The Baltimore Orioles got a first-hand view of the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays (31-15) on Monday and they saw why the Rays lead the division. The game was never close as the Birds lost 16-6; the Rays had a 6-0 lead after two innings.
Solo homeruns by Weston Wilson (2 for 4) in the fifth inning and Adley Rutschman (2 for 4, BB) in the seventh made little difference in both the score or the team’s fire. Rutschman hit a RBI single in the third inning and scored on Pete Alonso‘s (3 for 5) 2-RBI double in the fifth. Wilson pitched the eighth inning as well, allowing a pair of hits.
Jeremiah Jackson doubled and scored on a RBI double by Blaze Alexander in the eighth inning.
It was another bad outing for Trevor Rogers (2-5). The lefty was lifted after 3.2 innings after facing a total of 22 Tampa batters. Rogers has now lost five starts in a row and over that span pitched 5.0 innings just once (April 19th). He left the game with a runner on third who scored to finish with a line of 8 runs allowed, 7 earned, on 8 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. At this point I am expecting to hear that he has some sort of injury over the next few days as it seems to be the pattern for this team.
The next two bullpen arms, Cameron Foster and Dietrich Enns each allowed 4 runs with Foster allowing the runner he inherited from Rogers to score and giving up a 3-run homerun to Junior Caminero in the fifth.
Andrew Kittredge struck out one batter in the seventh inning.
For a team with such high expectations entering the season, it is sad to see them doggy-paddling near the .500 mark.
2026 Record: 21-27
Next Game: Tues. 5/19 @ 6:40 pm @ Tampa Bay Rays
