Orioles once again fail to push winning streak past 3 games as they lose to Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. — There’s a reason the Angels added right-hander Ryan Johnson to their major league roster in 2025 before he ever pitched in the minors, and it’s only partially because of Los Angeles’ lack of pitching depth.

Johnson, a second-round pick in the 2024 draft, is well-regarded around here. Even though his major league performances before Tuesday had been poor, he’s only 23. His career 9.96 ERA entering the game was the result of just 28 innings of work, mostly as a reliever. But in 18 minor league starts, Johnson holds a 2.09 ERA. At a certain point, he was sure to show promise.

The Orioles helped him achieve the best performance of his young career by struggling to pick up his funky windup. Johnson mowed through six scoreless innings, allowing only one hit — which was immediately wiped out by a double play — and walking one batter. He struck out eight batters.

That offensive display, coupled with right-hander Shane Baz’s worst start in almost two months, relegated the Orioles to a 5-1 loss in the second game of the series against the Angels.

“Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposing pitcher, and he was on tonight,” manager Craig Albernaz said.

For a team that prides itself on its offense, however, this meager showing from the Orioles’ bats says as much about their lack of consistency as it does about Johnson’s proficiency.

This pauses Baltimore’s momentum in an all-too familiar way, as well. The Orioles have won three straight games on six occasions. They’ve yet to win four straight games. Tuesday, the halfway mark of this 162-game season, would’ve been the fourth.

Instead, Baltimore (38-43) will aim to win the series — and end this nine-game West Coast road trip with a winning record — Wednesday afternoon.

“Our guys have the same energy, the same work, prep, everything going into the game,” Albernaz said. “It’s just getting over that hump, you know? And, obviously, offensively we couldn’t do anything tonight, so that didn’t help. It’s one of those things where we just have to keep on battling.”

The end of Baltimore’s impressive offensive showings came quickly. The Orioles closed out a series win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday by scoring 12 runs. They followed with six runs and a dominant start from right-hander Kyle Bradish at Angel Stadium on Monday.

Neither the hitting nor the dominant starting pitching carried over to Tuesday. Baz fell behind immediately when first baseman Nolan Schanuel hit a two-run home run, which continued a theme for the right-hander. Baz’s first-inning ERA is 6.75, the highest mark for any of his innings.

“Hits and walks. Just, it happens,” said Baz, who added that to perform better earlier in games, it comes down to “just going out there and attacking like I should every game.”

Baz settled down until the fifth, when three more runs scored. Los Angeles produced four straight hits, including a double from Zach Neto and a two-run single from Vaughn Grissom, before Jorge Soler’s sacrifice fly plated another run.

With five runs off him in five innings, Baz was lifted for right-hander Albert Suárez, and the long reliever did his job. Suárez needed 30 pitches to complete three scoreless innings.

The elevated strikeout numbers from Johnson meant his pitch count rose, and after the sixth, he was out of the game. For those six innings, however, Johnson cruised.

“He made good pitches in good spots,” third baseman Coby Mayo said. “Obviously, I think we’re more than capable of handling him, and sometimes it’s not your night. Last night, did well, and today we didn’t. Props to him, but obviously you want to have a better result and come out tomorrow and compete.”

There wasn’t enough of a late offensive charge from Baltimore, even with the first two batters reaching base to begin the seventh.

Gunnar Henderson singled and Pete Alonso walked, but Samuel Basallo hit into a fielder’s choice and Mayo struck out. Leody Taveras drove a two-out RBI single to avoid a shutout, but that lone run was the only a dent in an Angels lead that set up a rubber match.

Baz said for the Orioles to get into a playoff spot, they need to stay healthy and stick to “what we’re good at,” which to Baz is Baltimore’s lineup. “Our lineup’s so good. We’ve just got to supplement with the pitching and the defense, baserunning.”

He concluded: “I feel like we’re not in a bad spot. We’re within striking distance.”

At a certain point, the Orioles need to rattle off a sizable winning streak. They’re on pace for 76 wins — only one better than last year.

That is nowhere near what was expected of this club. And even the weak American League won’t leave the door open forever.

Note

Blaze Alexander avoided a serious injury. He fouled a ball off his knee in the second inning of Monday’s win, played in the field in the bottom half of that frame, then sat on the bench during the top of the third. That’s when his knee locked up on him. He couldn’t straighten it.

The Orioles rushed to make a change in the field and settled Taveras, an outfielder, to play third base. But Alexander said his knee now feels only bruised, not locked up, and “honestly, I feel like if I was in the starting lineup, I’d be perfectly fine.”

Alexander said he felt guilty leaving the game on such short notice, but the timing was unavoidable. Orioles trainers worked out his knee and he felt better by the end of the night, but because Alexander’s knee locked up right between innings, there was no time to wait for treatment.

The Orioles turned to Taveras, and he did the job well.

“We iced it right away and slowly started moving around, and I was like, man, if there weren’t three outs and I had a little more time, I probably would’ve been able to finish the game and be out there,” Alexander said. “I was scared until he [Taveras] made the play, and then he looked smooth. Had two hits. I’m happy that happened. You don’t ever want to throw a guy in there, especially when they know they’re not playing that night, and they get surprised with some at-bats. But two hits? I think he’s happy.”