Bullpen got better but O's offense continued to struggle at Dodger Stadium

LOS ANGELES – The Orioles won by 3-2 on Tuesday night. They beat the Los Angeles Dodgers with a shutdown bullpen and a go-ahead homer by Ramon Urias.

They were in excellent shape to win the series from the club with the best record in the majors and one with a great home record. But two losses followed, and the Orioles fell to 1.5 games back of the idle Yankees for the AL East lead.

Their bullpen had a strong series, how about that? But their starters and batters did not.

The win one, lose one mode might be enough to get the Orioles to the playoffs but they will need to play better when they get there.

The O’s offense hit .182 this series, scoring 10 runs with six extra-base hits in Los Angeles and they went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

Over the past 12 games, Baltimore batters have scored 43 runs but have hit just .175 with a .573 OPS and have gone 9-for-62 (.145) with runners in scoring position in this span.

In the 12 games, they’ve scored five or more just twice while scoring three or less eight times.

“Tough to beat the Dodgers with four hits. … We created some traffic, but just not enough offense,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

What now?

“I’m always contemplating lineup changes. I mean, (tonight) we are facing a lefty, so you will probably see a couple of guys in there (that were) not in there. But I mean, I’ve kind of shaken it up a couple of times already. But we’ll see. I’ll take everything into consideration.”

The O’s Gunnar Henderson could not come through in a big spot with two men on in the seventh last night. He fanned against Blake Treinen and went 1-for-12 this series.

His last 10 games, Gunnar, one of many struggling hitters in this lineup, is 5-for-37 with no homers and one RBI.

“Probably just need to not try as hard. Taking a lot of swings so just trying to do what I can to help the team. But yeah, just need to probably take it a little bit easier,” he said.

The O's starting pitchers allowed 13 runs (eight earned) in 12 2/3 innings this series while the Baltimore bullpen gave up one run and six hits in 12 1/3 innings in Los Angeles.

The three games at Dodger Stadium, where the Orioles are now 3-6 all-time in the regular season, produced three sellouts and total attendance of 158,875.

“I think it’s fun. I think our guys enjoyed the environment,” said Hyde. "I don’t know how many people were here, but it’s a lot in all three games. It feels playoff atmosphere-ish, as close as you can in the regular season. That’s a really good team over there with a tough lineup. They’re missing (Freddie) Freeman, too. They’ve got a really good club. We had a chance to win. We won one. We had a chance to win in the other two if we string some hits together, but we just didn’t do it.”

Next stop, Colorado: Now that the Orioles have played two straight series versus first-place teams (going 3-4 versus the Astros and Dodgers) beginning tonight they play two in a row versus last-place teams at Colorado and then at home against the Chicago White Sox.

Pregame yesterday Hyde said he is not taking wins for granted in this stretch. Yes, Colorado has an overall 50-85 record but is much better at home at 31-35. And the Rockies are 15-11 at home since July 1.

“Those of us that have been to Colorado to play the Rockies there, it’s challenging,” Hyde said. “One is they can really, really hit. And I know they have struggled with pitching, but most struggle with pitching in Colorado. It’s a really dangerous young team that can swing the bats. We have to pitch really well there.

“Playing there – it’s different. It’s video gamish. It’s so big, the ball travels so much. Balls fall in, in the outfield. A lot of things can happen. No lead is ever too big there. So, we’re going to play a young, hungry team that is swinging the bat right now.”

The Rockies indeed have been hitting. They’ve scored eight runs three straight games. Over their past 19 games (going 8-11) they have averaged 4.9 runs per game with a .746 team OPS.

In home games only, Colorado ranks sixth in the majors scoring 4.97 runs per game and is sixth in OPS at .772.

Getting the injured back: The Orioles are slowly getting a bit healthier. Righty Zach Eflin, who is 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA as an Oriole, may come off the injured list and make the start Sunday at Colorado.

Meanwhile, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez thew again off flat ground yesterday at Dodger Stadium and should throw off a mound soon. He told reporters yesterday he's feeling good. He's on the IL with right lat/teres discomfort.

There is no date set yet for his return, but he is excited to think about a time when he comes back along with Jordan Westburg, Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb to name a few.

“Yeah absolutely. We are thinking about that every day," Rodriguez said. "We are missing some pieces right now. Still playing good baseball. Obviously last year we played really well in the regular season, the playoffs didn’t go how we wanted to. So this year we really are going to be focusing on October more, not just the regular season.

“I think guys are trying to, you know, really don’t know how to say it, but guys are trying to preserve themselves for the postseason. Because ultimately that is what is most important. Everyone wants to win the division – that is fun and that’s the goal. But you want to win the World Series and be the winner at the very end. I think that is in the back of everyone’s mind."