The Orioles waited for it. The bounce back that has come within a day or two. The displays of resiliency and pride and the short memories that allow them to march forward after an ugly loss.
They did it after a 15-3 thrashing by the Yankees, defeating the Athletics 12-4 in the next game. David Price and two relievers shut them out in Boston and they gain a series split with an 8-1 win. They lose 12-2 to the White Sox and win the next two. The Rays' Tyler Glasnow shoves, bringing another shutout loss, and they follow up with their own shutout. They lose 14-7 in Cleveland to open their last series and win 5-1 the next night.
How would the Orioles rebound after the Indians' Shane Bieber tossed a complete-game shutout Sunday with 15 strikeouts and they fumbled a late lead last night against the Yankees with a total breakdown in fundamentals?
Momentum and recovery are the next day's starting pitcher. Or something like that.
David Hess served up two singles and a three-run homer to Gary Sánchez just three batters into the game and Clint Frazier homered twice in an 11-4 loss to the Yankees before an announced crowd of 17,389 at Camden Yards.
Frazier hit a two-run homer in the third inning after Gio Urshela's RBI double and a three-run shot in the fifth, and the Orioles fell to 15-33 with their seventh loss in eight games and 11th in 13. Hess leads the majors with 17 home runs allowed, including four against the Yankees in his previous start in the Bronx.
The Orioles have surrendered 100 home runs in 48 games. It only seems like the Yankees account for most of them.
Hess allowed a career-high nine runs in five innings and his ERA rose from 5.58 to 6.75. He threw 106 pitches, 58 for strikes, before Josh Lucas replaced him.
Lucas gave up two runs in the sixth on four singles, but he covered three innings to save the bullpen. He retired seven in a row with four strikeouts.
The Orioles have permitted 10 runs or more in three consecutive games and four of six.
Domingo Germán served up a three-run homer to Stevie Wilkerson in the bottom of the fifth after handed a 9-0 lead. He didn't come back out for the sixth and won his ninth game in 10 decisions, tops in the majors.
Hanser Alberto called off first baseman Chris Davis while chasing a popup in the second inning and dropped it in foul territory. The latest mishap didn't cost Hess a run, but it brought back unwanted images of last night's meltdown.
The Orioles understand and accept the disadvantages of being a rebuilding club stripped of All-Stars and payroll. They're just trying to prevent the list from wrapping around and suffocating them.
Check their lineup last night and count the number of waiver acquisitions (five) and Rule 5 players (two). Their best hitter, Trey Mancini, was drafted in the eighth round. Their starting center field, Wilkerson, was an eighth-rounder who had been outrighted in spring training.
The Yankees are beset with injuries, but they're still the Yankees. They thump and they spend.
The Orioles acted like themselves again this afternoon. Lots of chatter inside the clubhouse before batting practice - and around individual meetings with manager Brandon Hyde. The music wasn't blaring, but it played. Guys competed and talked smack at the pool table.
A loose atmosphere rather than being uptight and frayed at the nerves. It's worked in the past.
"You can't think about yesterday," Mancini said before heading outside. "There's nothing you can do about what happened yesterday. Until late in the game it felt like yesterday was our bounce back day from the day before. Unfortunately we let it get away from us. Maybe the toughest loss this year. Being in control of the game and kind of falling apart at the end, but there's nothing else you can do besides come back to the park the next day and try to win, and that's what we're going to do.
"It's a long season and you've got to be resilient in this game. Especially in a rebuilding phase with the team, it can be tough sometimes, but you've still got to come to the park and know you can win a game. We're in most of the game we play. They've been pretty close. You're hope is as the year goes on and our team plays together more and some of the younger guys get more experience and we'll start winning the close games.
"We've lost a lot of them that we could have won. That's encouraging but also disappointing at the same time. But our job today is to go out there and forget that yesterday ever happened, wash it and try to win."
Hyde offered a vote of confidence to reliever Mychal Givens, charged with a career-high five runs last night but also victimized by poor throws from the outfield and a misplayed popup behind the plate.
"I hope that we get in a situation that we got in last night and Mike's back in there. We'd love to see him come back," Hyde said.
"We didn't help him out, either. It was not our night from the defensive side the last couple of innings, but I'd love to see Mike back in that situation. I know he's hungry to get back in there.
