Baltimore Orioles: What to do with Charlie Morton?

The Baltimore Orioles signed starter Charlie Morton in the offseason as a stopgap in a sense. For one reason or the other, it’s not working out. Morton took it on the chin this afternoon, as did the Orioles. Morton’s line: 2.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 2 K.

Mind you, Morton’s 41 years old. Would he have played this year had he known at least how it started? Tough to say. But would you walk away from a guaranteed paycheck? I can’t say I would.

Morton surrendered an RBI-single in the second. But the O’s did tie the score in the bottom of the inning when Ramon Urias scored on an errant throw. But that was false hope for the Birds.

De La Cruz would give Cincinnati the lead back right away, taking Morton deep in the third. But in typical AL/NL central style, Cincinnati cut the Orioles by paper cut to death. A base hit here and a double there…

…Frayley’s RBI-single and a subsequent throwing error by Morton allowed two additional runs, running the lead to 5-1 for Cincinnati. When the smoke cleared, the O’s trailed 8-1 after the third. An RBI-double and an RBI-single in the fourth (off of reliever Cody Poteet made it 10-1.

Cincinnati continued the onslaught in the fifth. Wynns’ RBI-single and Hays’ RBI-double extended their lead to 12-1. Against, a base hit and a walk there – Cincinnati tacked on a few others down the stretch. The O’s brought Jorge Mateo in for the eighth and he gave up a grand slam running it to 20-1.

You almost question how it was possible that the bottom of the order was able to do so much damage, while Oriole bats couldn’t get anything going against a beleaguered pitching staff. Sometimes baseball gives results like this. Cincinnati was in essence going with a bullpen game today. But their bullpen also nitpicked the Orioles to death. It was supposed to have been the other way around.

It begins and ends with Morton – today, that is. But Morton hasn’t been stellar thus far this season. Today there were a few pitches in his short outing that were borderline and called balls. But when you’re regularly outside of the strike zone, odds are you aren’t getting the close calls. It’s easy to say that a strike is a strike and a ball is a ball. But when you miss time and again and you “train” the umpires to see the ball off the plate, they get used to it.

But if the Orioles can get a starter via trade who’s bona fide, it would go a long way towards righting the ship. And maybe you send Morton out on a phantom IL stint. That’s the best option I can give you.

To be clear, the answer isn’t to simply DFA Morton. That’s far too easy to say, and as a society we try far too much to oversimplify things. Morton’s a veteran, and he’s been around for too long to have that sort of fate.

It’s worth mentioning that there’s a good chance Kyle Gibson makes his debut in the next week or so. One has to hope that solidifies the rotation. My solution would be that the O’s need to trade for a starter sooner rather than later. You don’t know when Grayson Rodriguez is going to return, or Kyle Bradish for that manner. Zach Eflin appears to be close to either returning or going out on a rehab start.

Another crazy aspect of this season is how the bottom of teams’ orders are hitting against Oriole pitching. Several backup catchers, including Cincinnati’s Wynns today, have hammered them. Not to mention how good opposing teams are hitting with two strikes. Meanwhile, when the Orioles hit the ball as hard as they can, it finds someone’s mitt. Such can at times be the ebb and flow of the season.

Incidentally, the onslaught continued well after Charlie Morton left the game. Cincinnati might have just been dialed in this afternoon (especially the bottom of the order). Or…it could mean that the Orioles are tipping pitches.

And none of that, least of all the Charlie Morton discussion, explains why the bats are so streaky. They did get a solo homer by Adley Rutschman in the eighth. But this should have been a day when Oriole bats stood out. Cincinnati was all but punting the game with the bullpen handling it. But again often times games are reverse-locks. Needless to say, this one was across the board.

For the record, the line score says the O’s gave up 24 runs. Unequivocally, they did. But the last nine were off of Jorge Mateo and Gary Sanchez – position players. The score was still lopsided, but the official Oriole pitching staff didn’t surrender 24 runs.

Baltimore Orioles: It’s always the guy it shouldn’t have been

It’s always tough when a pitcher makes his big league debut, which is what Brandon Young did this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. Today’s game had been circled since Zach Eflin had gone down, as it was the date the Birds were going to need a fifth starter. And Young was the guy who got the call. Young’s line: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K.

The Orioles obviously would have preferred that Young pitched deep into the ballgame, but you have to remember it was his first major league start. Early in his outing he was probably in the strike zone too often. And in fact, the O’s fell behind 1-0 on Lux’s RBI-single in the first.

But Young adjusted. So did the Orioles. When they came to bat in the first, Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson went back-to-back with solo homers, giving the O’s a 2-1 lead.

However a solo homer by Fraley and an RBI-double by Friedl put Cincinnati back in the lead at 3-2. But this was shaping up to be one of those wild sorts of games, so it only made sense that the Orioles would immediately tie it back up. This on a second inning RBI-double by Gunnar Henderson.

