The Baltimore Orioles’ promising postseason push has now come to a sudden halt. The Boston Red Sox embarrassed them this past weekend, beating them 17-4 on Saturday and then shutting them out 1-0 in the Sunday series finale. After the Orioles won the first game, it was all downhill against Boston.
Playing against an inferior team (the Boston Red Sox), the Baltimore Orioles had to win this series and they couldn’t do it
So what went wrong? Jordan Lyles, who had been one of Baltimore’s more reliable pitchers, got rocked. He gave up a grand slam in the first inning to Rafael Devers. After that, the rout was on when he gave up four more runs in the fourth. Kevin Plawecki, Alex Verdugo, Devers, and Trevor Story all had an RBI. Any chance the Baltimore Orioles had of coming back was ended.
It snowballed to the point of being 17-4 and this game kind of felt like a statement that the Orioles still aren’t ready. It was a tough wake-up call for a team that has fought hard all year. They fell to 73-66 after the loss.
The Orioles really needed to win Sunday, but didn’t. Sunday was almost more deflating since they lost 1-0. Not being able to hit Rich Hill and a brutal Boston bullpen somewhat felt like the final nail in the coffin. Kyle Bradish pitched great, allowing just one run and two hits in seven innings of work. A sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts in the first inning, however, is all it took as the Sox never looked back.The O’s were only able to muster three hits, with Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson each only receiving a pinch hit at-bat.
This has still been a great season and the Orioles could finish with a record above .500. The playoffs seem over, but crazier things have happened. The Orioles can’t afford to lose many more games and would need an epic collapse from the Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, or Toronto Blue Jays to sneak into the postseason. Baltimore has a two-game set with the Nationals, which is basically a must sweep series, and their season will be on the line against the Blue Jays this weekend.
Do the Baltimore Orioles have another rally left in them? They have shown to be resilient all year, so let’s hope they can finish strong.