Orioles hit 4 home runs early, lose late to Rockies, 6-5; Seating bowls ordered emptied while play continued

BALTIMORE–What happened? Hours after the Orioles sent their primary left-handed reliever Gregory Soto to the New York Mets to kick off a likely selloff, they suffered an embarrassing defeat to the Colorado Rockies, who began the day 50 games under .500.

The Orioles will get two minor league right-handers in exchange for Soto, and as a result of his trade, they were left with only one left-hander, rookie Grant Wolfram in the bullpen.

Wolfram pitched a scoreless seventh after the Orioles blew an early four-run lead as the Rockies came from behind for a 6-5 win before 25,090 at Camden Yards on Friday night.

The Orioles (45-58) powered their way to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Jordan Westburg and Tyler O’Neill homered in the first. Coby Mayo and Alex Jackson did so in the second, all against Kyle Freeland, who had allowed 10 home runs in 95 1/3 innings entering Friday night.

“That’s a bitter one right there,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “It feels like here lately we’ve thrown up some good numbers early in games on that last road trip, and we just haven’t been able to hang on.

“Part of that is pitching and part of that is not adding more runs as the game goes on. We have to add more runs. We had a couple spots we could have. We didn’t get it done, unfortunately, tonight. Got to add more runs and got to hold leads.”

Colorado inched its way back into the game. Mickey Moniak homered against Oriole starter Dean Kremer in the third, and Thairo Estrada’s two-run home run in the fourth cut the lead to 4-3.

A run-scoring double by Hunter Goodman and an RBI single by Jordan Beck in the fifth put the Rockies ahead, 5-4.

Kremer allowed five runs on six hits in five innings.

Before the sixth, a threat of thunder and lightning convinced Orioles officials to clear the seating bowls while play continued.

Jackson doubled with one out in the seventh against Jake Bird (4-1) and scored on Jackson Holliday’s single, his third hit.

Fans were invited to return to their seats in the bottom of the seventh.

Ezequiel Tovar’s sixth home run against Andrew Kittredge (1-2) in the top of the eighth gave Colorado (27-76) a 6-5 lead.

Seth Halvorsen threw a perfect ninth for his 10th save. Holliday flied to deep left for the third out.

Catcher Chadwick Tromp, who had been on the 10-day injured list with a lower back injury, was reinstated and elected free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

Why wasn’t the game halted when the seating bowls were emptied?  “When we pull the teams off the field when it’s not raining hard, we get second-guessed,” crew chief Bill Miller told a pool reporter.

“We work in conjunction with the grounds crew. We are a team. At no time did I feel like the field was dangerous. I don’t think the field took rain in a way that there was any slipping. We did have them treat the mound and plate area with a little bit of Turface.

“But even that wasn’t really necessary. That was just trying to get ahead of the game, but the heavy rain just never came. Hindsight, I think we handled it accordingly. It would have been difficult to pull teams off the field and then we get into the waiting game of when we actually come back. Both starters at that point in time were still in the game, and so that’s difficult as well, because now you’ve got to burn starters.”

Miller said he decided not to halt play.

“No, because I was getting updates every half-inning from the grounds crew gentleman,” Miller said.

“He said that we were going to get hit by a big storm in a half an hour. He said at 8:45 it was going to come. It was going to be windy, it was going to be rainy and there was going to be thunder and lightning. I asked him to give me a half-inning update, and it progressively diminished. The storm was decidedly moving south, he thought the top of it was going to catch us. They did clear the stands unbeknownst to me. We are concerned about lightning, but the crew did not see any lightning in the area. We saw it from afar, but we didn’t think at any time anybody on the field was in danger.”

What does it mean? On a day the Orioles had a 4-0 lead against the worst team in baseball, they lost, and that’s embarrassing.

What’s the stat of the day? It was the second time this season the Orioles hit four home runs in a game and lost. On May 4^th, they lost to Kansas City, 11-6.

What’s the word? “It rained a little bit. It is what it is. Fans do what they need to do to stay safe. But that’s not really any of our concern or notice. It just is what it is.”–Kremer on the empty lower stands.

What’s going on in the minor leagues? Samuel Basallo was 5-for-5 and hit his 20^th home run in Triple-A Norfolk’s 7-6 loss to Lehigh Valley. Adley Rutschman caught and was 1-for-5 in the third game of his rehab assignment.

Trey Gibson and Riley Cooper combined on a two-hitter as Double-A Chesapeake beat Altoona, 7-0. Gibson allowed two hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walked none. Centerfielder Reed Trimble drove in three runs.

Rightfielder Thomas Sosa drove in four runs and first baseman Ethan Anderson drove in three for High-A Aberdeen in its 15-12 win over Winston-Salem.

Leftfielder Nate George had two hits for Single-A Delmarva in its 5-2 loss to Lynchburg.

What’s next? The Orioles play the Rockies on Saturday night at 7:05. Trevor Rogers (3-1, 1.74) will face Antonio Senzatela (4-13, 6.41).

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