BALTIMORE -- The Orioles can take only a small amount of solace in the fact they again broke up a no-hit bid on Wednesday night at Camden Yards. It’s an occurrence happening far too frequently of late.
This time, it was Jacob deGrom -- one of MLB’s most prolific pitchers over the past decade -- making a run at history. The 37-year-old right-hander didn’t give up a hit until Colton Cowser’s single to open the bottom of the eighth inning, Baltimore’s lone knock in a 7-0 loss to Texas.
On Tuesday, it was Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz, an unlikely no-hit candidate who didn’t give up a hit until the seventh inning of the Orioles’ eventual 6-5, 10-inning loss.
On Saturday, it was Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt, who tossed seven hitless innings before JT Brubaker gave up a single to Gary Sánchez to open the eighth. That was Baltimore’s only hit during a 9-0 loss.
Why does this keep happening?
"I think there’s a little bit of fatigue right now. This has been a grind. I think you can attribute a little bit of that to that,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “I think guys are trying to win. I think there’s a little bit of, not anxiety, but maybe a tick of pressing at times.”
Here’s an obvious statement: The O’s (34-46) need more offense to have any hope of making a strong final push to turn this season around and prevent a sale at the July 31 Trade Deadline.
In a one-game vacuum, maybe Wednesday’s performance could be thrown out. deGrom is in a much higher tier than most big league pitchers. The two-time Cy Young Award winner and four-time All-Star has been at his best this year, too, recording a 2.08 ERA through 16 starts (including a 1.41 ERA in five June outings).
The Orioles also always struggle against deGrom, who improved to 4-0 with a 0.98 ERA in four career starts against them.
"He’s been one of the best since he got in the league,” said infielder Jordan Westburg, who returned to Baltimore’s lineup after missing three games due to a left index finger sprain. “It’s a really good fastball, it’s a really good slider, it’s a really good changeup, it’s plus command, putting it where he wants to and a mix of all three pitches at any time in any quadrant of the strike zone.
"I feel like he’s always in control. That’s what it feels like up there.”
But deGrom hasn’t been alone in carving through the O’s lineup of late. The offense is only coming in short spurts, rather than putting together complete performances.
Two prime examples:
- All five of Baltimore’s runs in Tuesday’s loss came in a three-batter stretch during the seventh -- Sánchez, Ramón Urías and Ryan O’Hearn hit back-to-back-to-back home runs against Texas right-hander Chris Martin, who didn’t face any other hitters. The Orioles mustered only one hit across the other nine innings.
- Last Wednesday, the O’s scored eight runs in the second inning against the Rays ... and still lost, 12-8, in Tampa after blowing an 8-0 lead. The Orioles didn’t get any hits after the second.
Baltimore’s lineup still isn’t quite at full strength -- most notably, All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman is on the injured list for the first time in his career due to a left oblique strain -- but it features Westburg, Cowser, O’Hearn (a strong All-Star candidate), star shortstop Gunnar Henderson, breakout player Jackson Holliday, Cedric Mullins and several other quality hitters.
Yet, the Orioles are hitting .184 over the past seven days, which ranks 29th in MLB ahead of only the Royals (.182) during that span. Baltimore’s .570 OPS in that time is last in the Majors.
“It’s baseball, I’m not concerned about it,” Cowser said. “I think that every day, we’re just trying to go out there and execute a plan and approach, and sometimes, if a pitcher is able to get us outside of that approach, we’re not going to have as much success. I think you’ve seen that a little bit lately. But we’re going to stay and remain confident in this clubhouse.”
Westburg expressed the same sentiment centered around optimism rather than panic.
"The vibe is just 'stay positive, reinforce each other after good ABs, even after bad ones. Pick each other up. Try and stay positive,'” Westburg said. “It can be frustrating, if you let it be. I know there’s guys going through tough stretches and not performing like they want to, but you’ve got to have each other’s backs. We’ve got to stay as one group and one unit.”