing just one additional hit, a Ryan Mountcastle ninth inning two-out single. Following Henderson’s homerun, fifteen straight Orioles batters were retired, a streak broken up by a Holliday walk leading off the sixth inning, the only Baltimore walk in the game. Additionally, the Athletics struck out eight Baltimore batters.
Mediocre Pitching
Starter Brandon Young (0-6) simply didn’t have it on Saturday. The #27 ranked Orioles prospect by MLB Pipeline, allowed a total of 6 runs on 6 hits, including 2 homeruns, while walking 2 and striking out 2 over just 3.0 innings. He threw 74 pitches (48 K’s) and was tagged with the loss. Young assessed his performace this way, “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. Letting the team down, it sucks. 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.” Interim Manager Tony Mansolino had this to say about his 26 year old starter’s performance, “there were some big misses early on, I don’t think that helped…he got to two strikes a couple of times and wasn’t able to kill the at-bat…just wasn’t his best night.”
Yaramil Hiraldo lasted 1.2 innings, allowing 3 runs, one of which was earned, on 3 hits with a walk and 2 strikeouts. After retiring the side in order in the fourth, it was Hiraldo’s fielding error on former Orioles minor leaguer Darell Hernaiz‘s at bat in the fifth that resulted in the two unearned runs.
Corbin Martin allowed a run on two hits with a walk and 2 strikeouts over 1.1 innings of relief.
Some semblance of order and normalcy was restored by Kade Strowd (1.0 IP) and Grant Wolfram (2.0 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K).
The letdown of a performance was witnessed by Orioles’ Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr, Mike Devereaux, Tippy Martinez, Melvin Mora, Al Bumbry, Nick Markakis and Jim Palmer. In addition, 2025 Baseball Hall of Famer CC Sabathia was in the house as well.
At least Papa John’s pizza is 50% off on Sunday, thanks to Henderson’s homerun, for those who celebrate.
2025 Record: 53-64
Next game: Sun. 8/10 @ 1:35 pm vs. Athletics