Orioles nearly pull off 4-game sweep but can’t overcome late bullpen collapse

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Understanding baseball, and really, truly grasping what to make of a team, is a fool’s errand, and yet we do it nightly. On Monday night, it was worth wondering who the real Orioles are.

Because they have looked great at various points — such as the first three games of this series against the Tampa Bay Rays. They even looked great at moments in Monday’s 7-6 loss in the finale, before a bullpen collapse prevented Baltimore from mopping the floor with the American League’s best team.

There have been just as many, if not more, maddening moments — the sort that underscore why the Orioles have a 61-64 record in mid-August.

So, really, who are these guys?

The answer, naturally, may land somewhere in the middle. The Orioles are tied for a postseason place largely due to the tepid American League, but there are many inconsistent teams aiming to find enough of a spark to sneak into the postseason over the last month-plus of the season.

There was much to like Monday, even with a rocky start from right-hander Brandon Young and the collapse from right-hander Yennier Cano in the seventh. The offense showed life, although right-hander Bryan Baker finished off a five-out save that included stranding the tying run at third in the eighth.

On the whole, this was a strong series. As ever, how to feel about this series — which caps a 10-game road trip with a 5-5 record — depends mostly on what comes next. It doesn’t get easier. The New York Yankees come to Baltimore, and then these Rays follow with another series.

So on and so forth, the spinning wheel of a baseball season rolls forward.

“It was a really good series for us,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “We’re trying to try and win every game we can, knowing where we’re at in the season and also with the wild-card picture. So, yeah, we would’ve liked to win this one, but overall, it was a really good series.”

This series-ending loss began promisingly. The sound off Coby Mayo’s bat in the second inning was so much sharper than the average home run, because what Mayo hit against left-hander Shane McClanahan was no average home run.

Mayo lambasted that baseball 468 feet, which is the fourth-longest homer in MLB this season.

“I don’t think I could hit a ball any better than that,” he said.

That kind of blast doesn’t come as a surprise anymore. Mayo’s power is ridiculous. And he demolishes lefties. Mayo’s 12 homers against southpaws are tied for second most in baseball with Kyle Schwarber and Shohei Ohtani. Matt Olson leads with 14.

The early lead Mayo provided didn’t last, however.

The Rays roughed up Young in a way few teams have managed this season. He allowed a season-high three home runs, beginning with a game-tying solo homer from Yandy Díaz in the third inning.

Young shook his right hand multiple times Monday. He said later that he has been dealing with finger pain for the last month or two, but “I don’t think it’s really hindering me in any way; it just hurts sometimes.”

The finger wasn’t the cause of his poor outing, Young said.

“Just didn’t execute well,” he said. “Honestly, I just didn’t pitch very well tonight. Didn’t keep my team in it. Made mistakes in the middle of the plate. They’re a good lineup and they made me pay for it.”

Once the Orioles took the lead back in the fourth through Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s two-run single, Tampa Bay leaped back in front in the bottom half of the frame. Ryan Vilade popped a homer for the second straight game, and Jorge Mateo took advantage of a miscued slider on an 0-2 count and throttled it for a two-run shot.

Young’s night was done after four innings, which ties his second-shortest outing of the season. As he walked to the dugout following that frame, Pete Alonso already stood in the on-deck circle. Noticing Young’s head down, Alonso slapped Young on the back as he passed.

Then he picked up his teammate immediately by getting the better of former Orioles right-hander Tyler Wells. Alonso lifted a low-and-away slider to right field for his 28th homer of the season.

And Encarnacion-Strand supplied a lead soon after. He skied a ball that left his bat at a 47-degree launch angle — two degrees lower than the highest-angled homer in MLB this year — that just kept sailing. It barely cleared the left-field wall, but they all count. His two-run homer gave Baltimore a two-run advantage.

“Obviously, Pete is having a great year, just like he always does,” Albernaz said of Alonso, who earned MLB’s American League Player of the Week award Monday.

“But everyone else, they can hit too, and the guys are doing a great job of feeding off each other,” Albernaz said. “Guys like CES, who came up [because of an] injury and taking the most of his opportunity — it was a great, great job by our acquisition team getting him off the waiver wire. He’s been a great impact, and everyone else has been great, too.”

For a while, the Orioles held that lead. Right-hander Cam Sanders produced two scoreless innings in relief. But Cano ran into trouble immediately. He allowed the first four batters to reach base safely, with one of those an RBI single from Jonathan Aranda.

“I felt good, just a bad game today,” Cano said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I feel like I’ve been throwing the ball well all year. They were playing really good baseball out there today. That’s the game you play, right? They can play really well, as well. So, just wasn’t my best game.”

Cano left bases loaded and no outs for left-hander Josh Walker. The lead soon shifted the Rays’ way through Jonny DeLuca’s chop that bounced well over Encarnacion-Strand’s head at third to score two runners.

But the edge didn’t grow in large part due to one of the best defensive plays of Gunnar Henderson’s career. The shortstop fielded Chandler Simpson’s chopper up the middle, scooping a short-hop near second base. Henderson managed to step on second, spin and fire to first to nab Simpson, a speedster, for two outs.

The opportunity to tie the game was felled, however, in the eighth when Baker entered to attempt a five-out save. The former Orioles reliever-turned-All-Star has been dominant this year. He ensured that Tampa Bay won at least one game in this four-game set.

The series, as a whole, was a positive.

“Coming into this series, I think winning three of four would have sounded great,” Mayo said.

There is a bit of a let-off when the finale is lost this way, with a strong offensive night undone by homers against Young and a poor inning from Cano. There will be what-ifs, just as there are every loss.

In the end, judging this series may be easiest at the season’s end, when the dust settles and clarity on this Orioles team is finally possible.