It Was Close Until It Wasn’t
Trailing 3-2 after six innings, the Baltimore Orioles saw the Minnesota Twins extend the lead to 5-2 on a Harrison Bader two-run homerun off of Keegan Akin (1.0 IP, R H, K). Rather than getting over the hump on this Wednesday night, the Orioles folded, going infield single, fly out to left, bloop single, double play in the eighth before sadly going three-up and three-down, all on strikeouts in the ninth.
The 5-2 loss extended the current losing streak to four and dropped Charlie Morton‘s season record to 0-7. Morton started and pitched a clean first inning, gave up a walk in the second and surrendered a three-run homerun to Minnesota’s Byron Buxton in the third. He faced the minimum in the fourth and did not come out for the fifth. In the end Morton allowed 3 runs on 4 hits (HR) with a walk, 2 strikeouts and a hit batter over 4.0 innings, throwing 70 pitches (41 strikes).
Ramon Laureano (2 for 4, 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI) homered in the third to give the Birds a brief 1-0 lead. Laureano doubled in the fifth and then scored on Heston Kjerstad‘s (2 for 4, RBI) RBI single.
Ryan O’Hearn went 2 for 4.
Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle each went 1 for 4.
Emmanuel Rivera went 1 for 3.
As a team, the Orioles were 1 for 4 with runners in scoring position and left 6 runners on base.
Maybe it is time to burn sage in the dugout since Manager Brandon Hyde said pre-game that the team is in a “weird place” right now.
2025 Record: 13-22
Next Game: Thurs. 5/8 @ 1:10 pm vs. Twins in Minnesota