Orioles fall to 0-9 against left-handed starters with 4-3 loss to Athletics

For one reason or another, for all the attempted improvements the Orioles’ front office has made to supplement the right-handed bats in their lineup, Baltimore can’t break through against a left-handed starter.

Friday’s series opener seemed to be a great chance to dispel the boogeyman that haunts this lineup in the form of southpaws. Baltimore entered the game against the Athletics with a .192 average and .571 on-base-plus-slugging percentage against left-handed starters, but Sacramento’s Jacob Lopez entered with a 6.60 ERA and a 1.90 WHIP.

Adley Rutschman and Pete Alonso came through against Lopez with solo homers, but the Orioles managed only three other baserunners — two walks and a hit — against a pitcher who averages almost two baserunners per inning. With Lopez and a bullpen that posted enough zeroes behind him, the Athletics handed Baltimore a 4-3 loss that could’ve been much different had a few defensive plays been made.

The Orioles dropped to 0-9 against left-handed starters this season.

Manager Craig Albernaz called the poor results against lefties an anomaly, although this had been an issue early last year as well.

“We’re trying to solve that problem,” Albernaz said. “That’s our Achilles’ heel right now. Us as a coaching staff, we’re going to solve that problem here very quickly.”

Right-hander Kyle Bradish produced his best outing of the year for the Orioles in front of 39,311 fans, the second-largest attendance at Camden Yards this season (thanks in large part to a Tupac bobblehead giveaway). Bradish posted a season-high seven innings and dazzled with 10 strikeouts. But the homer from Alonso in the fourth — which gave Baltimore (17-22) the lead — soon gave way to a difficult inning.

In short, the three runs against Bradish in the fifth inning probably should not have occurred.

A series of defensive miscues — what’s new? — allowed the Athletics to break through against Bradish, who was otherwise unbreachable. With two runners on and no outs, the Orioles thought Zack Gelof would lay down a sacrifice bunt. Weston Wilson, at third because Blaze Alexander was scratched with a tight calf, charged toward home. Shortstop Gunnar Henderson ran to cover third.

The weak ground ball from Gelof sneaked through the infield, past Henderson, who dove back the way he came but came up empty.

“That’s on me,” Albernaz said. “I put the bunt play on in the dugout. We were anticipating bunt. Prep work, everything that we knew about them was that’s where they bunt, especially Gelof. We were selling out to the bunt.”

Albernaz said Rutschman heard the Athletics dugout yell to Gelof to swing, which perhaps indicates the bunt was initially called but they changed it once they saw Wilson creep in. Gelof’s knock to where the shortstop would normally stand scored one.

“Just knowing and going over scouting reports that we have, they thought it was a pretty good situation he was going to lay down a bunt,” Henderson said. “But, obviously, he didn’t. So we thought we knew how it was going to go, but obviously it didn’t work out.”

On the next play, Jeff McNeil dribbled a grounder up the middle. Henderson tried to scoop the ball and step on second in one motion — “just didn’t catch the ball first,” he said.

He bobbled it instead, and second baseman Jeremiah Jackson settled for an out at first base rather than Baltimore turning an inning-ending double play.

Following that mistake, which doesn’t count as an error because double plays can’t be assumed and an out at first was recorded, Alonso motioned for the infield to join him on the mound. The free agent signing delivered a speech to the group, but with runners on the corners and one out, it didn’t lead to an escape.

Nick Kurtz, the Athletics’ young slugger, pulled a two-run triple down the right field line.

“Unfortunately, that was probably my worst pitch of the day,” Bradish said. “I didn’t get the slider below the zone. Kind of hung out in the middle, the middle of the plate, and he hit it down the line.”

Those were the only runs against Bradish. The right-hander looked better than ever. He used his curveball more frequently and dropped his slider usage, and the tweak worked. He drew a career-high nine whiffs with his curveball, which was a focus this week.

Bradish said the Orioles opted to increase his curveball usage “to try to protect some other pitches, and today it played well, so we just rolled with it.”

“He looked phenomenal tonight,” Rutschman said. “I thought he did a really good job of just locating the fastball and working his spins off of that.”

This string of games has done a number on the Orioles’ bullpen, and right-hander Trey Gibson’s addition Friday was meant to combat that. This series opener against the Athletics marked Baltimore’s 10th straight game without an off day. There are five more to go.

In the sense that Gibson covered the final two innings, the rookie did his job. But, with the Orioles already struggling to mount a rally, the run that scored off Gibson in the eighth carried weight. The Athletics knocked three hits against Gibson, with the third an RBI single from Jacob Wilson that sneaked past the glove of a diving Alonso.

“Outstanding job by Trey to cover those two innings for us and kind of reset the bullpen,” Albernaz said. “We had not many guys available tonight.”

Still, for an offense that couldn’t muster much, the two-run deficit made the comeback attempt more challenging against right-hander Jack Perkins. Baltimore’s lone offense to that point had been solo shots. The Orioles needed baserunners. They got one right away when Rutschman walked to lead off the ninth inning.

But Alonso and Dylan Beavers struck out, and after Samuel Basallo drove in Rutschman with a two-out single, the Orioles didn’t rise above the two-run deficit. Left-hander Hogan Harris struck out Jackson with two runners on base to secure the Athletics’ win.

There just wasn’t much offense to be had, and once again a southpaw was the bane of Baltimore.

This article has been updated.