As tough stretch continues, O's affirm they're 'more than capable of stepping up'

BALTIMORE -- Friday felt like a momentum shift. It felt like a chance for the Orioles to get hot and get rolling. It was another opportunity for them to stop “treading water,” as some inside the clubhouse have described the team’s uneven start, and to begin catching fire.

Of course, The Jeremiah Jackson Game on April 13 brought a similar feeling. And so did the comeback in Cleveland on April 17.

So, this weekend wasn’t the first time Baltimore had one of these prime opportunities. But if this one felt just a bit more disappointing -- a tad more frustrating and upsetting -- that’s because it may have been, even if members of the O’s didn’t explicitly say it.

After a 10-run, 20-hit, six-homer outburst on Friday, the Orioles followed with consecutive losses to the struggling Red Sox, with Boston’s 5-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards sealing the series. The Sox cruised to a 17-1 victory on Saturday, later fired manager Alex Cora and five coaches and then still came back and won the next day.

The Red Sox (11-17) overcame potential distractions to play two well-rounded games. The O’s (13-15), meanwhile, just still couldn’t click.

“Any loss is tough. I wouldn’t say it’s any more tough,” manager Craig Albernaz stated after Saturday’s 16-run defeat. “It’s a loss. And then, you move on.”

“Very frustrating when we lose,” right-hander Kyle Bradish echoed on Sunday, when he allowed three runs in five innings while taking the loss.

To fully get why this weekend was particularly frustrating -- as fans throughout Baltimore can attest -- it’s important to understand how the past two weeks have gone.

The April 13 game vs. the D-backs featured Jackson hitting Albernaz in the face with a foul liner, then later delivering a key grand slam to power a six-run comeback in a 9-7 victory -- a sixth win in seven contests that improved the Orioles to 9-7. Then, they dropped the next two to Arizona before nearly getting no-hit by left-hander Parker Messick in a 4-2 loss at Cleveland on April 16.

The April 17 game vs. the Guardians brought another resilient effort. The O’s trailed 4-0 after seven innings -- before scoring six runs in the eighth for a 6-4 win. Then, the next two days brought two more losses in Cleveland, with only six total runs scored between them.

This week started great, with a series win in Kansas City and the opening victory vs. Boston.

Then, the Orioles got outscored 22-4 across losses to the Red Sox in which they sent co-aces Trevor Rogers and Bradish to the mound.

Most concerning, though, is where did the offense go again?

“I'd like to take some of the responsibility,” said star shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who is hitting .210 with a .767 OPS despite hitting his team-high ninth home run on Sunday. “I haven't really been getting on base for the guys behind me, and I feel like, to be able to do that, I've just got to keep working my butt off.”

Although Henderson is holding himself accountable, the 24-year-old shouldn’t fully take blame.

Many hitters are seeking better consistency. The starting pitching can improve, as shown by the club’s 4.56 rotation ERA (23rd in MLB). The defense has been shaky -- on Sunday, Jackson committed an error on a routine ground ball to second in the sixth and left fielder Taylor Ward allowed a fly ball with a 95% catch probability (per Statcast) to fall for a Ceddanne Rafaela double in the second.

Too many games follow the same formula. The O’s don’t score early -- six of their nine first-inning runs came between wins on Wednesday and Friday, and they’ve scored only 28 runs during the first three innings of their 28 games -- so they’re playing from behind, with pitchers attempting to keep the deficit from growing.

Wins like Friday’s 10-3 victory can make it more frustrating, because it shows what this team is capable of.

“We know we can put up as many runs as the best team, and I know we're one of the best teams at doing that,” Henderson said. “It's just we've got to go out there and do it, and it's just a matter of going out there and proving it."

Prior to this series, president of baseball operations Mike Elias expressed his belief in the Orioles to improve. He’s seeing positives, while knowing there’s a lot of talent on the roster.

“We’re OK,” Elias said Friday, “but we wish we were doing better, and we want to play better.”

Eventually, though, the O’s must consistently play better.

“Every day you show up, it’s a different challenge, a different problem you’re solving. You’re facing the best of the best every night,” Albernaz said. “Our guys are more than capable of stepping up.”