Two hits, that is the entirety of the Orioles offense on Sunday as the team fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1. The road loss streak is now at 15 and with the loss, a sweep of the Birds by the Rays was complete. The last time the Rays swept the Orioles in St. Petersburg was September of 2018.
Baltimore’s offense was a DJ Stewart (1 for 4) single to lead off the game, an Austin Hays (0 for 2, 1 R, 1 BB) walk to lead off the second, a Pat Valaika (1 for 3) RBI single that scored Hays and a Trey Mancini (0 for 2, 1 BB) walk in the third.
Mancini was hit in the right elbow in the first inning, moving Stewart into scoring position but in the end, he was left stranded at third base.
The nineteen batters after the Mancini walk were sent back to the dugout; that’s nineteen straight outs, six by strikeout.
Starter Bruce Zimmermann suffered the loss from this abysmal lack of offense; he pitched 5.2 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3 to even his record at 4-4.
Cesar Valdez (2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K) coughed up a grand slam homerun to Randy Arozarena in the 7th inning that put the game out of reach but for all intents and purposes, the disappearing Orioles bats did that to themselves.
2021 Record: 22-42
Next Game: Mon. June 14 @ 7:10pm in Cleveland