Trevor Rogers Rolls Again For Orioles In Win Over Angels

Many around baseball were shocked that Baltimore’s ace Trevor Rogers and Angels starter Reid Detmers were not dealt at the deadline.

Both teams sold off key pieces and both are near the bottom of the American League and both pitchers were the subject of deep trade talks. And both performed well Wednesday at Camden Yards, although one must consider the state of the lineups they were facing.

The Angles are one of the very worst teams in baseball and the Orioles basically abstain from hitting starting pitchers or scoring until the late innings these days. So of course this was another tight, low-scoring game, and the new-look O’s won, 5-2, to pull to 56-58, right in the hunt for the final Wild Card.

Baltimore has struggled against lefties for quite some time, but did enough against Detmers. Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo (who is mashing lefties as well as anyone in MLB) hit back-to-back homers; O’Neill’s came after Gunnar Henderson walked. The Orioles struck out 10 more times and have been putrid in that regard since the All-Star break but getting away with it because the pitching has been shockingly good.

Rogers Making His Case For A Payday

Rogers has been very good for his last 10 starts this season, after a very rough start to the season. He finished last season with a stretch of 18 largely-stellar starts, after opening that season in AAA. The Orioles are sending signals through the media that they’ll slap a Qualifying Offer on him as a free agent – that’s if they exist in the new labor deal coming in 2027 (we hope) – and that by keeping him through the deadline he’s a candidate for them to re-sign.

“Love having Rog,” rookie skipper Craig Albernaz told the media after the game. “He was outstanding tonight. He’s been doing it for a long time now.”

But keeping him won’t be cheap. This is an unrestricted free agent, not a situation like extending a Kyle Bradish or Shane Baz while still locking into arbitration for years to come, and Rogers's future will be one of the more intriguing this offseason (as will struggling Henderson’s, which is almost certain to play out quite like it did for his buddy Adley Rutschman.

Rogers dominated the first five innings then gave up a solo shot in the sixth and departed in the seventh after 93 pitches, that number rising because his K-rate surged (9 strikeouts). Newcomer Alex Hoppe, who was quite bad in Seattle’s pen, gave up a run-scoring hit that was charged to Rogers

“Awesome to play behind,’ O’Neill said of Rogers on the MASN post-game show. “He’s dynamite. Throws four pitches really well, hits his spots and he’s been doing great of late.”

Leody Taveras, clutch all season at the plate and among team leaders in win-probability added, smacked a pinch-hit, two run homer in the 8th to provide some breathing room. The Orioles are certainly talented enough to continue beating the worst teams in the league (28-27), and we suspect will hang in this Wild Card equation well into next month despite what they shipped off at the deadline.

They could complete a sweep of Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, before a 10-game road trip will provide a far more daunting test.

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