The Orioles lost to the Tampa Bay Rays 7-6 on Monday, missing out on a four-game sweep of the American League's best team after blowing a two-run lead in a go-ahead seventh inning.
Yennier Cano allowed the first four batters he faced in the seventh to reach base, and Baltimore's 6-5 lead was already down to bases loaded with no outs when Josh Walker came on in relief. Jonathan Aranda's single trimmed the Orioles lead to one, and pinch-hitter Johnny DeLuca delivered the actual back-breaker — a two-run single that bounced over Christian Encarnación-Strand at third base, scoring both Aranda and Yandy Díaz to give Tampa Bay a 7-6 lead it would not relinquish.
Bryan Baker closed it out for Tampa Bay, and celebrated in familiar emphatic fashion, including mocking Yohel Pozo's crotch grab from earlier in the series. Baker spent parts of four seasons in Baltimore's bullpen before being traded to the Rays. He got the final five outs for his 24th straight save, and it stayed tense to the end: the potential tying run reached first base in the ninth before Baker struck out Leody Taveras to end the game.
Before that, in the eighth, Baker struck out Pete Alonso then got Jackson Holliday to ground out to short with two outs and runners on the corners to preserve the one-run lead.
Encarnación-Strand was the best hitter on the field for either team and still ended up on the wrong side of the result. He finished 3-for-5 with four RBI, delivering a two-run single in the fourth and a two-run home run in the fifth — both swings that had, at the time, put Baltimore back in front. Coby Mayo (2-for-5, home run, two runs) and Gunnar Henderson (2-for-5) also had strong nights at the plate, and Alonso's 28th home run of the season tied the game in the fifth.
The lead changed hands repeatedly well before the seventh-inning turnaround. Mayo's second-inning homer to left-center gave Baltimore an early lead, but Díaz tied it in the third. Encarnación-Strand's two-run single in the fourth put the Orioles back on top 3-1, only for Tampa Bay to answer with home runs from Ryan Vilade and Jorge Mateo, another former Oriole, that flipped it to a 4-3 Rays lead before the inning ended. Alonso's homer tied it again in the fifth, and Encarnación-Strand's second big swing of the night made it 6-4 Baltimore, a lead that held until Cano's meltdown three innings later.
Brandon Young lasted just four innings and threw 82 pitches. “He just didn’t have his best command,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.
Young wasn't the only starter on a short leash. Shane McClanahan, making his first start back from the injured list after dealing with back stiffness, lasted just 3.1 innings for Tampa Bay, allowing three earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks on 57 pitches — a line that suggests a pitch-count limit for his return as much as anything else.
With both starters out early, this one turned into a bullpen game far sooner than either side probably wanted. Cam Sanders did his part for Baltimore with two scoreless innings of relief, striking out three. Gunnar Henderson turned a double play unassisted on a groundball up the middle to help limit the damage in the late innings, and Baltimore had one more real look in the eighth — runners on the corners, two outs — before Jackson Holliday grounded out to short to end the threat.
Both lineups were relatively deep in their damage: nine of Baltimore's 11 batters reached base at least once, and every Tampa Bay starter besides the catcher recorded a hit. Díaz went 2-for-2 with a walk and scored twice, including the go-ahead run. The one quiet Orioles bat was left fielder Jeremiah Jackson, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Baltimore falls to 61-64. Tampa Bay improves to 75-49. The loss cost the Orioles a shot at a rare four-game sweep of the AL's best team, but they still leave Tropicana Field having taken three of four in a series against a club that had won nine straight before Baltimore arrived last week — a series win that helped put Baltimore in sole possession of the third and final AL wild-card spot over the weekend in the first place.
“It was a really good series for us,” Albernaz said. “We’re trying to win every game we can knowing where we’re at and with the wild card picture.”
That position is now something the Orioles will have to keep defending one game at a time: Baltimore returns home to host the Yankees for three games starting Tuesday, then gets another shot at Tampa Bay in the series right after that.