Baltimore Orioles’ Crushing Loss Continues Alarming Trend
The Baltimore Orioles’ four-game road series against the Toronto Blue Jays this week was a true rollercoaster ride, marked by soaring highs and devastating lows.
The Orioles dominated the first two games of the series, outscoring the Blue Jays 17-3 and making Toronto manager John Schneider regret his comments about Baltimore not being the 1927 New York Yankees.
The series flipped during the third game on Wednesday, however, as the Orioles’ bats finally went cold and the Blue Jays won a hard-fought pitcher’s duel. The score was tied 2-2 for most of the game before Baltimore’s stalwart closer Craig Kimbrel stumbled in the bottom of the ninth, surrendering a two-out walk-off single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa and suffering his first loss since April 28.
The Orioles had a chance to bounce back on Thursday and win the series, but the finale was even more gut-wrenching. Baltimore fell behind 6-1 before charging back in the late innings, only to come up just short in another one-run loss.
That marks the fifth time this season the Orioles have lost back-to-back games and the first time they’ve done so against a division rival. Baltimore hadn’t lost consecutive games to an AL East opponent since Sept. 14-15 last year against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Orioles are 13-6 against the AL East this year, however, so that hasn’t been a problem. What’s more concerning is their record in one-run games, which is 6-10 after these last two losses. Baltimore has now dropped its last five one-run affairs.
These are the types of games the Orioles can’t afford to lose if they want to catch the surging Yankees in the standings. Baltimore has fallen 4.5 games behind New York, which has won eight in a row after sweeping the Minnesota Twins.
June is a brutal month for the Orioles, so some tough losses were to be expected. They’ll try to get back in the win column on Friday night in Tampa Bay. Cole Irvin (5-2, 2.84 ERA) will try to keep up his hot start for Baltimore, while the bats will look to take advantage of the struggling Aaron Civale (2-4, 5.37 ERA).
