Adley Rutschman strolled to home plate with a new sound blasting from Camden Yards’ speaker.
The two-time All-Star and most of his teammates changed their walk-up songs amid the Orioles’ struggles — a superstitious attempt to turn around the club’s fortunes.
Instead of Kanye West’s “Gorgeous,” it was the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” — an apt choice for a slumping catcher on a team slipping in the standings. Gunnar Henderson followed with “Magic Stick” by Lil’ Kim and 50 Cent instead of his fan-favorite “Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani. Starting pitcher Albert Suárez took the mound with D4L’s “Laffy Taffy” welcoming him.
However, the new tunes didn’t work. The Orioles just kept playing like a broken record.
Rutschman, Henderson and Baltimore’s bats were shut out and recorded only five hits against San Francisco Giants ace Blake Snell and his bullpen in a 10-0 defeat. The Orioles have now lost eight of their past 11 and scored only 21 runs over that stretch.
“Figured just change something up a little bit, get everybody in kind of a funny mood,” Henderson said. “Hopefully, they’ll be good for us down the road. Didn’t show tonight, but yeah, hopefully, it will be kind of a mood change.”
Snell, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, was his dominant self, striking out 12 across six innings. The only thing that prevented Snell from working a no-hit bid — which would have been no stranger to the Orioles after they were nearly held without one Friday versus the Detroit Tigers — was Emmanuel Rivera’s soft single in the second inning.
New walk-up songs don’t make hitting Snell’s nasty breaking balls any easier.
“I knew that they were going to try to mix some things up a little bit, but I wasn’t thinking about it going into the game until I heard the ‘Macarena,’” manager Brandon Hyde said, referencing Anthony Santander’s new song. “So, yeah, and then Gunnar’s song was different. They’re just trying. They know they’re grinding, and they’re trying to snap out of it a little bit and trying to make an adjustment.”
Baltimore falls to 84-67 and is losing time to make up ground in the race for the American League East title. With only 11 games remaining, the Orioles are four games behind the New York Yankees, who beat Seattle 11-2 on Tuesday. After Detroit defeated Kansas City in extra innings, the Orioles’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth remains at six, while their lead over the Royals for the AL’s top wild-card spot holds at 2 1/2 games.
“It’s not fun going through it,” Henderson said of the team’s skid. “I mean, feel like we’ve been talking about it for a while. Just trying to figure out a way to get through it.”
The Orioles sported baseball’s best offense in the first half of the season, but as injuries have mounted in recent months, their success at the plate has diminished. It’s hit a nadir in September as no-hit bids, shutouts and anemic offensive performances have become the norm. They struck out 15 times in 34 trips to the plate Tuesday for their second-highest punchout total in a single game this season.
Two weeks ago, Baltimore led New York by a half-game. Since, the Orioles have gone 3-8 and scored two or fewer runs seven times. Their lineup has combined to slash .189/.261/.316 for a paltry .577 OPS. Tuesday was the third time they’ve been shut out in that stretch.
Hyde said the thought of facing Snell, who entered with a 1.45 ERA over his past 12 starts, in a pivotal game wasn’t something impacting the Orioles entering the game.
“No, I didn’t sense that at all going into the game,” the sixth-year skipper said. “I thought the energy was great in our clubhouse, like it normally is. Thought our guys were prepared. I thought we had a really good hitter’s meeting. I just thought that we faced one of the better pitchers in the game, and we didn’t swing the bat well against him. We had a tough time with him.”
Albert Suárez struggled in his first outing against his former team, allowing six hits and four runs in 3 1/3 innings to mark the journeyman’s shortest start since July 23. Suárez likely has one or two starts remaining in the regular season before the Orioles must decide whether he will be in their playoff rotation ahead of Dean Kremer or in the bullpen.
“Not executing the pitches,” Suárez said. “Throwing too many pitches not in the strike zone, so I think that was a big issue today.”
Former Orioles minor leaguer Mike Yastrzemski, whom general manager Mike Elias gave up in his first player-for-player trade as Baltimore’s general manager in March 2019, led off the game with a solo home run and smacked an RBI single in the second. Brett Wisely drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second, and Donovan Walton brought home the final run off Suárez with a single in the fourth.
Baltimore’s bullpen was excellent — until it wasn’t. Keegan Akin and Burch Smith combined to toss 4 2/3 hitless and scoreless innings while striking out six. But ex-closer Craig Kimbrel imploded in the ninth for the worst inning of his career.
Kimbrel allowed six runs and only retired two batters as San Francisco (73-78) went up by a touchdown and a field goal. It marked the first time in the 36-year-old’s distinguished career that he’s surrendered more than four runs in a single frame. Matt Bowman relieved him and recorded the final out after allowing both of Kimbrel’s runners to score on a single from Michael Conforto.
Kimbrel put up an All-Star-caliber first half, but he’s been one of the worst relievers in the major leagues in the second half. In 18 innings since July 14, he’s posted an 11.50 ERA and 2.222 WHIP.
“I had a tough time trying to find a spot for him on the road trip. He didn’t pitch for a week,” Hyde said. “I think as the inning got along and got tired, I didn’t want to use anybody else. I was hoping he could just get out of the inning, and unfortunately, there was some fatigue there at the end. The [velocity] started getting down a little bit. Normally, he’s not out there for that long.”
After a strikeout to open the frame, Kimbrel allowed the next four batters to reach base on a single, two walks and an RBI sacrifice bunt from Wisely. Baltimore native Lamonte Wade Jr. (St. Paul’s) roped a two-run single, and Heliot Ramos roped a double off the left field wall to bring home another run.
Some of the 23,967 Orioles fans at Camden Yards booed Kimbrel as he took the mound and throughout his outing. But they didn’t bother — instead focusing on getting back to their cars — as he walked off the mound.