"Obviously I think Mike's a tough kid with great makeup. Like I said last night, he's going to have hiccups. Hardly any closer is ever perfect. And so you're going to give up runs at times. He's been pitching so well for us this last month, he was probably due for a tough one and last night was."
Tonight's game didn't present another save opportunity.
DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit singled in the first inning and Sánchez lined an 83 mph slider into the left field seats with the count full to give the Yankees a quick 3-0 lead. Hess threw 28 pitches in the inning.
Sánchez's three-run homer off Givens last night broke a 7-7 tie in the ninth inning.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Sánchez and Gleyber Torres are the second pair of Yankees to each hit eight home runs against the franchise in the same season. Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth did it in 1927 and 1931 while it was based in St. Louis.
Aaron Hicks walked in the third and scored with two outs on Urshela's double, with Dwight Smith Jr. crashing into the fence and rising slowly off the ground. Smith made a nice running catch of Sánchez's fly ball in left-center field to start the inning.
Frazier's ball barely eluded Wilkerson's leaping attempt. It ricocheted off whatever sits behind the fence and landed on the outfield grass.
The other bounce back would have to wait at least one more night.
Update: The Yankees have hit three or more home runs in five straight games at Camden Yards, tying the major league record for longest streak by any team in any park.
Hyde on why Hess is giving up so many homers: "I just thought that, I didn't think his fastball command was real good. I thought he battled and competed. His slider was sharp at times and then not sharp in the middle of the plate and they hurt him. Just not enough weapons. For me, the changeup split was kind of non-existent, and you've got to be able to pitch against those guys. You've got to be able to pitch backward, you have to be able to locate your fastball. If you can't do that it's rough.
"I hated to have to extend him out there but we just didn't have pitching. Getting down six runs early, we were just going to take him as long as we could."
Hyde on whether he's seeing improvement in Hess: "I think at times, but you've got to be able to execute up here and you've got to be able to execute against a major league lineup that can hurt you when you make mistakes. I think you saw Cash (Andrew Cashner) last night really pitch. David just needs to learn how to do that and that starts with fastball command."
Hyde on whether he worries how this affects Hess: "Yeah I do. Originally before (Alex) Cobb got hurt we had him going in the bullpen, wanted to see what that looked like and Cobb got hurt. We just don't have the numbers, we don't have the depth. I don't like seeing guys get beat up."
Hyde on whether he has a choice with Hess: "It's what we've got right now. It's not from lack of effort or lack of competitiveness. I don't like seeing guys get beat up and I don't like seeing guys give up homers, but they're all getting the opportunity to bounce back from tough starts or our hitters from tough games offensively or whatever it may be. But yeah, we're lacking depth."
Hyde on giving up 100 home runs: "We're facing good teams, but you've got to pitch here. You have to stay off the barrel and you've got to be able to locate. And if you don't, in a hitter's ballpark against guys that mash, you're going to give up 100 homers 40-something games into it."
Hess on start: "Really that's simply put not good enough. I think that kind of goes without saying. Really the only thing I can look at is continuing to work and continuing to do everything I can to get better."
Hess on home runs: "You look at some of them I think are pretty good pitches, but for the majority of them I think that they're mistake pitches over the plate and so really it all comes down to pitch location and really that hasn't been good enough and the results speak for themselves on that."
Hess on whether he's learning: "I think you're always learning if you choose to look at it that way. I think that really, like I said, the work that's being put in there are things that are being addressed. It just hasn't shown so far out on the field and so from the lens I see it through I really try to focus on the things that are positive and kind of take away a couple things to move forward with and then address the things between starts that we want to work on."
Hess on whether it's draining: "Yeah. It is very draining just because there's a clubhouse of guys in here that I care about a ton and so to have that feeling of not going out and getting the job done for them, just as much as anything else, that really does wear you down. But really that's also the thing that keeps you going, knowing the culture that's here, the guys that are here care about one another and they want to see me get through it just as much as I do. Really without them I think this would be a lot more difficult than it has been."
Wilkerson on his power surge: "Each team has a different plan of attack. I saw a lot of changeups tonight. I got to a fastball there. I don't think he was trying to hit that spot, but I just got to a fastball."
Wilkerson on falling behind early: "It's always tough when you get down early. I guess we just didn't have enough in us to get back in it. We scratched and clawed and just didn't have enough in the tank tonight."
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