NEW YORK — The Orioles thought they had their closer situation figured out.
Seranthony Domínguez had not been formally awarded that title, but the Orioles’ actions began to show he was their guy. He got three saves in a row, but he, too, has shown his weaknesses, taking the loss in Monday’s game after allowing a home run in the bottom of the ninth.
On Wednesday, he allowed another walk-off home run as the Mets beat the Orioles 4-3. Baltimore had just three hits on Wednesday as it dropped two of three this series.
Right now, the Orioles have very few in their bullpen they can rely on, their only hope being that the guys they have, including Domínguez, can step it up down the stretch until potential injury reinforcements — Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb — come back.
“I don’t have a set closer,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Searching for outs from whenever the starter comes out to the end of the game. Searching for outs.”
Their rotation is in a similar boat. Another injury forced the Orioles to cobble together a last-minute plan. On Tuesday, Zach Eflin, acquired to help the weakened rotation, was added to an injured list that now includes five starters — six if you count Chayce McDermott, who is on the 40-man roster — plus three key relievers.
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To take Eflin’s start Wednesday, the Orioles turned to an old staple. Left-hander Cole Irvin had a 2.84 ERA on June 7 but was designated for assignment at the trade deadline after posting an 8.72 ERA in his next nine appearances.
But, with Cade Povich not fully rested and Corbin Burnes, who would have been on full rest, unavailable, the Orioles had no one else to turn to. So Irvin got the start and made the most of his second chance as he allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings.
“For me, was it a shock? Sure, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t pitching well at the time and I had gone three innings, gave up a homer, and I was going to be down for a couple of days,” Irvin said of being designated for assignment. “The situation, the way it was handled, gave me time to reset, to refocus and get back to what I do really well, throw strikes and command the zone and move the ball in and out and have some fun.”
Irvin gave up one run in the third, when Francisco Lindor hit a solo home run. In the fifth, Irvin walked Brandon Nimmo and was replaced by Colin Selby. Selby got J.D. Martinez to ground into what could have been a prime double play opportunity, but Jackson Holliday fumbled the transfer to first and Nimmo scored.
Selby completed the sixth, and the Orioles went with Craig Kimbrel for the seventh. It was as good a time as any for Kimbrel to show he can be trusted again. But, as has been the case for most of the second half, that didn’t happen.
Kimbrel, who has allowed nine runs in 9 1/3 innings since the All-Star break, has already been demoted from his closing duties, the team instead paying him $13 million to pitch in low-leverage situations. On Tuesday, he was given the ninth but only because the Orioles were ahead by four runs.
On Wednesday, Kimbrel was sent out in the seventh in a 2-2 game to face a right-handed top of the Mets lineup. It didn’t end well. He gave up a solo home run to Mark Vientos, giving the Mets the 3-2 lead.
The Orioles got that run back in the top of the eighth off an Adley Rutschman sacrifice fly, but they ended the inning with two men on base.
“With our pitching the way it is right now, we’ve got to be able to score some runs,” Hyde said. “We had an opportunity there in the eighth. We had bases loaded, no outs. We had the right guy up and only scored one run. We’ve got to be able to score some runs. It’s a grind right now on the mound, so until we get through this thing, we’ve got to be able to help them out and score some runs.”
After the Orioles did not put up any runs in the top of the ninth, Domínguez came out to try to get them to extra innings. Instead, pinch-hitting Jesse Winker took a low fastball into center field for the Mets win.
It would have helped if the Orioles had given their pitching staff more run support early, but for five innings the Orioles had no answers for Mets starter Sean Manaea. He had a perfect game going until he hit Holliday with a pitch. Then Austin Slater hit his first home run in an Orioles uniform.