Adding to that motif was the fact that Cincinnati’s starter Greene is one of the best starters in the league. But the O’s chased him after three innings. And in doing so, the Birds obviously made him work. And thus sent a guy who at times looks unhittable to the bench.

But before that happened, Ramon Laureano smacked a two-run homer, giving the Orioles a 5-3 lead. The only problem was that Laureano was only in the game because Heston Kjerstad had to exit after getting hit on the elbow with a 100 MPH fastball.

Things would tighten in the sixth when Cincinnati squeezed in a run on a bunt RBI-single by Friedl. He was also safe at first base, with Keegan Akin not being able to handle the bunt. Akin was replaced with Seranthony Dominguez, who immediately induced an inning-ending 5-4-3 double-play, ending the threat.

I mentioned above that Heston Kjerstad left the game early after a HBP. Luckily, X-Rays were negative. This for a guy with a lot of talent, who’s already had amazingly putrid luck with injuries in his career. Presumably he’s day-to-day.

Ramon Laureano had already made an impact with a two-run homer earlier in the game. But with the team leading by one and looking slightly shaken, he came through again in the last of the seventh. The guy who wasn’t supposed to play today hit a solo home run, giving the Orioles a slight bit of breathing room.

For good measure, Jordan Westburg added an immediate solo shot of his own, giving the O’s a 7-4 lead. That busted Westburg out of an 0-for-30 slump.

Interestingly, Cincinnati manager Terry Francona used tomorrow’s scheduled starter, Carson Spiers, in relief. And to show he wasn’t kidding, he pitched Spiers for the final four innings. Needless to say, Francona’s a hall of fame manager (or he will be). Obviously he has a plan for tomorrow, and he knows what he’s going to do. It was just curious to me.

The O’s would post two insurance runs in the eighth on RBI-singles by Tyler O’Neill and Ryan O’Hearn. And it’s a good thing they did – Cincinnati wasn’t going away. They got a solo homer from Hays in the ninth.

They also put two runners on base. And they forced Brandon Hyde to go to closer Felix Bautista, who closed out the game and the Orioles’ win. The bullpen is now taxed going into tomorrow – but so is Cincinnati’s.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Charlie Morton gets the start for the O’s, and Cincinnati is yet to announce a starter. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles fall in opener with Cincinnati

Cade Povich struggled against Cincinnati this evening for the Baltimore Orioles. As a pitcher, you’re never going to be on 100% of the time. Povich had issues locating his pitches, and this command. Povich’s line: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 BB, 4 K.

The O’s started off on top. Cedric Mullins’ solo homer in the second gave them a 1-0 lead. But one inning later Cincinnati had the lead. And in semi-bizarre fashion at that. De La Cruz sent a deep fly ball to center that bounced off the lip of the wall. It was originally ruled a two-RBI double, but on umpire review it was ruled a three-run homer.

The fourth inning would see a solo homer by Candelario, and a three run shot by McLain. The latter of those two busted the game wide open, and the O’s trailed 7-1. This chasing Povich from the game.

Hays’ RBI-single in the seventh would extend that lead to 8-1. It was a fairly strange play, as it fell into a Bermuda Triangle in shallow right field. But as we’ve seen with the Orioles for years, it never seems to be how hard you hit the ball. It’s where it lands.

Heston Kjerstad would make it a more reasonable score with a two-run home run in the eighth. For what it’s worth, the Birds will have to make a roster move tomorrow, as Brandon Young will be called to the majors to make his big league debut. Might Cade Povich be on the business end of that transaction? Tough to say.

The series continues tomorrow afternoon at Camden Yards. The aforementioned Brandon Young will get the start for the O’s (his major league debut), and he’ll be opposed by Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: First series win

It’s been a strange early season for the Baltimore Orioles. Granted, injuries among other things have played a role. But tonight they got a strong start out of Tomoyuki Sugano, who gave the Birds an opportunity to win. Sugano’s line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K.

Gunnar Henderson set the tone right off the bat. This meaning literally. His solo home run in the first inning gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. Cleveland would net things up in the third on a solo home run by Schneemann, and on they played in a 1-1 tie.

However Cleveland would go back-to-back with a solo home run by Hedges in the wake of the first one. But their 2-1 lead was short-lived. In fact, they would never be that close again.

This in a good way – from the Orioles’ perspective, that is. Gunnar Henderson smacked a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning. The umpires had to review the play, but it was ruled that the ball was a home run. And there O’s led, 4-2.

Heston Kjerstad would tack on a two-run shot in the last of the sixth, extending the Birds’ lead to 6-2. Seranthony Dominguez and Felix Bautista were solid in the latter innings, shutting Cleveland down. In taking two-of-three, the O’s won their first series of the season. And if you go back to last year, their first series since September of 2024.

