The Orioles know the mojo has been off.
Since the All-Star break, the “home hydration station” has been seldom used, the splash zone all dried up, and the fun moments that were this team’s signature earlier this year have been severely curtailed. Losing will do that to a team, especially to a group that has never experienced a prolonged rough patch, as night after night the players retreat with their heads low into a somber clubhouse.
Entering Tuesday night with only 12 games left, and the American League East slipping from their fingertips, it was time for new tactics. As the team kicked off the last homestand of the season, nearly every player in the lineup changed his walk-up song. Gunnar Henderson went from his signature “Sweet Escape” to “Magic Stick.” Albert Suárez warmed up to “Laffy Taffy,” and Heston Kjerstad, who experienced prolonged dizziness after his concussion, came out to “I Can See Clearly Now.”
They hoped maybe the new tunes and a “really positive pregame meeting,” as manager Brandon Hyde described it, would bring the vibes and the winning back. General manager Mike Elias, in a state-of-the-team address before the game, promised this team was going to turn it around soon.
That time certainly did not come Tuesday. Instead, Blake Snell and the Giants had all the fun as they beat the Orioles 10-0.
Baltimore has lost seven of the last nine games and is 26-29 since the All-Star break. The Orioles’ magic number to secure at least a wild-card spot remains at six, making the earliest they can secure a playoff berth Friday. And they lost ground to the Yankees in the American League East. New York increased its lead to four games by beating the Mariners in Tuesday’s late game.
Suárez wasn’t his best — he allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings — but it was once again the offense that couldn’t produce.
Snell is no easy opponent, as evidenced by his two Cy Young Awards and career ERA of 3.21. Against Snell, the Orioles managed just one hit, a single by Emmanuel Rivera in the second, and struck out 12 times, their most against a starter this season.
“Yeah, I mean he, that was six unbelievable innings, honestly,” Hyde said. “I thought he had multiple pitches going on the corners and going 97, 98 with a really good changeup. He won a Cy Young last year for a reason. Just on tonight. We’ve been scuffling offensively, and we had a tough night.”
Scuffling is putting it lightly. For the Orioles, the caliber of pitcher they are facing hasn’t mattered, as they’ve been shut out three times in their last eight games.
Baltimore managed just four hits after Rivera’s single, two from Kjerstad and one apiece from Ryan O’Hearn and Colton Cowser.
With the game already out of reach in the ninth — because a 4-0 deficit for this offense has proven to be simply too much — the Orioles put Craig Kimbrel in to try to finish the game. He’s pitched only three times this month, with nine days off since his last outing, as the Orioles make a last-ditch effort to return him to the form he showed earlier this season, when he pitched to a 2.80 ERA.
Instead, a 4-0 game became a 10-0 blowout as he let in a career-high six runs.
“I was hoping he could just get out of the inning, and unfortunately, there was some fatigue there at the end,” Hyde said. “The velo started getting down a little bit. Normally, he’s not out there for that long. In that type of game, I just didn’t want to use anybody else at that point, so I had to get [Matt] Bowman up. That wasn’t his normal stuff there at the end.”
Except, as of late, that has been his normal stuff. He has a 10.54 ERA since the All-Star break, as he’s allowed 20 earned runs, 11 stolen bases and 15 walks in 17 innings.
