Just four days ago, remember when we talked about the Orioles playoff hopes and their worthiness of a playoff spot?
Well, the Orioles’ hopes of a place in the postseason just took a heavy blow, and their worthiness to play October baseball has been called into question after suffering through four days of misery en route to being dealt a four-game sweep by the hand of the red-hot Bo’Sox.
In fact, the Orioles will now have to shake off their meltdown versus Boston and rally in order to reclaim a third playoff berth in five years.
The series got off to a rocky start Monday after the infamous Mookie Betts cranked a two-run shot off of Dylan Bundy in the third inning, but Mark Trumbo would cut the lead in half with an RBI double in the fourth. Unfortunately for the Orioles, Cy Young contender Rick Porcello slammed the door shut for the rest of the way while the Bo’Sox delivered the knockout blow after Dustin Pedroia’s RBI single and David Ortiz’s two-run dinger in the fifth to hand the visitors a 5-1 lead. Adam Jones’s 28th homer of the season in the eighth would pull the O’s to within striking distance, but Porcello would nail the door shut this time en route to his complete-game 5-2 win in the series opener.
Down 2-0 in the fourth inning on Tuesday night, Trey Mancini would provide highlight reel material with his first career home run on his first career hit (in his MLB debut) in the fifth inning to cut the deficit in half. Alas, Kevin Gausman, who had battled admirably all night, left one right in Ortiz’s wheelhouse and the future hall-of-famer deposited it into the bleachers to give the Red Sox a commanding 5-1 lead in the seventh. For the second night in a row, the Orioles would fall to a score of 5-2.
Just when you think that it can’t get any worse, the Orioles held a slim 1-0 lead on the back of a locked-in Ubaldo Jimenez on Wednesday…It turns out that his standing ovation upon his departure would be the last highlight of the night, because the game turned into a nightmare shortly after right in front of our eyes.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the sixth, Sandy Leon was down to his last strike when he ripped a grounder just west of first base…and the rest is history.
Chris Davis’s throw to the covering Brad Brach was a Flacco-esque fastball that zipped past Brach, on which Ortiz and Betts would score to hand the Bo’Sox a 2-1 lead. Then on the very next pitch, Andrew Benintendi poured salt in the Orioles fresh wounds by blasting a three-run shot to right to extend the lead to 5-1 Boston. Literally in the blink of an eye, things went from smooth sailing to capsized.
But wait…It gets worse.
Smelling blood in the water, the Red Sox pounced on Chris Tillman right out of the gates and held an early 3-0 lead going into the third inning Thursday. However, Trey Mancini would level the score with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the third, becoming the first Oriole to hit two home runs on his first two MLB hits in franchise history. Again, the good vibes end here.
Again, Benintendi would come through with a go-ahead RBI single in the fifth inning before Hanley Ramirez’s solo shot to put the Sox up 5-3 in the seventh eventually served as the knockout blow for the game and the series. Game, set, match; the Red Sox fly back home with the sweep, and the Orioles are left to pick up the pieces.
But that’s baseball, and sometimes you’ve just got to tip your cap to your opponents. The Red Sox have now won eight in a row and own an MLB-best 15-5 record for the month of September. They’ve also posted an incredible 32-18 clip since the beginning of August.
And facts are facts; Boston just crushed the Orioles in their own ballpark this season. The Orioles finished the year with a 2-8 record against the Bo’Sox at Camden Yards while losing the last six straight meetings at OPACY to end the campaign.
Another fact is after starting the year 24-13 versus the AL East this season; the Orioles have struggled mightily against their division rivals over the last 33 contests, going a dismal 12-21.
Camden Yards hasn’t been a safe haven for the Orioles lately, either. Since going into the All-Star Break with a stellar 33-14 record at home, the Orioles have gone 14-17 at the Yard during the second half of the season. Going 2-6 through the first eight games of their current 11-game home stand didn’t help.
Just a week ago, the Orioles were a single game out of first place. Now, they’re an unbelievable seven games behind Boston for first in the division. In a nanosecond, the Orioles division title hopes seem to be nonexistent after being alive and well a short time ago.
To make matters worse, the three-game lead that they had over Detroit for the second and final wild card spot in the AL has not only vanished, but the Orioles now find themselves on the outside looking in for a spot in the postseason. Granted it’s just half a game, but the pressure is real.
And frankly, the Orioles must do better as a whole in order to retake their seat at the playoff table. The starting rotation’s ERA is at a dismal 5.94 over the past 11 games. The usually iron-clad Orioles defense has slipped up a few times lately, too, and while the bullpen has proven to be the backbone of the Orioles pitching staff, even they have had a few moments of which they would like to take back as of late.
But the main concern for the Orioles and their playoff aspirations is the state of their stifled offense. Over the last 13 games, the O’s are hitting just .207 at the dish while scoring just 3.5 runs per contest. Even worse, the Orioles have recorded a horrid .185 average as a team over the last six games while scoring just 12 runs and going 2-for-25 with runners in scoring position. They also have five integral members of the offense hitting below .200 over the past week (Davis, Machado, Trumbo, Schoop, Wieters).
Without this offense, there won’t be any postseason baseball taking place in Birdland. Sad but true.
My oh my. Where did things go wrong, and is there still time to recover? For the time being, it looks like Boston may have delivered a knockout blow to the Orioles season.
Here’s to hoping that isn’t the case…
