The Red Sox were stuck.
Boston manager Alex Cora brought in left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino to face the bottom of the Orioles’ lineup with a few lefties due up, runners on first and second and no outs as Baltimore trailed by one run in the sixth inning.
After Ryan Mountcastle pinch hit and walked to load the bases, Boston made a mound visit to plan how Bernardino could possibly escape this jam with Austin Hays and Jorge Mateo — two right-handed hitters who perform better versus lefties — due up and the Red Sox southpaw forced to face them because of MLB’s three-batter minimum.
Nine pitches later, Bernardino was somehow strutting off the mound as the contingent of Boston fans behind the third base dugout gave a standing ovation and Orioles fans moaned after a missed opportunity so large it’s virtually impossible to overcome.
Hays, Mateo and Gunnar Henderson went down with a whimper to halt the Orioles’ best chance of a comeback as Baltimore fell, 8-3, to the Red Sox at Camden Yards. It was the Orioles’ first loss since Wednesday in St. Louis, ending the club’s season-high five-game winning streak, and their first defeat at the hands of the Red Sox after opening the season 4-0 against them.
Hays, who pinch hit for Cedric Mullins, struck out on four pitches. Mateo hit a dribbler that traveled 15 feet past home plate that Bernardino flipped with his glove to catcher Connor Wong for a forceout. And Henderson, one of baseball’s best left-on-left hitters this season, went down swinging on three pitches.
“Give Bernardino credit. He’s having a heck of a year, and he did a great job against us,” manager Brandon Hyde said of the reliever who now sports a sparkling 0.78 ERA. “Mounty had a good at-bat, and unfortunately we didn’t score after he got the next three guys out. With how good their bullpen is, we’re down one with the bases loaded in a no-out spot, you feel pretty good about our offense at that point.”
Five innings earlier, it appeared as if Monday’s 11-run performance that included seven extra-base hits from six hitters had carried over. Five of the Orioles’ first six batters reached base against Red Sox starter Brayan Bello with an RBI infield single from Colton Cowser and a two-run opposite-field knock from Jordan Westburg giving Baltimore an early 3-2 lead.
The Orioles would record only five more hits and failed to score across the final eight innings.
“It’s part of the game,” veteran outfielder Anthony Santander said. “That’s just the way the game goes sometimes. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get the job done on that end tonight.”
Boston (28-27) was leading because of its own early offense against Grayson Rodriguez. The sophomore right-hander gave up two runs in each of his first two frames, but he settled down for one of the best swing-and-miss starts of his nascent career. Rodriguez bounced back to strike out a career-high 10 batters and make it through six innings of four-run ball.
“Any time you give up four runs, I think pretty disappointed about that,” Rodriguez said. “I was glad I was able to go six innings, but should’ve done a bit better of a job keeping my team in the game.”
In the eighth, sinkerballer Yennier Cano allowed an inherited runner from left-hander Cionel Pérez to score, and southpaw Keegan Akin was tagged for three runs in the ninth — an inning he wouldn’t have been pitching had the offense not wasted its bases-loaded chance in the sixth.
Baltimore is 34-19 and two games back of the American League East-leading New York Yankees (37-18), who play on the West Coast late Tuesday night.
Rodriguez (5-2) was ambushed from the moment he stepped on the mound at Camden Yards in front of an announced 17,970. His command was off, and the Red Sox took advantage. Seven of the eight batted balls Rodriguez allowed in the first two innings were hard hits, which Statcast defines as 95 mph exit velocity or faster, but he allowed none over the final four innings.
In the first, Wilyer Abreu homered off a low changeup to put Boston on the board, and Rob Refsnyder doubled off a slider that caught too much plate and scored on star third baseman Rafael Devers’ single off a well-located 97.6 mph fastball. Leadoff hitter Jarren Duran smacked an RBI double off a hung curveball in the second, and Devers hit a bloop single between Cowser and Henderson in shallow left to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.
Rodriguez, 24, retired 13 of the next 14 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the third.
“I thought he did a great job of settling down after the second inning,” Hyde said. “ I thought he made some really good adjustments there after the second inning and the next four were outstanding.”
In his first start this season, Rodriguez struck out nine and was the recipient of friendly trash talk in the dugout from ace Corbin Burnes for failing to reach double digits. But he did so Tuesday for the first time through 32 big league starts, also setting a career-high with 18 whiffs on 47 swings.
“I’d say the most positive thing about this outing is going six innings, trying to save innings for the bullpen,” said Rodriguez, who owns a 3.53 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 51 innings. “I know it gets tiring down there, so any time a starter goes out, I think six innings is the bottom line. That’s what we’re trying to get to.”
Fifteen of the Orioles’ 34 wins this season have been in come-from-behind fashion, but throwing away the bases-loaded opportunity in the sixth and Akin’s calamitous ninth eliminated that possibility. The left-hander opened the frame allowing a single and a walk, gave up a sacrifice fly to Romy Gonzalez and then hung a center-cut slider that Refsnyder crushed over the left field wall for a two-run homer.
Akin allowed six runs in his first 21 outings to begin the season, but has surrendered seven runs over his past three appearances. In the past week, he’s gone from one of Hyde’s most-trusted relievers to one operating on thin ice.
The loss drops the Orioles to 8-3 against AL East foes this season. Another defeat Wednesday would end the club’s franchise-record streak of 17 consecutive series without losing to a divisional rival — a stretch that dates to April 2023.
The uncertainty of the Orioles’ pitching staff (with rotation injuries & a weird bullpen) means Baltimore could dip into its farm system to fill holes.
Who should the Orioles consider?
Here are 5 types of pitchers who could be called up this season: https://t.co/xxvp7V0biS
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) May 28, 2024
Around the horn
• Outfielder Kyle Stowers started consecutive games for the Orioles for his first time since May 2023. He went 3-for-4 with a career-high four RBIs in Monday’s win and 1-for-2 on Tuesday before being pinch hit for by Mountcastle in the sixth. The first baseman was receiving a maintenance day off as manager Brandon Hyde juggles his position players to keep them all fresh.
• Jordan Westburg was hit by a pitch on his right wrist/hand in the sixth inning. After a lengthy discussion with Hyde and a team trainer, Westburg remained in the game despite the 95.5 mph sinker striking his throwing hand. He even singled in his next and final at-bat. Hyde said after the game that the sophomore infielder is being evaluated. “We’re getting him checked out right now,” the sixth-year skipper said. “Hoping he’s OK. Tough kid.”
• Before the game, Hyde said right-hander Dean Kremer, who was placed on the injured list last week with a triceps strain, is improving and will soon start a throwing program. Hyde said there are no updates on injured starters Tyler Wells (elbow inflammation), who has started throwing at the team’s facility in Sarasota, Florida, and John Means (forearm strain), who was placed on the IL last week.
• Triple-A Norfolk right-hander Kaleb Ort was designated for assignment by the Orioles and claimed by the Houston Astros on Tuesday. The Orioles claimed Ort, a former Red Sox reliever, in a cash trade during spring training, but the veteran posted a 12.08 ERA with the Tides. Baltimore now has an open spot on its 40-man roster.
Red Sox at Orioles
Wednesday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