Tomorrow the O’s welcome in Cincinnati to Camden Yards for the first of three. Cade Povich gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Yennier Cank for the win

Dean Kremer turned in perhaps his best start of the season for the Baltimore Orioles tonight. Maybe that’s slightly hollow given how early it is. But Kremer did what he was supposed to do – he put the Birds in a spot to win the game. Kremer’s line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K.

Kremer had some help. The O’s worked counts early and loaded the bases in the second inning. That brought Jackson Holliday to the plate. And his grand slam busted the Birds out of whatever funk they were in. And they led 4-0.

Cleveland would slightly battle back. Arias’ solo homer in the third cut the lead to 4-1. And there the game remained as it went on…and on. Until Ramon Laureano smacked a solo homer in the last of the seventh, extending the lead to 5-1.

But the game was won an inning later. With two runners on, Brandon Hyde went to Yennier Cano out of the pen. Cano would strike a hitter out, and walk another – loading the bases. He would proceed to induce a double-play, with the hitter grounding back to him. He went to the plate for one, sand Adley Rutschman threw to first for the second out ending the inning. (Interference was called at first to get the third out.)

The O’s would add on late, with a solo homer by Ryan O’Hearn among other things. They ran the final to 9-1. But make no mistake that Yennier Cano won the game for them. Cleveland threatened in the eighth, and a big inning would have changed the game. But Cano allowed nothing. End of the day, the O’s got the win. And now try to get on a streak.

The series concludes tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Tomoyuki Sugano gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles outlasted by Toronto

Cade Povich got the start this afternoon at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the series finale with Toronto. It was meant to be the third game, but of course the series was shortened to two games due to rain. Povich’s line: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K.

Luckily for the O’s, they got at it quick. With runners at the corners and two outs, Toronto starter Berrios uncorked a wild pitch. Gunnar Henderson scored from third, and the O’s led 1-0.

Toronto battled back immediately with a solo homer in the second tying the score at one. But…the Orioles can hit homers also. And Ryan Mountcastle did just that in the second – a solo shot. The O’s led 2-1 – for a short period. Guerrero’s RBI-single in the third tied the game at two.

However Adley Rutschman would give the Orioles the lead back in the bottom of the inning. With a runner at third he would hit a grounder to the second baseman Gimenez, who inexplicably decided to throw home. The angle wasn’t exactly the best, and Gunnar Henderson had a good lead off the bag. Henderson would slide in safely, and the O’s led, 3-2.

Toronto’s an aggressive team. Their aggression worked against them in that instance. One inning later it was the Orioles’ aggression – but theirs worked. Tyler O’Neill smacked a solo homer, extending the lead to 4-2.

Toronto would pick up a run in the sixth, but the O’s extended the lead in the bottom of the inning. With two runners on Jackson Holliday sent a deep liner to right that was misplayed by the Toronto outfield. Two runners scored, and the O’s led 6-3. At the time, that felt like a death blow.

As I said above, Toronto’s aggressive. They’re also patient. Which is tough to outlast. They chipped away against Gregory Sotto in the eighth. After an RBI-double, an RBI-groundout, and an RBI-single, they had tied the O’s..

Toronto would get an infield RBI-single in the tenth to take a 7-6 lead. They would close the Orioles out, stranding the tying run at third in the tenth to split the shortened series. Frustrating loss, but the ball bounces the other way at times.

The worst part is the final run came in on a slowly hit infield single. Opponents are getting on base and driving runs in using at times the most humble ways possible. Manager Brandon Hyde was ejected in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes.

Baltimore Orioles: Powder blue hue to an Orange Crush

Tomoyuki Sugano had his struggles this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. First off, Toronto came up swinging early, and he wasn’t getting borderline pitches at home plate. And Toronto wasn’t hitting the ball hard, they were fouling off pitch after pitch, driving up Sugano’s pitch count. Sugano’s line: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 0 K.

Toronto put a run on the board in each of the first three innings, including former Oriole Anthony Santander hitting his first home run in a Toronto uniform in the third. Speaking of uniforms, the O’s wore their all-orange uniforms for the first time since 2010. They wore them in the early 70’s, but it was short-lived; they’ll wear these uniforms for every Saturday home game.

And Toronto followed suit, wearing their own alternate uniforms, all in powder blue. And that was all we saw for the first half of the game – those powder blue dressed guys celebrating. Oriole bats squared up a lot of pitches; they were just balls hit to fielders.

But this lineup is too good to go that quietly. The Orioles couldn’t get a base runner until the fifth inning when Cedric Mullins drew a one-out walk. Two hitters later Heston Kjerstad recorded the Orioles’ first hit of the game. Funny thing though, that one hit changed the scope of the game. Because it was a two-run homer that cut the Toronto lead to 3-2, and propelled the Birds back into the game.

