NEW YORK — The Orioles showed plenty of fight Wednesday afternoon by tying the game with sixth- and eighth-inning rallies, but Craig Kimbrel and Seranthony Domínguez each allowed a go-ahead home run, including a walk-off by Jesse Winker, in Baltimore’s 4-3 loss to the New York Mets.
After losing the series opener in walk-off fashion with Domínguez on the mound, the Orioles once again turned to their closer-of-late with the score tied at 3 in the ninth. Winker worked a full count against Domínguez before sending a line drive 417 feet to left field. His blast came two innings after third baseman Mark Vientos took Kimbrel deep on a 93 mph fastball over the middle of the plate for the 12th run Kimbrel has allowed in his past 12 appearances.
“We’re going to continue to throw them out there,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Whoever’s on the roster. We’ve got eight guys in our ’pen and trying to find some guys to get hot for us.”
Mets starter Sean Manaea carried a perfect game bid into the sixth inning before hitting rookie Jackson Holliday with a fastball with two outs. The next pitch he threw landed beyond the right field wall for a two-run home run by leadoff hitter Austin Slater, putting a swift end to Manaea’s hopes of throwing his second career no-hitter and waking up the Orioles’ offense.
“Sean had his best stuff today and he pitched really, really well,” Slater said. “Hats off to him, luckily we were able to get something going there in the sixth and you know a little too late for us probably. Not enough for us. Definitely hurts.”
Slater’s blast — his first since being acquired at the trade deadline — tied the game at 2 to get Cole Irvin off the hook for the loss after the left-hander allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings in his first MLB start since June 30. The Mets retook the lead on Vientos’ homer, but Baltimore battled back with a run in the eighth inning — which included an ejection of pinch hitter Ryan O’Hearn by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson after he struck out — on a sacrifice fly by Adley Rutschman with the bases loaded.
However, the Orioles tallied only three hits in the game and squandered the opportunity to tack on more runs when Gunnar Henderson popped out in foul territory to end the threat. The lack of offense made every run surrendered by the Orioles’ banged-up pitching staff hurt. Irvin was happy with his performance despite not making it out of the fifth.
“I wanted to finish that fifth inning but things aren’t going to work out the way you want to and I think I was on a little bit of a pitch limit there,” said Irvin, who entered Wednesday with a 4.66 ERA over 172 innings for the Orioles across the past two seasons. “Still working back as a starter so, yeah, I’m just trying to give the team the best effort. It was nice to be back and see everyone, a lot of smiles and a lot of joy and, yeah, just so much to smile about in terms of how my day went.”
The bullpen’s afternoon started off on a high note when Colin Selby took over for Irvin with runners on the corners and one out in the fifth and minimized the damage by allowing only one inherited runner to score. He then pitched a scoreless sixth to help the Orioles tie things up, but Hyde then turned to Kimbrel in the seventh.
The veteran reliever recorded the final two outs of Tuesday’s 9-5 victory and had strong numbers this season when pitching on consecutive days, but Kimbrel’s struggles reared their head once again when Vientos took him deep. Since July 14, Kimbrel has posted a 9.53 ERA with five home runs and 12 walks.
Domínguez had been dominant for the Orioles entering this series, recording three save opportunities in as many tries while putting up a 1.74 ERA. But the up-and-down nature of Domínguez’s tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies showed itself in New York with catcher Francisco Alvarez walking him off Monday and Winker sending the Citi Field fans home happy with his game-winning solo shot Wednesday.
The Orioles (74-54) also announced a roster move during the game, claiming infielder Emmanuel Rivera off waivers from the Miami Marlins and designating utility man Terrin Vavra for assignment. Rivera, who owns a .563 OPS in 96 games this season, was removed from the Marlins’ 40-man roster Monday amid a flurry of moves that included recalling Connor Norby, traded by Baltimore as part of a package for starter Trevor Rogers, from Triple-A.
With the loss Wednesday, the Orioles dropped two of three in their series with the Mets. They’ll return to Baltimore looking to bounce back when they host the first of four games against the red-hot Houston Astros. Corbin Burnes is expected to start for the Orioles while Houston has yet to announce any of its probable pitchers for the weekend.
Astros at Orioles
Thursday, 7:15 p.m.
TV: Fox
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM