[Baltimore Sun] When they needed it most, the Orioles’ offense disappeared
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Inside a grim Orioles clubhouse, where players and coaches shared long embraces with the emotions of a season-ending loss written over glossy eyes and rosy cheeks, it was hard to pinpoint where exactly things went awry.
The offensive production of their first 82 games was practically unrecognizable from the “mojo” misplaced in August. That was seemingly rediscovered in the final week of the regular season, then completely gone come the playoffs.
Baltimore dropped its 10th consecutive playoff game Wednesday night, swept out of the American League wild-card round with a 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals. With one run in two days, it felt like a microcosm of all that went awry.
“It’s obviously something we need to take care of,” said All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who at one point was a leading candidate in the AL Most Valuable Player Award race. “But we’ve also done really well hitting with runners in scoring position. I don’t know what to tell you. We went up there and tried to battle. It just didn’t work out.”
In its first 82 games, Baltimore led all of baseball in scoring (5.28 runs per game), OPS (.782), slugging percentage (.466) and home runs (136), with 17 more long balls than any other club. Seven players had 10 or more home runs. No other club had more than five. The Orioles were 58-38 at the All-Star break and often a shell of themselves thereafter — downtrodden by injuries and slumps around a talented lineup.
“There wasn’t a lot of things that did bounce in our favor in the second half,” veteran catcher James McCann said.
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Henderson thought the Orioles took collective steps in the right direction by winning five of their last six before the postseason. “I liked our chances,” he said. But a team once known for its resilience and fervent offense finished 1-13 with runners in scoring position against the Royals and could all but watch from the dugout as the visitors rejoiced.
Two sequences from the curtain call of the season might eat at them the most this winter.
Jacob Webb found an emotion somewhere between relief and thrill stepping off the mound in the fifth inning. The veteran right-hander threw six consecutive balls and loaded the bases. Then he struck out MJ Melendez swinging to keep it a 1-0 game.
When, in the bottom of the inning, Cedric Mullins barreled a game-tying 398-foot home run to right field, it sent Camden Yards into a frenzy. It felt like exactly the hit they needed. But as has been the case with these second-half Orioles, they struggled to keep a grip on that whiff of momentum.
Ramón Urías, Henderson and Jordan Westburg all reached safely, loading the bases with no outs. They walked away without another run.
Anthony Santander swung at a 1-1 pitch above the zone looking for the big hit. Instead, he popped out. Cowser swung through a pitch well inside that broke his hand, forcing him out of the lineup the rest of the night. Rutschman saw two balls, then hit a slider 97.1 mph off the bat for a groundout.
“We know the type of offense that we are and it just wasn’t on our side,” Santander said. “I think we didn’t succeed with runners in scoring position.”
The Orioles’ Jordan Westburg, left, walks to the clubhouse after Wednesday’s season-ending loss to the Royals. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)
The other missed chance from Wednesday night’s loss was hard to pin on the Orioles but stings just the same. With runners on first and second, Ryan O’Hearn whacked a ball up the middle that a diving Royals second baseman Michael Massey snagged for the second out of the inning.
“We had a couple opportunities there,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “They made one — Massey makes a great play on O’Hearn that could possibly change the game in our favor, and we had the bases loaded and we didn’t score. … I thought we gave everything we had.”
Through all the ups and downs of the second half, the Orioles strongly defended the process that got them there. Hard contact and hitting for damage is a staple of the approach hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller impress upon their players. It was a clear part of their success and, at times, present in their failures.
In the loss, the Orioles managed all five of the game’s farthest-hit balls; Mullins’ was the only one to avoid a glove. But Austin Slater’s single in the eighth inning was their only representative in Baseball Savant’s top-five hardest hit balls.
“I think our coaching staff, our guys, they have a good process,” Rutschman said. “We went through our ups and downs this season. This team is capable of a lot. I know that we’ve shown that time in and time out. We’ve had our ups and downs but I think this group is relentless. I think you’re going to see an improved group next year.”
Added Mullins: “I think it’s because we’re so talented that you really can’t put anything specific to it. It’s one of those things where you do or you don’t. And we just didn’t.”
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Wednesday night ended with the Royals occupying the grass at Oriole Park. Their goggles glistened off the ballpark lights. They danced, beer in hand, celebrating with family and friends on a field 1,000 miles from home.
The Orioles, meanwhile, compartmentalized their Octoberfest coming to a premature end from inside the clubhouse sharing heartfelt moments with teammates. “Lifelong friends,” as Rutschman said, for a team that could very well look different in a few months.
“It sucks,” Westburg said. “This is the time of year when we want to showcase it. This is the time of year when we needed it most. Just didn’t happen for us. … But that’s baseball. It’s not always going to go your way. There’s going to be tough stretches. I think two games for us, it was a tough stretch and one run. But yeah, it’s over.
“Sucks, but we’ll try to build on this season for next year.”
Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.
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