1 week Ago By Taylor Lyons
Gunnar Henderson couldn’t believe it. The shortstop, who’s homered in three of his past four games, nearly — should have — had another. A line drive to center field with two on in the fourth inning was tracking to clear the wall and give the Orioles their first lead of the game.
But Jose Siri timed his leap to perfection, snatching it out of the sky to pull it back. All Henderson could do was stare and tilt his helmet in admiration as his team’s best chance to pull ahead vanished. Baltimore never threatened again Saturday in a 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Cedric Mullins led off the sixth inning with his second home run in his past five games for the Orioles’ first, and only, run. The center fielder has been one of Baltimore’s top sluggers across his scorching second half — he’s hitting .284 with a .
863 OPS since June 8 and has the third most FanGraphs wins above replacement on the team over that span behind only Henderson and Colton Cowser. On Saturday, Mullins’ long ball was it for another sluggish offensive output. Tampa Bay right-hander Ryan Pepiot stymied the Orioles’ lineup until then.
Baltimore (82-61) had just two hits through three innings and squandered prime scoring chances. Cowser, Mullins and Jackson Holliday loaded the bases in the second before eight- and nine-hole hitters Emmanuel Rivera and James McCann stranded all three. Henderson nearly got his team on the board in the fourth before Siri took away his would-be go-ahead, three-run shot.
“Offensively, we still got a lot of guys grinding,” manager Brandon Hyde said before the game. “Hopefully some guys can get it rolling here.” Saturday was instead a continuation of those inconsistencies.
Zach Eflin faced a unique test in his second start following a brief injured list stint: his old team. The right-hander’s former teammates leaned on their inherent advantage and got to Eflin, who failed to post a quality start for the first time in six outings with the Orioles. Tampa Bay tagged him for a pair of home runs in the first three innings, his most allowed in a start since June 16.
Eflin pitched scoreless fourth and fifth frames before stumbling in the sixth, as three singles chased the starter before he finished the inning. His eight hits allowed are the most since his first outing after joining the team. He struck out just four, his second-fewest in a start with his new team.
That Eflin’s worst start with the Orioles is three runs over 5 2/3 innings is a testament to how impressive the deadline acquisition has been. They’ll be thrilled if it remains as such. Eflin’s replacements weren’t better.
The Rays added two more runs in the seventh, one earned charged to Gregory Soto to end his scoreless outing streak at 10 and the other unearned on a throwing error by Ryan O’Hearn. Burch Smith allowed another run, and Craig Kimbrel let a run score on a wild pitch to put the finishing touches on the six-run defeat. With the New York Yankees’ win over the Chicago Cubs earlier in the day, the Orioles fell a half-game back of the American League East lead.
Related Articles • The Orioles signed infielder Terrin Vavra to a minor league deal Saturday. Baltimore designated Vavra for assignment last month, and he recently opted out of his minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners. • Sunday’s series finale against Tampa Bay, starting at 12:05 p.
m., will stream exclusively on Roku. The game is available for free on Roku devices or anywhere The Roku Channel can be found.
It will not be broadcast on the Mid Atlantic Sports Network, but in- or out-of-market blackouts won‘t apply. • Manager Brandon Hyde had no update on the status of Jacob Webb’s rehabilitation assignment. The right-hander last pitched Wednesday for Double-A Bowie but allowed four runs in just one-third of an inning.
• Rookie Heston Kjerstad will begin his rehabilitation stint with High-A Aberdeen on Saturday. He’s batting second as the designated hitter in the IronBirds’ lineup for their penultimate regular-season game. The 25-year-old outfielder has been on the injured list since Aug.
7 with lingering symptoms from a concussion initially suffered after being hit by a pitch in July. Sunday, 12:05 p.m.
Roku 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM.
