BALTIMORE -- Jordan Lyles gave it what he had. When the right-hander woke up under the weather, the Orioles had to move him from Game 1 to 2 of the doubleheader against the Blue Jays for the sake of resting up, knowing how needed his innings-eating mentality was on a day like Monday. He went to the bullpen and attempted to go through warmups, but he ultimately felt too ill with flu-like symptoms to continue.
That span of 20 minutes -- between when manager Brandon Hyde offered confidence that Lyles would be able to pitch and Keegan Akin volunteered to step up -- was an encapsulation of the chaotic nature of Monday at Camden Yards.
It happened to be arguably the biggest day of Orioles baseball in six years. But it ended as a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays -- a 7-3 loss in Game 1 and an 8-4 defeat in Game 2 -- leaving little if any moral victories to be gleaned.
Baltimore lost two games on a team it’s chasing, now 4 1/2 games back of Toronto for the third and final American League Wild Card spot. The majority of the innings the Orioles received came from pitchers not on the roster when the day began.
Had the day unfolded differently -- say, perhaps Lyles being able to pitch in either of the games, or the offense being able to turn the 18 combined hits into more than seven runs -- Baltimore could have found itself just a half-game back of the postseason, or at least keeping pace with the 2 1/2-game deficit they entered with.
“It was a tough day,” said Hyde. “But we still got two more games left with these guys. They're very good. We need to come back out, ready to play tomorrow.”
The Orioles can try to remedy their cause as soon as Tuesday, when they turn to right-hander Kyle Bradish -- riding a 15-inning scoreless streak -- for the first of two more games against Toronto this homestand. After that, across their final 25 games, they will have six more tries at the Blue Jays.
So the day wasn’t necessarily a be-all, end-all; rather, an evaporation of momentum at the very least.
But the manner in which the Orioles fell made it all the more deflating. They were forced into the bullpen trial in Game 2, which was started by Akin, then saw left-hander Nick Vespi pitch for the third consecutive day. That was only the fifth time in his managerial tenure that Hyde used a pitcher three days in a row.
“Didn't want to use Vespi,” Hyde said, “but it was kind of the way it goes.”
It added to a tense sensitivity around Monday, a playoff atmosphere built by the winning that preceded it. Along the way, Baltimore saw a two-homer Game 1 from Anthony Santander wasted, saw highly touted prospect DL Hall struggle in his second go out of the bullpen, and saw a five-hit twin bill by Adley Rutschman -- who finishing a triple shy of the cycle in Game 2 -- go for naught.
Three home runs from Bo Bichette in the nightcap -- two off bulk reliever Bruce Zimmermann -- ultimately washed away any hope of a comeback.
“I mean, it wasn't really an at-bat for two of them,” Zimemrmann said. “It was three pitches in two [at-bats], and two home runs.”
The majority of innings thrown by an Orioles pitcher on Monday came from two pitchers who were in the Minor Leagues as recently as Sunday evening. They got 11 combined frames from 29th man Mike Baumann, who capably started Game 1, and from Zimmermann, who was officially called up just moments before the start of Game 2, reversing his flight plans with Triple-A Norfolk from the Atlanta layover instead into Baltimore.
Baltimore’s pitching, pushed to the brink, would concede at least seven runs in back-to-back games for the first time since consecutive losses to the Rays and Yankees in games that bookended the All-Star break.
“That's probably the biggest game I pitched in to this day,” Baumman said. “We’re in a playoff race right now, and it's fun to go out there and play in this atmosphere and try and win some games.”
The short memory has suited the Orioles this season, and now it’ll be put to its largest test.
If there is any moral victory to absorb, it’s that the club’s last losing streak of at least three games immediately preceded the 10-game win streak in July that catapulted it from the basement to Wild Card contention.
The stakes are just a little bit higher now.