CLEVELAND -- A tough week for the Orioles concluded Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, where they took an 8-4 loss to the Guardians, marking their fifth defeat in six games. After dropping two of three to Arizona at home, Baltimore lost three of four to Cleveland.
The O’s (10-12) appeared to be building momentum on Monday, when they rallied for an incredible come-from-behind win over the D-backs for their sixth win in seven games. But things haven’t gone nearly as well since then.
“I just think that we all need to, I guess, look in the mirror and really examine what we did out there, what we did in this series, what we did last series and just try to make adjustments,” said outfielder Taylor Ward, who hit a three-run homer during a four-run fifth. “This is a great ball club, and we’ve just got to find it from within right now.”
Here are three takeaways from the series finale.
1) The offense needs an early jumpstart
If you feel like the Orioles haven’t been hitting well enough early in games, you’d be correct.
Baltimore has scored 17 total runs across the first three innings of their games this season. No MLB team has plated fewer over the first third of contests.
The O’s are hitting .179 (42-for-235) across the first, second and third innings. Their lack of early offense can lead to big deficits, like the one they faced Sunday, with the Guardians building a 5-0 lead by the fourth.
“I felt like we’ve had decent at-bats,” said Gunnar Henderson, who is hitting .204 with a .763 OPS. “I know I can do a better job of getting on and getting the guys that slug behind me some opportunities to score some runs. So that’s something that I’m definitely trying to do, is get on for them. And I feel like [if we] just get as many shots up as we can, in that sense, we’ll put up a lot of runs. We’ve just got to start scoring a little earlier.”
Manager Craig Albernaz believes that can happen soon.
“We talk about challenges and not being emotional, it’s the same thing at the plate -- not getting emotional where early in the game you’re not being productive or getting guys on base and scoring runs,” Albernaz said. “It’s just sticking with their approach and our plan.”
2) What’s been wrong with Trevor Rogers?
Things are really not going well for the Orioles if Rogers isn’t looking like himself.
After a tremendous 2025 season, Rogers started strong in ‘26, recording a 1.89 ERA over his first three starts. Then, the 28-year-old left-hander allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings during a loss to the D-backs on Tuesday and six runs (five earned) over five innings in Sunday’s loss.
José Ramírez hit a pair of solo homers and Cleveland tagged Rogers for four runs in the fourth.
“I can handle one-run innings. But giving up a five-spot, I just have to do better,” Rogers said. “I have to figure out a way to minimize those big innings.”
Both Rogers and Albernaz agreed it’s a matter of improving pitch location to get the southpaw back on track.
“I'm not concerned. The stuff looked good,” Albernaz said. “He just couldn't limit the damage, as far as just the pitch total and the cascading effect of that.”
3) A bright spot: Tyler Wells
After allowing three runs (two earned) in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s 8-5 loss to the D-backs, Wells’ ERA had gone up to 5.06. The 31-year-old right-hander had allowed at least one run in five of his first eight appearances.
“There is no excuse for the way that I'm pitching right now,” Wells said then. “It's extremely frustrating.”
Wells struck out the only batter he faced in Thursday’s loss to Cleveland. Then, he delivered his best outing of the young season on Sunday, striking out five of the six batters he faced over two perfect innings. The most encouraging part was his uptick in velocity, as his four-seam fastball average was 94.6 mph with a max of 95.2.
Baltimore’s bullpen has already been solid (a 3.57 ERA in 80 2/3 innings). But if Albernaz can trust Wells in high-leverage spots, as he expected to, it will make the unit even better.
“That was awesome. That's the best version we've seen of Tyler,” Albernaz said. “The fastball command was outstanding, and when he has his fastball command, it just allows his cutter and his changeup to play that much better.”