ANAHEIM, Calif. — If the Orioles had any momentum carrying over from their uplifting win over the Angels on Friday night, it was gone by the end of the first inning.
Baltimore (14-24) fell into an early hole and never dug itself out in a 5-2 loss to the Angeles on Saturday night. Kyle Gibson didn’t record an out past the fourth inning for his third straight start since joining the club’s rotation in late April and the Orioles’ offense managed only one run against a Los Angeles pitching staff that entered the game with the fifth-highest team ERA in MLB.
No longer the comeback kids of two years ago, the Orioles moved to 0-21 when trailing after six innings this season with the loss.
“I think in competition it’s hard to come from behind,” center fielder Cedric Mullins said. “We have some moments where we can try to take advantage. It’s hard. It’s one of those things where, one day, it could all of a sudden click and you’re looking back and you’re like ‘Oh, we had those struggles and now we just figured it out.’ Or, it’s just a consistent grind and you’re trying to figure it out throughout the season.”
The Angels strung together three straight hits and a sacrifice fly to score two immediate runs to open the game against Gibson, who has allowed seven first-inning runs across his three outings. He later allowed a solo home run to right fielder Jo Adell and returned for the fifth but loaded the bases with no outs to prompt manager Brandon Hyde to pull him.
“I think the teams have been pretty aggressive,” Gibson said of his first-inning woes. “In general, I think teams are pretty patient against me and these guys have — once again, you look up, giving up three singles, I think, in the first maybe seven or eight pitches — so pretty aggressive teams, for the most part, come out and swing early. So, best way to combat that is maybe use a little offspeed a little bit earlier or just execute a few pitches here and there a little bit better.”
Colin Selby did well to limit the damage, inheriting the toughest position for any reliever and getting three straight groundouts that allowed only one run to score. He combined with Cionel Pérez and Charlie Morton to get the Orioles into the ninth inning without another run crossing the plate, but the offense never sniffed a big enough rally to climb back.
Orioles’ Brandon Hyde says Mike Elias has his back: ‘Incredibly supportive’
A brief delay interrupted the bottom of the fifth when home plate umpire Nestor Ceja ejected Angels hitting coach Johnny Washington. No announcement was made to the Angel Stadium crowd, which rained down boos as manager Ron Washington and Adell argued with the umpire crew for several minutes.
Ryan Mountcastle drove in the Orioles’ lone run off Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz with an RBI double in the sixth, scoring Gunnar Henderson from first on a line drive into the left field corner. Kochanowicz, who had a 5.79 ERA heading into his start, finished with one run allowed over 5 1/3 innings to pick up just his second win in eight starts.
“Tonight wasn’t about comeback wins,” Hyde said. “Tonight was about taking better at-bats off their starter. We created some traffic. Jackson [Holliday] leads off the game with a single. We roll into a double play. We get first and second a couple times, we get poor at-bats from there. So, it’s just — we’re having a tough time. Last night was better at-bats. Today, we took a step back in being able to roll three good at-bats together in a row.”
The Orioles didn’t fare much better against the bullpen, owners of an American League-worst 6.99 ERA, tacking on one more run in the ninth on a solo home run by Ramón Laureano. Pinch hitting for Ryan O’Hearn, the veteran outfielder smacked a 108.1 mph laser that broke a cell in the LED scoreboard ribbon behind the wall in right field.
The rally ended there as Angels left-hander Brock Burke retired the next three batters he faced to end the game.
Postgame analysis
Mullins has gotten off to a rough start so far in May.
After finishing April with a .972 OPS that ranked fifth best in the AL, the 30-year-old has gone 1-for-30 (.033) this month, including an active 0-for-19 skid. Hyde bumped him down the order Saturday to take some of the pressure off him, starting Jackson Holliday at leadoff instead and slotting Mullins in at the No. 6 spot.
Mullins did well to lift the Orioles’ offense up enough to the point that it wasn’t a glaring problem early on in the season, but his drop-off coupled with very few of his teammates finding any rhythm has been a big reason Baltimore has scored three runs or fewer in 14 of its past 18 games.
By the numbers
Gibson’s 17 earned runs allowed are tied for the sixth most any Orioles pitcher has ever given up over his first three starts to begin a season and the most since Ty Blach allowed 18 over his first three outings in 2019.
With Charlie Morton and Dean Kremer each accounting for 13 earned runs in their first three outings, the Orioles had three starters all with 13 or more for the first time since 2006 to match the trio of Hayden Penn, Bruce Chen and Rodrigo López.
What they’re saying
Gibson on the Orioles moving on from their loss quickly:
“I think you still have to take it game by game. We got a chance to win a series tomorrow and got to keep that in perspective. If we win a series here, for the next few weeks we’re going to be in a good spot. So, got to keep thinking about that win and keep that in perspective.”
On deck
The Orioles will try to win the series Sunday afternoon behind Zach Eflin, who will be making his first start off the injured list. It’ll be his first appearance since suffering a lat strain April 7. Los Angeles plans to counter with Tyler Anderson, pitting the Orioles against a left-hander; Baltimore entered play Saturday with an MLB-worst .493 OPS when facing lefties this season.
Around the horn
• Right-hander Matt Bowman, designated for assignment earlier this week to make room for fellow reliever Selby, cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles announced. Bowman has a 4.36 ERA in 31 games for Baltimore over the past two seasons.
• Making his fourth rehabilitation start, left-hander Trevor Rogers threw 70 pitches in 4 1/3 innings with Norfolk on Saturday. He allowed one run on three hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Rogers (knee subluxation) remains on the injured list and is likely to remain with the Tides once he’s activated.
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