BALTIMORE — October was supposed to be different for the Orioles.
A 5-1 finish to the regular season and the late-September return of several key contributors brought optimism that a lackluster second half was finally in the rearview mirror. A more experienced club also had no shortage of motivation with the memory of what happened last October.
Instead, Baltimore’s season went on life support after Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to the upstart Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series.
Not a single run scored in the club’s ninth straight postseason loss dating back to 2014, the same year these Royals swept the Orioles in the AL Championship Series.
You couldn’t have asked for more from Corbin Burnes, the ace acquired last February to get them over the hump after last year’s pitching face plant in the Division Series. The right-hander was nothing short of superb over a season-high eight innings, allowing one run on a two-out single to left by Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. in the sixth inning. Burnes lamented the one-out walk issued to No. 9 hitter Maikel Garcia two batters earlier, but it was his teammates who came up too small in defeat.
For what it’s worth, Royals manager Matt Quatraro fully expected Burnes to pitch to Witt, who made solid contact on a low-and-away cutter that caught a bit more of the plate than you’d like, especially for a first pitch. Manager Brandon Hyde expressed no regret in pitching to Witt, saying he was “letting Corbin Burnes, the way he’s throwing the baseball right there, determine who he wants to go get.”
“That guy was incredible today,” said Quatraro about Burnes. “He’s got incredible stuff. He locates. You know that’s your best pitcher and our best hitter. That’s why you play this game, right? But I would have been more surprised if he had walked him.”
Royals starter Cole Ragans reinforced why there was too much made about Baltimore avoiding a first-round matchup with expected Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and Detroit as the All-Star lefty shut down the Orioles over six scoreless innings. Ragans struck out eight and allowed four hits before exiting the game with cramping in his left calf, a break on which the Orioles couldn’t capitalize. The Kansas City bullpen that was excellent in the month of September finished off the shutout with three scoreless innings, which included a four-out save from closer and trade-deadline acquisition Lucas Erceg.
But the Orioles had their opportunities, going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position after struggling in that department throughout the second half of the season. They didn’t do the little things well in the series opener either.
A leadoff double by Cedric Mullins — who was slow out of the box watching his towering fly bang off the right-field scoreboard — in the bottom of the third was followed by three straight outs. Does the speedy Mullins wind up at third with nobody out and alter the complexion of the inning if he’s sprinting all the way?
Royals left fielder MJ Melendez played a Ramon Urias blooper into a double with one out in the fifth, but Urias didn’t get a good read on Mullins’ single to right-center and held at third base before James McCann and Gunnar Henderson struck out to end the inning. One can’t definitively say Urias — one of the slower players on the team — would have scored, but a better read surely would have made sending him home a stronger possibility.
The Orioles’ last best chance to score came with two on and two outs in the eighth inning when Anthony Santander — their leader in home runs and most clutch performer — grounded out on a 1-0 changeup from Erceg.
While Witt capitalized on his only opportunity with a man in scoring position, Santander, Henderson, and Jordan Westburg — three 2024 All-Star selections — went a combined 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Baltimore’s other All-Star position player, Adley Rutschman, went 0-for-4 to continue his alarmingly abysmal performance since the start of July.
On the grandest stage, your stars need to be stars, and only Burnes answered the bell for the Orioles in the opener. It’s one game, of course, and the series isn’t over, but a best-of-three format affords so little time to regroup as the Royals will send All-Star right-hander Seth Lugo to the hill in search of a sweep on Wednesday afternoon. Baltimore will counter with righty Zach Eflin, who’s been excellent since being acquired from Tampa Bay before the trade deadline.
“We’ve got to show up and play our game,” said Rutschman, who’s now 1-for-16 in four career postseason games. “Our process has been the same all year. Our guys have to show up ready to go tomorrow.”
That “process” produced too much mediocrity after the All-Star break as the Orioles went 33-33 in the second half of the season.
And Tuesday was more of the same for a club now in danger of an abrupt postseason exit for a second straight year.
