There were chances last night, and the Orioles blew way too many of them.
Hello, friends.
It’s not much fun to be an Orioles fan right now. No one needs to feel especially good about it. The O’s played another bad one on Wednesday night, failing to break through against a junkballer and blowing numerous scoring opportunities (12 men left on base, 1-12 hitting with runners in scoring position) on their way to a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Nationals. Check out John Beers’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.
What’s sad about the way the Orioles have played lately is that it’s easy to be tempted to feel some positives about this particular loss, in spite of everything that stunk about it. Although Tomoyuki Sugano ended up giving up three first inning runs thanks to a pair of home runs, he went on to pitch seven innings without giving up any more runs. That was a good start.
Multiple Orioles had multi-hit games, including two recent strugglers, Adley Rutschman and Jackson Holliday. The O’s demonstrated some of the resilience that they have not shown much this season in rallying to tie the game at 3-3 after the early deficit. Alas, it was not enough to win. Gregory Soto was summoned in the eighth inning, and, aided by CB Bucknor’s erroneous perception of the strike zone, he issued a crucial walk that should have been a strikeout and a run later scored following this sequence.
The Orioles will try to avoid suffering a fourth straight loss as well as their first series sweep of the year as they go against the Nationals in tonight’s finale of the series. I’ve got some bad news about that, which is this: The Nats starting pitcher, MacKenzie Gore, is left-handed. This is the Orioles batting line against lefty starters: .191/.242/.280. Barf.
Making the start for the Orioles in the game is Cade Povich. He needs to start having some good games so he avoids getting the boot from the rotation as two or three currently-inactive O’s make their return to pitching. Kyle Gibson will be the first, perhaps as soon as Saturday, and Zach Eflin will hopefully be in a couple of weeks. Even Trevor Rogers pitched the first game of a rehab assignment yesterday. If Povich’s ERA is still over six once two or three of those guys are back, why should he stick around in the majors? It’s a 6:45 start for the final game.
Some other Orioles injury news from yesterday:
Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez has a mild lat strain, Brandon Hyde said. Rodriguez will begin throwing again in a couple weeks.
— Andy Kostka (@afkostka.bsky.social) 2025-04-23T20:51:39.420Z
The ultimate diagnosis of “mild lat strain” doesn’t really match the drama level of needing a second opinion on the MRI. It’s the third lat strain in the last four seasons for Rodriguez, which sure isn’t great. As you may recall, this strain cropped up while Rodriguez was in the middle of working his way back from elbow inflammation which, although the team has never acted concerned about it, I don’t think we’re past the point where that should be concerning. So, I don’t know.
I guess if all goes well, Rodriguez could be back in June. We can only hope that the Orioles season hasn’t completely slipped away by that time. They’re 9-14 now, a full-season pace of just 63 wins. These last couple of series should have been an easier stretch and they’ve blown it. A quality Tigers team awaits this weekend. The hill to climb could be quite tough by the time April turns to May.
Around the blogO’sphere
Don’t let the Orioles defense off the hook in this slow start (The Baltimore Banner)
Jon Meoli ran down some of the particularly brutal stuff from Tuesday’s loss to the Nationals. This is the stuff that spring training is supposed to be there to train.
Scouting Griff O’Ferrall and other Orioles prospects (The Athletic)
Keith Law had some good things to say about O’Ferrall and some less-good things to say about Vance Honeycutt after a recent check-in on Aberdeen.
Orioles developing form of AI technology that could change scouting forever (The Baltimore Sun)
One thing I am sure about is that somebody is going to make a lot of money off of using the right buzz words.
Witnessing Elly De La Cruz (FanGraphs)
The Orioles are only involved in this story breaking down De La Cruz making an amazing play from Sunday because it happened to them.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2018-24 pitcher John Means, and 2017 catcher Welington Castillo. “Beef” turns 38 years old today, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: writer Anthony Trollope (1815), novelist Robert Penn Warren (1905), actress Shirley MacLaine (1934), actor/comedian Cedric the Entertainer (1964), baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones (1972), and singer/songwriter/TV host Kelly Clarkson (1982).
On this day in history…
In 1183 BC, according to tradition, the city of Troy was captured, marking an end to the Trojan War.
In 1800 AD, the Library of Congress was established after President John Adams signed a bill that provided $5,000 to buy “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.”
In 1885, Annie Oakley was hired into Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.
In 1916, rebels in Ireland rose up in Dublin to proclaim an Irish Republic in defiance of British rule of the island. Though this Easter Rising did not achieve its goal and its leaders were executed, Irish independence was not far off.
In 2005, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chosen as the pope. He took on the papal name Benedict XVI. The papacy is currently open following the death of Francis. The next pope chosen will be the 267th in history.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on April 24. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!