Orioles Shutout For Second Straight Game As GM Prepares To Sell At Deadline

The 2026 Orioles skidded into the trade deadline with a game very befitting their Frankenstein roster, with pieces that don’t fit and a promised “liftoff” that never delivered.

They took part in a disjointed baseball game Sunday, one in which even their grounds crew seemed inept as to when and how they let the rain disrupt it. Both starters were gone after a couple of innings not to return, Kyle Bradish, who didn’t hit 40 innings pitched in 2024 or 2025, still got knocked around for the second straight outing (the front office best be careful with him), and an O’s lineup that hasn’t hit since June 1 couldn’t do anything in the first six innings yet again, before or after the rain, same as always.

It all resulted in a 8-0 defeat to the Phillies, called midway through the 6th inning at a desolated Camden Yards that sends them to the deadline at 54-58. They’re off Monday and will wait at home to see how failed baseball exec Mike Elias dissects the carcass of this roster for the second straight year. Seemed fitting that the game started to get away from Baltimore after a lengthy delay when reliever Anthony Nunez – one of a litany of quasi-prospects (suspects?) Elias acquired at the deadline last year who he really, really wants to be good but probably is not – couldn’t throw strikes.

With Dean Kremer, the top innings eater during Elias’s perpetual rebuild, already dealt, and rumors picking up about catcher Adley Rutschman, starter Trevor Rogers, left fielder Taylor Ward and reliever Andrew Kittredge – to say nothing of a host of former top prospects who have yet to show they can be everyday players at this level. Does this coward of a GM have the guts to trade Gunnar Henderson among them (.687 OPS and bad at shortstop)?

"Mike and the front office, I trust them," rookie skipper Craig Albernaz said, who referred to the say on the whole as frustrating. "It was kind of like a weird deadline with everybody in it already, and whatever happens, happens."

Quite a laissez faire mindset - kind of like the way his team approaches playing fundamentally-sound baseball.

Stay tuned. Fair to say what’s happening over the phone between Elias and other clubs is far more interesting than this on-field product has been since June 21, 2024. The Rays and Yankees certainly seem to want Rutschman more than Elias ever wanted to extended him and we see trade options galore.

Another Six-Inning Slump

Elias pretended all offseason his lineup was a superpower but they can't hit starting pitching. It’s been especially chronic in 16 games since the All-Streak break, with a ridiculous strikeout rate. They struck out seven times through five innings Sunday and were well on their way to striking out nine times or more in a game for the 12th time since the ASB had they been required to keep heading to the batter's box to pretend to hit.

Yes, there are some injuries, but the Birds got shut-out on Saturday without putting up a fight and when they do win it’s almost always via a late scramble against weak pen arms. They also endured a 15-inning streak in the previous series at Detroit during which they did not score and are infamous for 0-for-10 outings with men on base.

The Orioles went with lesser arms once the rain lifted, already down 2-0 on the homer Bradish yielded to Bryan De La Cruz. Bradish also walked two and threw a wild pitch and the rain surely had something to do with it, but it warrants close monitoring given this season was always going to be lost, and with him recently signing a five-year extension.

Nunez was all over the place and gave up two singles and then consecutive walks when he entered – walking in one run – and Josh Walker, who has spent much of the season in AAA, entered in the 5th and gave up a homer to Bryce Harper to make it 5-0.

The rain, fairly constant, came down even harder when the Phillies went up 8-0 in the sixth, the MASN broadcast was basically begging for them to call the game and it appeared like Albernaz was doing the same thing with the umpiring crew on the field. Everyone wanted the curtain pulled down on another garbage Elias product and as we’ve been telling you since May, he can’t wait to gutting what’s left here.

It's his favorite time of the year - repositioning himself in farm-system rankings and trying to prove how smart he is finding hidden gem faux-prospects (Elias is a certified fool) and starting to sell BS about what 2027 can hold.

Subscribe To "The Daily Flock" For The Most Passionate Orioles Coverage:

Add us as a preferred source on Google