One inning later it was tied following an Adley Rutschman solo home run. The O’s would later put two runners on base, and Cedric Mullins broke up the tie with a two-RBI double. He would also take third on a throwing error, and before you knew it the Orioles had the lead.

Toronto would push one across in the seventh when Guerrero grounded into a double-play with a runner on third, setting up Felix Bautista’s first save opportunity since 2023 in the ninth with a one-run lead.

With two outs Toronto had two runners in scoring position, and Bichette striding to the plate. It’s never easy with Toronto. However Bautista sent Bichette down swinging, netting his first save since August of 2023, and sending the Orioles home winners. That last part being the most inportant.

Backing up a bit, there was a big moment that occurred in the fifth that was really key. Santander had two runners on base and he flied out to right. However it ended up being a double-play, as the runners both tagged up however runner on first was found to have left too early. That helped keep the threat of a big inning down, keeping the game within reach.

To date, this was the biggest win of the season for the Orioles. Coming off of a semi-listless road trip, an off day, and a rain out, the O’s needed a spark to keep the season from spiraling. They got it. Not at the beginning, but they got it.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Cade Povich gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Jose Berrios. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles rained out

Tonight’s Baltimore Orioles game against Toronto has been rained out. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on July 29th at Camden Yards. I don’t think it took a genius to see this was going to happen. For the record.

So now, the O’s will open this home stand and series with Toronto tomorrow afternoon at Camden Yards (weather permitting). Cade Povich gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Jose Berrios. Game time is set for just after 4 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Clipped by a reverse-lock?

The Baltimore Orioles had Dean Kremer on the mound, and a slew of lefty hitters in the lineup this afternoon at Chase Field in Arizona. After sending Zach Eflin to the IL earlier in the day, that setup should have been a pick me up for the O’s, facing a righty starter. But it wasn’t to be. Kremer’s line: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 4 K.

According to pitch track, Kremer was getting a lot of the plate. In short, too much of the plate. Arizona had their pick of pitches to hit.

Already leading 1-0 in the third, Carroll’s solo homer in the third doubled the lead to 2-0. In the fifth Arizona would put up two homers, a two-run shot by Smith followed by a solo shot by Naylor. Tawa would add a two-RBI double opening the game wide open, and the O’s trailed 7-0.

Arizona would tack two on in the eighth as well, sending the O’s back to Baltimore with a lopsided 9-0 loss. Not a good road trip at 2-4. However the O’s now go home for the longest road trip of the season. They also had a bit of an odd start to the season, heading to Toronto, back home for three games, and then back on the road. Perhaps an elongated home stand helps to even their mindset a bit.

As I said, Brandon Hyde loaded the lineup with lefties and switch hitters today. This against a righty starter, Arizona’s Pfaadt. You almost wonder if teams are ready for that sort of thing. Because it would stand to reason that the Orioles would have had a decent day at the plate today. But they didn’t,

End of the day remember, this is a team loaded with guys who were can’t miss prospects. They’ll figure it out in the end, especially when they start getting their pitching back.

Baltimore Orioles bring the heat, but Zach Eflin leaves early

The Baltimore Orioles hope they got off the schnide last night in Arizona. I say that figuratively in a sense. Zach Eflin turned in a great outing, and the bullpen functioned exactly as it was designed to do. Eflin’s line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K.

The O’s were on the board early when Ryan O’Hearn hit a solo homer in the first inning. Two innings later Adley Rutschman’s RBI-single extended the lead to 2-0. Rutschman especially, but really the entire team…the Orioles were patient last night. They worked the count, and they forced Arizona pitchers to throw the ball over the plate.

Gurriel got Arizona on the board in the fourth with a sac fly-RBI, however in the fifth Cedric Mullins would tick the Birds further along with an RBI-groundout. Later in the inning the O’s had two runners in scoring position, who were played by Ryan Mountcastl’s two-RBI single. And the O’s led 5-1.

Eflin and the bullpen were stout. So the result of the game was never in doubt. But Zach Eflin is now.

Eflin left the game after the sixth with shoulder fatigue. Eflin on his shoulder (quote courtesy of Brendan Mortenson, MASNsports :

Just fatigue. I think it was precautionary. Evaluate tomorrow and see how I feel after sleeping tonight.

Let me be blunt for once; the O’s are in a lot of trouble if Zach Eflin has to miss any substantial time. Luckily pitchers only pitch once every five games. But shoulder “situations” can be tough. All you can do is hope for the best.

There’s every chance that Eflin wakes up this morning and is fine. Or in time for his next start. Something else that works on his side is that the Orioles have an off day Thursday. So in theory they could skip him in the rotation and it wouldn’t make a huge difference.

The series continues tonight at Chase Field. Charlie Morton gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Arizona’s Merrill Kelly. Game time is set for just after 9:30 PM.