MINNEAPOLIS -- Five days ago, Orioles manager Craig Albernaz didn’t shy away from a question about the importance of his club’s three-city, 10-game road trip through Arlington, Minneapolis and St. Petersburg. It was obvious to everyone that these games could be critical.
The Rangers, Twins and O’s are all part of the jumbled American League Wild Card picture. The Rays are the top team in the AL. A strong week-plus could help Baltimore push its way up the standings and set the stage for a run to the postseason down the stretch.
So, this had to feel like a big trip, right?
“Hell yeah, it does,” Albernaz said on Friday in Arlington. “This is a big road trip.”
That’s why the Orioles are especially disappointed with how it has gone thus far.
After dropping two of three at Texas over the weekend, Baltimore then lost two of three to Minnesota, with the Twins handing the O’s a 7-5 loss in Wednesday afternoon’s rubber game at Target Field. The Orioles (58-63) now need to win three at Tampa Bay to have a .500 trip or sweep the four-game set to post a winning record on the road swing.
“We're definitely aware of where we're at in the season, and at in the standings, and we're still in it,” Albernaz said. “But also, we need to win games. Every game is just as important as the next one, and we have the offday coming up [Thursday]. We have to be ready to go Game 1 [Friday night] in [St. Petersburg].”
At times throughout the season, Baltimore has lost games that appeared quite winnable. Wednesday’s contest felt like another one of those early.
The O’s took a 4-1 lead in the top of the third inning on Dylan Beavers’ three-run home run off right-hander Zebby Matthews. It was Beavers’ first homer since April 24, as the 25-year-old outfielder hadn’t gone deep in 32 games since returning from a right oblique strain on June 28.
Beavers’ blast provided an early lead for right-hander Shane Baz, who has been one of the Orioles’ best starters for the past six weeks. The 27-year-old had a 2.55 ERA over his previous seven outings, allowing two or fewer earned runs in six of them.
But Baz couldn’t protect the advantage against the Twins, who responded with a four-spot in the bottom of the third. Alan Roden’s one-out RBI double put Minnesota ahead, 5-4, and it led the rest of the way.
Baz allowed five earned runs and nine hits (both matching his season worst) and worked a season-low three innings in a 65-pitch, 41-strike outing.
“I don’t know if it was just the day game, or it’s just one of those days where you’re just not feeling good,” Baz said. “Just something was just a little off, I felt like, today. Just wasn’t able to really reel it in or make a lot of consecutive pitches in a row, stuff like that.”
The most troublesome aspect of Baz’s outing was his decreased velocity. His four-seam fastball averaged 94 mph (down 2 from his average for the season) and maxed out at 95.4. However, he isn’t concerned about a potential injury or fatigue at this point.
Baz is confident he’ll get back on track and have a strong conclusion to his first season in Baltimore.
“This is the time of year where you either show up, or you start to fricking mail it in and give up, and that's not really what I do,” Baz said. “I'm going to go out there in five days, or however many, and just execute better."
The same thing is needed out of the Orioles as a whole -- they need to just execute better.
The O’s will be no more than three games out of a postseason spot heading into Thursday’s offday. But their path is a challenging one, as their next 10 games are against the Rays and Yankees -- the top two teams in the AL.
“We're going to [St. Petersburg]; they're a good team. I think if we just go and play our brand of baseball, I think we can have some success and that can kind of change the momentum,” Beavers said. "Obviously, there's still a lot of games left, so a big series in [St. Petersburg], I think, can be really good for us. But they're a good team, so we've got to play our best ball."