Orioles Lose In 11 Innings Going 0-for-10 With Runners In Scoring Position

Only three teams have hit fewer home runs than the Orioles since the All-Star break and only two have struck out more frequently. It’s a Mike Elias fever dream with this baseball team these days – with the requisite pathetic fielding thrown in – so their steady descent into the trade deadline continued Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards.

Hey, at least they didn’t get swept! And they didn’t get shutout either (so their silly skipper could gush how hard they fought and "moral victories" after the game),

And the billionaire who went from shooting you with water guns and hocking his own bobbleheads and throwing hats all over the place, he actually showed up this weekend too, and got in on the losing action. Alas, David Rubenstein served up shameful rhetoric intended to gaslight his customers Friday and Elias chimed in too, and this team loved to rub his face in it when he tries to obfuscate about just how bad they are in the media.

This time it was with a 3-2 defeat in 11 innings, in which their dugout showed no pulse and their lineup showed no life most of the afternoon and then failed miserably in every clutch situation. Austin Riley doubled for the Braves off Andrew Kittredge in the 11th to retake the lead and that held, as the Orioles finished 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and struck out 34 times in the series, but oh the injuries of it all.

“Guys have to step up either guys taking over that position, or other guys on the team,” Albernaz said, about as close as he will ever come to chide Gunnar Henderson or Taylor Ward for their lost seasons producing runs, or Pete Alonso's recent slide.

The Orioles dropped to 51-55 (now 22-34 against winning teams) with the deadline a week away and Elias threatening to buy with his below-average farm system and an MLB coaching staff/player development arm that is the laughingstock of the industry.

Biggest Bats Coming Up Smallest

This version of the Orioles’ lineup – without injured Blaze Alexnader and Samuel Basallo, two of very few pleasant surprises on this roster and two of their best clutch hitters, injured – is particularly meek (the other catcher is hurt too, but he always is and needs to be dealt this week). They avoided being swept in the series because Atlanta’s back-up shortstop couldn’t field the ball Saturday, but their approach is a mess and they continue to strike out at an alarming rate.

They’ve been praying AAA recall Christian Encarnacion-Strand can carry the attack, but his nine RBIs in his first six games isn’t sustainable and when he stopped driving people in this series no one picked up the slack.

This lineup needs Henderson, Ward and Alonso to finally mash at the same time, but that’s never happened and won’t (because if Ward is still here in a week at the trade deadline, shut this franchise down). Henderson had a brief flicker last week in Boston, but he was as lost as ever in this series (1-for-13 with 5 Ks), but at least the one hit was a solo homer. Henderson lined into double play with the bases loaded and no-one out in the 10th and Ward flied out.

“That line drive double play hurt a lot,” Albernaz said.

"I should have took a shorter lead," Alonso said, as he was doubled off first on a ball 74 mph off Henderson's bat.

Alonso did provide a solo shot in the 8th Sunday to end his RBI drought and snap the shutout and Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies booted a double-play ball – the only way this team has been winning lately – that allowed Baltimore to tie it off closer Raisel Iglesias (only second blown save) in the 9th. They scored without a hit; if only it was easier to do that more often.

Elias is a clown and invested big in right-handed bats in a ballpark he butchered twice. So Ward and Alonso have combined for 14 homers and 47 RBIs at home this season (it’s August people) in over 400 at bats. Elias and his overmatched puppet skipper insisted on Ward batting cleanup all weekend, and he just wants to walk and not swing the bat and does nothing with runners on base.

Elias and his boss want you to believe this year’s debacle – same as last year’s debacle where they sold everything they could at the deadline – is because of injuries, but that’s another fib and most of the man-games lost are attributed to fringy arms and spare parts or guys they knew way back in February wouldn’t play much this season.

Shame on you for expecting anything more out of this feckless duo. You pesky fans who pay for this and expect to win something for the first time since 1983 are the problem.

How About The Pitching?

Usually, these inept offensive performances waste a quality start – the Orioles rotation shockingly leading MLB in rotation ERA this month has kept them quasi-afloat – but Shane Baz had different ideas Sunday. Don’t look now by the Rays loaded farm system now is oozing with former Orioles among their top prospects from this winter trade – while Baz is a middling innings eater.

Only Sunday he couldn’t record two outs in the fifth inning before departing. He wasn’t sharp and never seemed locked in and his command wavered. He once again avoided the longball, which doomed him early this season and he never gets run support and the Orioles also can’t field the baseball, so that will run up your pitch count too.

Colton Cowser booted speedy Michael Harris II’s single into a double in the second inning and he advanced on a deep flyball and scored on Dom Smith’s first of three hits. In the fourth Matt Olson led off with a double, Baz buckled down to get two outs and then Dylan Beavers took a false step and misread Smith’s liner that dropped ahead of his glove for another RBI.

"In a close game like this there’s a lot of stuff you can go back to,” Albernaz said, “like Cowser’s error in the outfield … looking back on it that hurt us obviously." Happens all the time around here, skip.

Baz left after walking Drake Baldwin in the fifth, and the bullpen locked things down with recent recalls Josh Walker and Anthony Nunez both having impressive showings. Albert Suarez followed that up and Tyler Wells expertly pitched out of a jam in the 10th and the pen was stellar. Maybe one of them should have gotten a chance to pinch hit.

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