Baz’s rough inning costs Orioles in 7-5 loss to Twins and 2nd straight series setback

MINNEAPOLIS—The Orioles began their longest road trip of the season, hoping that head-to-head meetings with two teams they’ll need to beat for an unlikely wild-card berth would give them some headway.

Instead, they lost two of three to both the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins. After an offday on Thursday, they’ll begin a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, who own the best record in the American League.

Oriole starter Shane Baz, who had been poorly supported by his teammates in many of his previous starts, took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the third but allowed four runs on six hits as the Orioles lost to the Twins, 7-5, before 20,160 at Target Field on Wednesday.

Dylan Beavers hit a three-run home run in the top of the third, his third of the season and first since April 24^th, to give the Orioles a 4-1 lead.

Run-scoring singles by Kody Clemens, Victor Caratini, an RBI double by Alan Roden and a sacrifice fly by Luke Keaschall put Minnesota in front.

Baz (4-12) allowed five runs on nine hits, equaling season highs, in three innings, a season low.

“Just kind of didn’t have command,” Baz said. “The command was just not good. I wasn’t really executing anything really. Was kind of just in the zone and not executing pitches where I wanted. And, yeah, they just kept putting the ball in play, and, yeah, just finding holes.”

Manager Craig Albernaz thought he didn’t have a choice but to pull Baz after three. He’d thrown 65 pitches.

“He wasn’t missing many bats today,” Albernaz said. “They had nine hits and had a lot of good swings, a lot of loud contact. Shane had looked like he had a tough time just like feeling out the strike zone.

“He had some at-bats where he was getting ahead and couldn’t finish, or he was behind and had to come in the strike zone. Just from his feedback, he felt like he was just moving slow today. But he battled and grinded through his outing.”

The Orioles (58-63) and Twins (60-62) each scored in the first. Jackson Holliday’s forceout scored Gunnar Henderson, who walked against Zebby Matthews. Josh Bell’s RBI single brought home Trevor Larnach.

Cam Sanders pitched into the fifth inning and allowed two on four hits. Caratini scored on Larnach’s infield out. Roden scored on Royce Lewis’ double, and the Orioles trailed, 7-4, after five.

Matthews (6-8) pitched five innings, allowing four runs on six hits.

Andrew Morris pitched a perfect sixth. Jeff Hoffman walked Henderson and Alonso with two outs and after a wild pitch, Holliday lined to second to end the seventh. A.J. Minter threw a spotless eighth.

Leody Taveras led off the ninth with his seventh home run against Yoendrys Gómez. It was the Orioles’ first hit since Beavers’ home run in the third. After Christian Franklin walked, Colton Cowser lined to Gómez, who caught Franklin off first for a double play. Henderson grounded to first, and Gómez had his 17^th save in 17 chances.

“We had some pretty good swings that were just at people, and that’s all you can do,” Albernaz said. “You can control putting a good swing on it, but also they did a good job of keeping us off balance and we had a tough time, especially later in the innings, getting the leadoff guy on and it’s tough to get stuff going without getting the leadoff guy on.”

What’s the issue with Baz? In Baz’s previous start, he was economical, throwing 93 pitches in the first complete game of his career, an eight-inning 2-1 loss to Texas. This was much different.

“I threw a good bullpen in between them a few days ago and stuff looked sharp,” Baz said. “You know, body felt good, and I think we were a little smarter about pitch count and catch play during the week and stuff like that. Yeah, I mean, it was just unacceptable to have that type of — going from that outing to this one honestly just pisses me off.”

Baz said he feels strong.

“I think my last outing kind of reflected that,” he said. “But, yeah, I’m still getting my work in. Body still feels fine. I’m keeping on my weight and everything like that and staying on my lifting and arm care.

“I think the routine has been good. It’s just, you’ve got to get out there and execute. I’ve got no excuses or reasons, stuff like that. This is the time of year you either show up or you start to freaking mail it in and give up, and that’s not really what I do, and I’m going to go out there in five days or however many and just execute better.”

Can Beavers get in a groove? Beavers’ home run was just his second extra-base hit since July 20^th. He missed seven weeks in May and June with a strained left oblique muscle.

“I’ve been working really hard,” Beavers said. “I’m not okay with struggling ’cause I think I’m better than that. I’ve been trying to figure out what’s been going on, where the inconsistencies are coming from. In the long run, I’m going to figure it out. It’s just challenging right now. It’s something I can learn from in the long run.”

Beavers knows how important the next stretch of games is.

“We’re going to Tampa. They’re a good team,” Beavers said. “I think if we just play our brand of baseball, I think we can have some success and kind of change the momentum. Obviously, there’s still a lot of games left. A big series in Tampa, I think can be really good for us, but they’re a good team so we’ve got to play our best ball.”

What does it mean? The Orioles have a brutal 10-game stretch. After a four-game series at Tampa Bay, they return home to play three games against the Yankees and three against the Rays.

“We’re definitely aware of where we’re at in the season and at the standings, and we’re still in it,” Albernaz said. “But also we’ve got to win games and so every game is just as important as the next one, and we have the offday coming up. We have to be ready to go Game One in Tampa.”                                                                                     

What’s the stat of the day? 5. The Orioles have lost in each of the last five games Baz has started. Overall, they’re 6-18 in his starts.

What’s the word? “I don’t know if it was just the day game or it’s just one of those days where you’re just not feeling good. But, yeah, I’ll try and look back and kind of see if there’s anything that was glaring to me. But, yeah, just something was just a little off, I felt like, today. Just wasn’t able to really reel it in or make a lot of consecutive pitches in a row, stuff like that.”-Baz on his start

What’s next? After a day off, the Orioles will open a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Neither team has announced its pitchers for Friday night’s game, which will begin at 7:10.

Call for questions: Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com