Orioles lineup bedeviled again by left-handed starter in loss to Cubs

At 6:02 p.m. Tuesday, the Orioles announced that the first pitch of their series opener against the Chicago Cubs would be delayed due to the threat of storms in the area.

The grounds crew stood by vigilantly, ready to unfurl a rolled-up tarp across the field. But the clouds hovering over the ballpark never broke, and not one drop of rain fell before the game began an hour behind schedule.

It was only fitting, then, that the Orioles offense yielded its own drought in the game itself.

With Cubs hurler Matthew Boyd dealing, Baltimore once again was mystified by a left-handed starter in a 5-2 loss. The furthest any Oriole got against him was second base, and as a team, they totaled three hits and two walks across Boyd’s six innings. He struck out seven batters.

“It’s not desperation,” said manager Craig Albernaz said. “I think we’re trying to problem-solve left-handed pitching.”

However, it remains a problem.

It wasn’t until the seventh inning when a crease finally widened enough for the Orioles to see light. They loaded the bases with two outs for Adley Rutschman, who shot a ground ball off former Oriole Jacob Webb into right field to bring in the first two runs of the night for the home team.

But the Cubs added an insurance run in the eighth inning, and the Orioles’ spark of hope never fanned into flame.

With the trade deadline less than a month away, every loss feels immensely consequential for the Orioles — especially since president of baseball operations Mike Elias forecasted the team hopes to be buying players to chase a playoff spot.

While these Orioles are in closer pursuit of the wild card than they were this time last year, the parallels to 2025’s doomed campaign feel uncanny: Through 92 games, their record (42-50) is the same as last season.

When asked what the Orioles have to do to avoid a sell-off, Rutschman was blunt: “We’ve gotta win games.”

One of the big issues that has clung stubbornly to their heels from last season is the inability to hit lefties. This year, they have the fifth-lowest OPS (.664) against left-handed pitchers in MLB. With the latest loss, the Orioles are now just 10-17 against left-handed starters.

Two days removed from scratching across just one run against Reds southpaw Nick Lodolo, the Orioles reconfigured their lineup with multiple players out of position in an effort to get better results. The hitting was no better than in Sunday’s loss, and the defense struggled more behind O’s starter Shane Baz.

With Dylan Beavers playing center and Blaze Alexander in right field, the Orioles outfield had costly moments. In the fifth inning, Miguel Amaya walloped a line drive to the right-center corner just out of Beavers’ range to put Cubs on second and third. Both runners would score, giving Chicago a 3-0 lead.

Baz put in a quality start, his 7th in his last 10 appearances. But after breezing through the first eight outs of the game, the pace slowed and Baz began to labor starting with a two-out walk of Amaya. The Cubs took advantage of the opportunity with back-to-back singles to score their first run.

“It’s just one of those things where you gotta either pitch around it in the moment or don’t walk anybody,” Baz said. “So yeah, definitely stings a little bit.”

Like with fellow starter Kyle Bradish on Sunday, the Orioles offense arrived late — and without adequate support for Baz.

“We didn’t move the ball forward at all,” Albernaz said. “When we got to the bullpen, we had some great at-bats, had some chances, Adley delivered.

“And yeah,” Albernaz added, “that was it.”