Orioles lose Cade Povich to injury, then suffer ‘gut punch’ loss to Marlins

MIAMI — After losing their starting pitcher to injury, the Orioles lost the series finale to the Marlins, 4-3, on an error by third baseman Coby Mayo on Thursday night.

In a 3-3 game in the bottom of the ninth, with Joe Mack on second base, the O’s were an out away from sending the game to extra innings. Reliever Andrew Kittredge induced a grounder from Javier Sonoja, but Mayo bobbled the ball before making an off-target throw to Pete Alonso. The ball bounced past Alonso as Mack scored the winning run.

Suddenly, the momentum generated by back-to-back wins in Miami evaporated. The Orioles head home having gone 2-5 on the road trip.

“It was a gut punch today,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “It was a tough one today.”

The first blow came when starter Cade Povich left after just three innings and 43 pitches with left forearm discomfort. Albernaz said Povich, who allowed three runs on three hits, felt tightness “on the outside of his elbow” and will undergo an MRI on Friday.

After Baltimore scored 16 runs across the first two games of the series, the bats quieted in the finale. With Adley Rutschman — the team’s hottest hitter — on the bench, the Orioles scratched across a run in the third and another in the fourth.

Alonso, continuing his scorching start to May, smacked an RBI single in the eighth to tie the score at 3.

Three relievers — Yennier Cano, Dietrich Enns and Keegan Akin — combined to provide five innings of scoreless relief before Kittredge entered in the ninth.

“The ’pen did an outstanding job,” Albernaz said. “Cano was awesome coming in in a pinch and eating up two innings. Same thing with Enns and same thing with Akin getting out of that inning, and Kitt looked good too.”

Kittredge retired the first two batters, but Mack doubled, setting up Mayo’s error, his fourth of the season.

“It was like a little chopper off the end of the bat,“ he said. ”Tried to come through it, saw that wasn’t probably gonna be the best play, so kinda stayed back a little bit and [it] kinda jumped on me. Was able to keep it in front, and then just came up and rushed the throw a little bit.”

Mayo, a Coral Springs native playing in front of friends and family, collected two singles in the game.

Povich’s injury is another hit to an Orioles pitching staff that is trying to navigate a stretch that includes 15 games in 14 days.

Baltimore is already without right-hander Dean Kremer, who is nursing a right quadriceps strain, and ace Trevor Rogers, who missed his last start with an illness. Righty Zach Eflin’s season is over as he recovers from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.

The O’s beleaguered rotation could get help soon. Rogers said Tuesday he has mostly recovered from the sickness that left him stuck on the couch for three days. He is eligible to return Monday.

“The overall energy level is improving a lot more quickly than I expected it to,” Rogers said. “So that’s a really encouraging sign, because that’s the biggest thing for me right now is can I get my energy back to where I need it to be.”

Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt are lined up to start in the O’s next series against the Athletics, beginning Friday night in Baltimore.

If Povich heads to the IL, the O’s could reinstate Rogers for the first game of their series against the Yankees on Monday and have Brandon Young start Game 2 Tuesday. Young surrendered three runs over six innings in Wednesday’s 7-4 win.

This article has been updated.