Late collapse leaves Orioles to suffer sweep vs. Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This may well be the series that is looked back on late in the year as the death knell. There are plenty of games remaining, but the Orioles depart Tropicana Field on the losing end of a sweep to drop eight games below .500.

So much went well for the Orioles in Wednesday’s game. Right-hander Shane Baz produced the best start of his season upon his return to face Tampa Bay. First baseman Pete Alonso drove in two runs, one on a solo homer in the sixth, and designated hitter Samuel Basallo added a solo shot to give Baltimore a two-run lead.

But that lead vanished quickly into a 5-3 loss at the hands of the Rays, who own the best record in baseball and are proving why each day. A four-run eighth inning against right-hander Anthony Nunez left the Orioles trudging home.

This two-city road trip is one to forget — or lose sleep over.

The Orioles lost five of six games, with two of those coming against the Washington Nationals before the Rays’ sweep. Even as the Orioles appeared poised to rescue at least one win here, things all went wrong late.

Baltimore has now seen the American League East’s top two teams, the Rays and New York Yankees, for one road series each. The Orioles are a combined 0-7 in those games. When asked how Baltimore can raise its level of play to compete with those clubs, manager Craig Albernaz said his team needs to play “a complete baseball game.”

Alonso echoed him, saying: “We’ve got to play a complete game. I mean, yeah, thought we had them, but gotta close the door.”

The loss prompted Mid-Atlantic Sports Network analyst and former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald to state that analytics don’t matter without execution on the postgame show. Of course, the Rays are one of the most analytically advanced teams in Major League Baseball. They’re analyzing strengths and weaknesses and executing the former on the field.

“What I care about is, do you make plays? Do you make pitches? Do you get hits when it matters? And that’s what the Orioles are struggling to do right now,” McDonald said on air. “They are struggling to complete ballgames. They are struggling to have all phases of the game go right at the same time. That’s where the struggle is. So all this nonsense is eyewash to me about all this analytical stuff. You either do or you don’t. And right now the Orioles don’t. They are not doing it and they’re not playing well right now. That’s the bottom line.”

Considering the calendar, the Orioles are still within reach of the postseason, even if the divisional race is falling away quickly. At the conclusion of Wednesday’s game, the Orioles were three games back of the final wild-card spot. And, even in May, Alonso noted how the lackluster American League could be a reprieve for the Orioles.

“Thankfully, other people haven’t played up to their potential, just like we have, so I think it’s still wide open for us,” Alonso said. “We expect better from ourselves, like, we gotta do it. We gotta do it on the field.”

Alonso, a Tampa native, was one of three Orioles to have homecomings Wednesday. The others were Baz, whom the Orioles traded for this winter from the Rays, and Nunez, who played college ball at the University of Tampa.

Baz spun a gem, completing six innings with two hits and one run against him. The lone run came via Hunter Feduccia’s first career home run in the second inning.

“I feel like my last four [starts] have been solid,” said Baz, who called returning to Tropicana Field “a little weird at first.”

“I was just really happy with the way I kind of battled back after those first two innings, [which] were kind of ugly, just with the walks,” Baz continued.

Nunez’s homecoming, however, wasn’t clean. He buckled with two outs in the eighth inning, allowing two straight hits: a single from Junior Caminero and a double from Jonathan Aranda. Aranda’s double came with runners on the corners, and both scored. It’s hard to know whether the Orioles would’ve had any chance of nabbing pinch runner Oliver Dunn at the plate, but he wound up scoring from first with ease when center fielder Colton Cowser bobbled the ball.

Two more runs scored once right-hander Rico Garcia entered to inherit runners from Nunez. Richie Palacios singled home a fourth run to give the Rays the lead, and then he manufactured a fifth. He stole second with two outs, which prompted a throw from catcher Adley Rutschman. Second baseman Jackson Holliday cut the throw off early, but Holliday’s throw back to the plate was too high. Ryan Vilade, breaking from third, slid home.

“You definitely want to salvage, especially with the last game,” Nunez said. “Forget about it, day one tomorrow, and try to get some more wins here on out.”

The Orioles are 21-29 and in last place in the American League East. It begs a question McDonald asked himself on the postgame show.

“Where do they go from here?” McDonald said. “I can’t tell you where they go from here. I don’t know where the Orioles go from here, other than that they have to start playing more consistent baseball. That’s the bottom line.”

This article has been updated.