Even with a recent uptick, it has not been a fun season for the Baltimore Orioles.
A team that won 101 games two years ago and entered this season with playoff aspirations was 31-41 going into Wednesday, then suffered perhaps its worst loss of the season against the Tampa Bay Rays. After jumping to an 8-0 lead in the second inning, the team slowly ceded the advantage until it was walking off the field with a 12-8 loss.
They went from this:
… to this:
Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, the eight-run comeback ties a Tampa Bay record, alongside games on July 25, 2009 and Aug. 18, 2012. As for the Orioles, they hadn’t blown a lead this large since April 28, 2017. That team finished the season 75-87, the year before Baltimore fully embraced a rebuild.
Colton Cowser, Christopher Morel and Ramón Laureano all homered in the second-inning that put the Orioles on top. With eight runs, it was the highest-scoring inning for the Orioles all season, and matched all but nine of their single-game scoring outputs.
The trouble began when the Rays chased Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers with a three-run third inning, with Baltimore bringing in the ominously named Scott Blewett. He allowed one more run in the fourth, but the real damage came with Yennier Cano and Andrew Kittredge, who gave up four runs each.
The Orioles were seemingly past their miserable start to the season, which saw the firing of manager Brandon Hyde, with a six-game win streak between May and June. They entered Wednesday having gone 12-5 since May 30, but those good vibes went out the window as soon as Brandon Lowe hit that game-tying homer.
Baltimore’s pitching staff is still an incredible liability, and now ranks second-worst in baseball by ERA+, which adjusts for park. Baseball Prospectus currently has their playoff odds at 8%, and it’s hard to see them following throw on that longshot without some sort of overhaul.
As for the Rays, the win keeps them ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays for second place in the AL East at 41-33, just 1.5 games behind the New York Yankees. They’ll go for a series win against the Orioles on Thursday, then a weekend series against the AL-best Detroit Tigers.
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