BALTIMORE -- The Orioles already endured one three-city road trip this month. From Aug. 7-17, they traveled through Arlington, Minneapolis and St. Petersburg and went a combined 5-5 across series vs. the Rangers, Twins and Rays.
Now, it’s already time for the O’s to hit the road for another three-city swing. And it feels like an opportune time for Baltimore to make a legitimate push as it still eyes the postseason.
For the past few weeks, the Orioles have been treading water a bit. They took two of three games against the American League-best Rays at Camden Yards this weekend, but they endured a 3-1 loss in Sunday afternoon’s series finale.
The O’s (63-68) went 2-4 during their homestand, as they were previously swept in a three-game set by the Yankees, another AL East rival. They went 5-5 over their past 10 games, all against Tampa Bay and New York.
Yet, Baltimore hasn’t lost much ground in the crowded AL Wild Card hunt, as it currently sits two games back of the final playoff spot. Its next three-city trip is a nine-game swing through St. Louis, Sacramento and Denver for meetings with the Cardinals, A’s and Rockies.
“Every game feels like it matters more, and every win really matters right now for us,” catcher Samuel Basallo said via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “So, we’re going out there and doing the best we can every single night to try to get a win.”
Sunday’s game felt like it could have been winnable, as it never got out of reach. Right-hander Shane Baz turned in a solid 5 2/3-inning start, with all three runs he allowed coming with two outs in the sixth.
But the Orioles were held to a season-low two hits, both by Colton Cowser -- a one-out double in the third and a leadoff home run in the ninth.
Baz received his MLB-high 14th loss. However, that’s hardly been the 27-year-old right-hander’s fault. Entering Sunday, he had received the fourth-lowest run support per nine innings (3.27) among MLB pitchers who had logged at least 100 innings this season, per FanGraphs.
Baltimore didn’t score until after Baz -- who has a 4.04 ERA in 26 starts -- had exited the game on Sunday.
“That's something that doesn't reflect how good he's been,” Cowser said. “Feels like, for whatever reason, we just need to put up more runs whenever he's pitching.”
After an off-day on Monday, the O’s will open a three-game set vs. the Cardinals (66-66). Their next two series will be against the A’s and the Rockies, the pair of teams with the worst records in MLB this season.
So, those appear to be winnable games for the Orioles. However, the hitter-friendly environments in both Sacramento and Colorado can lead to high-scoring affairs that can often go in either direction.
Manager Craig Albernaz isn’t even looking that far ahead, though. He doesn’t want his team to be doing so, either.
“We can’t look nine games ahead. We have to look at the game in front of us,” Albernaz said. “I think that’s where teams go awry, is that they’ll look at the end of the finish line before they actually run the race. For us, it was a good series here. Tough one today. Took a series against a really good team, and off-day tomorrow.
“Then, we have a real tough opponent in St. Louis. And for us, our guys need to recover. It’s that time of year, like we’ve talked about, all the guys are banged up, just like everyone else across the league. Good day of recovery, and then come out ready to compete on Tuesday.”
How high is the Orioles’ confidence that the next time they play at home (Sept. 3 vs. the Red Sox) they’ll be in a better position than they are now?
“It's through the roof,” Cowser said. “We just had a really long road trip [earlier this month], and we were able to finish it pretty strong there. So yeah, a lot of faith in this group, a lot of faith in this team. Got an off-day tomorrow, so rest up, and then be ready to roll.”