Hays home run isn't enough to prevent Orioles' 8-2 loss to Astros (updated)

Jack Flaherty received the ball from catcher Adley Rutschman, flipped it in the air and caught it with his bare hand in a swiping motion. He picked up the rosin bag and spiked it. And he waited for pitching coach Chris Holt.

The frustration was building in the second inning. The pitcher who retired 15 batters in a row in Toronto was unable to slip his start into cruise control.

No serious wreckage, but a rough ride.

And the bullpen lost control again.

Flaherty left the bases loaded after falling behind by three runs in the second inning, and he did it again in the fifth. His follow-up outing with the Orioles, and first career start in Baltimore, was more of a grind, and the Astros prevailed 8-2 before an announced crowd of 25,479 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles haven’t been swept since May 13-15, 2022, a span of 75 multi-game series, but they are on the brink. Their record is 70-44 and the lead remains two games over the second-place Rays.

Austin Hays hit an opposite-field, two-run homer off Cristian Javier in the fourth inning, his first since July 9, to reduce the lead to 3-2. He made a leaping catch in front of the Orioles’ bullpen in the eighth to rob Chas McCormick of a leadoff home run off Shintaro Fujinami, planting his feet in the dirt, shouting and pounding his chest.

Fujinami walked the bases loaded with two outs, and José Altuve and Alex Bregman followed with two-run singles off Mike Baumann to send fans toward the exits. Jeremy Peña added a two-out RBI single off Baumann in the ninth.

"I looked at the first two walks and barely missed off the edges on a few pitches. We didn't get some of those calls," said manager Brandon Hyde.

The bullpen has surrendered 10 runs in the series after ranking third in the majors in ERA.

"Unfortunately, I had to extend Mike Baumann there," Hyde said. "That's really not his fault, honestly. It's just, there was nobody else to pitch in that kind of situation.

"Mike's been doing a great job for us all year. Been an absolute workhorse for us. Takes the ball, doesn't complain, and I thought he just really, really competed. He pitched last night and then he got extended tonight."

Flaherty allowed three runs and six hits in five innings, with two walks, eight strikeouts and two hit batters. Jacob Webb made his Orioles debut in the sixth, the 47^th player used this season, and struck out the side.

Kyle Tucker followed last night’s grand slam with a two-run shot in the first inning. He got ahead 3-1 with two outs and hit a slider 427 feet to right-center field.

Another two-out run scored in the second on Altuve’s RBI single after José Abreu singled and Mauricio Dubón was hit by a pitch.

The Astros ran Flaherty’s pitch count to 52 through the second, but he retired the side in order on nine in the third and stranded a runner in the fourth.

A two-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth ended with Flaherty getting a called third strike on Peña on his 98^th pitch.

"I thought he pitched well," Hyde said. "I thought the command was a little bit off, the breaking ball early. But I thought he got better as the game went on. ... I thought he did a nice job, kept us in the game."

Flaherty's 16 strikeouts in his first two games with the Orioles are a club record, surpassing Tom Phoebus (1966), Craig Lefferts (1992) and Jimmy Haynes (1995) with 15 each.

The traffic and falling an inning short of matching his total at Rogers Centre soured Flaherty on his start.

"Going five isn't going to get it done," he said. "It's great to limit damage and whatnot, and make some big pitches in big spots, but I had a chance there to find a way to get through six. Getting through five and whatnot and limiting damage is great, but you've got to find a way to get deeper.

"Just got to do a better job of executing early."

Flaherty liked the energy in the ballpark.

"I haven't had to turn my PitchCom up while pitching at home in a while," he said.

Rutschman tripled in the bottom of the first on a fly ball that fell inside the left field line – his first since his major league debut on May 21, 2022. Javier struck out the next two batters and retired Ryan O’Hearn on a 10-pitch fly ball.

Hays carried a fastball into the right field seats in the fourth after Ryan Mountcastle’s leadoff single that extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Hays was batting .181/.225/.229 in the second half before tonight.

“A little bit inconsistent,” Hyde said this afternoon, “but nothing to be concerned about.”

Asked tonight about the home run, Hyde said, "That was the best swing we've seen out of him in a while."

The Orioles loaded the bases against Bryan Abreu with one out in the eighth and didn’t score. Hays flied to shallow right field and Jordan Westburg bounced to the mound.

Left-hander Cionel Pérez allowed a leadoff single in the seventh and got a double play, but Fujinami couldn’t find the plate after Hays bailed him out.

* Triple-A Norfolk’s Chayce McDermott allowed one run and two hits in five innings, walking none and striking out six. Austin Voth tossed two scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Bryan Baker allowed two runs and two hits with a walk and strikeout in the eighth inning.

Josh Lester hit his 17^th home run and Coby Mayo doubled twice.

Cedric Mullins went 0-for-5 with an RBI with Double-A Bowie. Catcher Silas Ardoin had two hits and two RBIs.

High-A Aberdeen’s Trace Bright struck out nine batters in four innings but also allowed four runs. Cameron Weston allowed one run and struck out six batters in four relief innings.

Catcher Samuel Basallo led off and had two hits and a walk.

Matthew Etzel had three hits and an RBI with Single-A Delmarva.