Orioles Inept Lineup Wastes A Gem From Baz To Lose Third Straight

The O's starters keep largely doing their part, but everything else about this team is problematic and the fielding is shameful

Jun 29, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Shane Baz (34) pitches in the second inning against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

There aren’t many trustworthy options in the Orioles bullpen, which actually seemed to be the plan all along with the way this roster was put together.

Orioles baseball czar Mike Elias provided no premier arms for the eighth and ninth innings (it's a specialty of his), and Grant Wolfram, who had been good recently, was a problem Monday. He entered in the eighth after Shane Baz pitched a gem against the White Sox, hit the first batter he faced and gave up an RBI double off the centerfield wall to score him, before Rico Garcia (everything he throws is getting mashed now) gave up an RBI single when catcher Adley Rutschman couldn’t grip a throw home

The White Sox added four more in the ninth (Gunnar Henderson and Blaze Alexander came up short in the field; defense is also optional for Elias), the Orioles’ lineup remained inept, and Chicago won, 8-2, at Camden Yards. Baltimore dropped a third straight game and fell back to a season-low eight games below .500 (39-47). The O's are a half-game from last in the  AL East, while Elias keeps gaslighting his fans through the media about the slop he constructed.

"We have to clean uo the back half of the game defensively," rookie skipper Craig Albernaz said, with this team actually getting worse in terms of fundamentals as this season has gone in. He later added, perhaps alluding to his team's repeated mental miscues deeper in games: "We have to play the game from the first pitch to the last pitch the same way."

This was an all-too familiar script for Baltimore; the O’s are 11-15 this month and had the lead in 10 of those games. They were built to find ways to lose and damn are they good at it. Striking out 13 times was a nice touch, too. And they do lead MLB in something - most unearned runs allowed! Thanks, Mike! You really outdid yourself this year.

It’s a pity they can’t hit consistently, because they got the good version of Baz on Monday and the rotation has been better than expected. It’s hard to know which one will show up and how long either version of Baz will stick around and there isn’t much middle ground with him. Baz didn’t have his best stuff early, mind you, and he was falling behind quite a bit and pulling everything to the left, but he avoided the kind of big innings that have plagued him.

Through four innings he had thrown 67 pitches and only 37 strikes, but he settled down in the middle innings and absolutely sailed through the sixth and seventh. Baz, who was acquired from the Rays for a steep price to be an ace of sorts, got some help from his defense – Colton Cowser robbed a home run in centerfield for the second straight game - but the pen wasn't so lucky.

Henderson, having a brutal year at shortstop because he should play third base, couldn’t handle a ball to allow one run to score but Miguel Vargas got greedy and tried to score as well and was an easy out. Baz sprinkled in a rarely-used change up late - a pitch that worked for him in Tampa - retired 11 of the final 12 he faced and threw a career-high 109 pitches in this outing.

"We needed him to step up and pitch deep in a game and he did," Albernaz said.

It was wasted,, of course.

Still Can’t Score

Baltimore’s lineup continues to make adequate adjustments to score consistently however, and Chicago starter Sean Burke (Maryland) got swing and miss whenever he needed it to avoid trouble. Burke rang up eight strikeouts through just five innings – the Orioles are committed to chasing launch angle and swinging through pitches (The Elias Way)– and struck out everyone in the starting lineup except for Henderson and Taylor Ward.

Henderson, in a season-long funk with his OPS dropping to .701 entering this game, did get moved in the lineup. Of course, this being an Elias operation – he always knows better even though his teams just lose – they bumped Henderson up to leadoff instead of down the lineup.

It actually worked Monday as Henderson reached his first three times up, scoring in the first after a leadoff double on Rutschman’s sac fly, walking and getting a single. Rutschman, just back from a stint on the concussion Injured List, drove in the second run with another sac fly in the third, but this was an all-too-common blown opportunity. The Orioles had the bases loaded and no one out and only pushed one runner across.

They wouldn't score again, blanked for the final six innings

On the bright side we were spared ridiculous snide remarks from the novice skipper about only needing to score three times to win after this embarassing display, because they only managed four hits and struck out three times as frequently.

Bird Seed

Reliever Keegan Akin was placed on the IL with elbow discomfort and the Orioles recalled reliever Josh Walker from Norfolk to take his roster spot … Henderson turned 25 on Monday … The Orioles are 8-13 in their last 21 games, essentially wasting that 7-3 homestand from May that stands out the anomaly to what’s been an otherwise pathetic campaign.

Subscribe On YouTube For The Best Orioles Coverage