Santander's record home run lone bright spot for Orioles in 9-3 loss (updated)

The home clubhouse at Camden Yards had new lockers for four players who joined the Orioles on the road trip. Among them was left-hander Trevor Rogers, who made his first career start tonight in Baltimore.

Anthony Santander was in his usual spot in the back row and on the field. He’s become a constant. And now he’s a record holder.

Santander tied the game in the third inning with his 36^th home run, the most by an Orioles switch-hitter. Ken Singleton had 35 in 1979.

The Orioles went to the World Series that year. Santander is swinging the bat like he’s trying to carry his team deep into the postseason. But he’ll need some cooperation. The offense can’t keep shutting down. More outs are needed from the rotation. More trust must be earned in the bullpen.

Rogers was removed at 78 pitches after James Wood’s leadoff single in the sixth, with four runs and seven hits on his line. Bryan Baker let an inherited runner score and two of his own, and the Orioles lost to the Nationals 9-3 before an announced crowd of 28,058 at Camden Yards.

Keegan Akin was greeted in the eighth by consecutive doubles from Wood and Andrés Chaparro, who had three of them in his major league debut. Akin allowed another run in the ninth, and back-to-back defeats left the Orioles at 70-50.

The Yankees defeated the White Sox 4-1 behind Juan Soto's three home runs and moved a half-game ahead in the division.

“We’re really inconsistent," said manager Brandon Hyde. "We’re giving up way too many runs. Tonight I didn’t think our at-bats were real good. Give credit to their starter. We’re just really out front of off-speed pitches a lot. 

"We’re not moving the line offensively enough. We’re swinging at times kind of, our swings can get really big at times and we need to improve on that.”

Santander ran the count to 3-0 against Jake Irvin and drove a sinker 400 feet into the bullpen, and into reliever Cionel Pérez’s cap, for a 2-2 tie. He’s homered in back-to-back games, five times this month and 13 times in the last 25 games.

Rogers lost the lead the next inning. Wood singled, Chaparro doubled for his first major league hit, and two fly balls scored two runs.

The Nationals took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Wood’s RBI single and a rundown that didn’t produce an out until after Juan Yepez crossed the plate. CJ Abrams doubled with one out and Yepez walked. Wood singled to left-center field with two outs.

That could have been the extent of the damage. Wood broke too soon for second base and Rogers threw behind him. Gunnar Henderson took Ryan Mountcastle’s throw, chased Wood back toward first and applied the tag after Yepez scored.

“Mounty needs to look the runner back at third base," Hyde said. "I think the throw took him toward the field side and made him turn his back, but you’ve got to have some awareness there and check the runner at third base.”

Rogers has allowed five runs in the first inning in his three starts with the Orioles.

"I thought my stuff was about average tonight," he said. "I think I did a decent job getting to two strikes. I just couldn't put guys away today.

"I've faced these guys a lot in the past and it seems like they've always had a good approach. I was just trying to mix all day. Got a couple soft contacts early. Just didn't go my way. Just got to keep improving and give my team a chance."

To get better, Rogers said he must keep it simple.

“It’s all about execution, being unpredictable," he said. "I had a good stretch there for a while, and that’s baseball. I’m going to have a couple of rough spots here and there. Keep doing my thing. Keep working. I know I’ll get back to it.”

Rogers enjoyed his first Camden Yards experience, but not the result.

“Great atmosphere," he said. "The fan base was there, and it was great. Obviously, want better results. It was really fun.”

The Orioles got one run back in the second on consecutive singles by Ryan O’Hearn, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle. They decided to play small ball with Cedric Mullins laying down a sacrifice bunt, but Jackson Holliday struck out – a 2-1 pitch outside the zone was called a strike to alter the at-bat – and Ramón Urías flied out.

Hyde pulled Rogers after Wood singled for the third time. Chaparro doubled to left-center field and both runners scored on Ildemaro Vargas’ single. Vargas stole second base and scored on Jacob Young’s single for a 7-2 lead. Young was tagged out in a 9-3-6-3-4 rundown to remove traffic for Baker.

“We’re losing 4-2, they’ve got a guy on base, the order’s third time through," Hyde said in explaining why Rogers came out.

"I thought he threw OK. He left a few off-speed pitches up. Wood got him a few times. We didn’t score much early. Bake had a tough time. Akin wasn’t his best."

Left-hander Gregory Soto had his second consecutive scoreless outing in the seventh inning. He’s retired all six batters during that stretch.

"Happy about Soto," Hyde said. "For me, that was the highlight tonight because we need him badly. The way he threw the ball, hopefully he can take the next step forward for us.”

Orlando Ribalta made his major league debut for the Nationals in the ninth and allowed a run on Colton Cowser's fielder's choice grounder that scored Mulilns, who led off with a single. Holliday had a nine-pitch single for his fourth hit in his last 26 at-bats – the first that wasn't a homer.

* Enrique Bradfield Jr. played his first game with Double-A Bowie and went 1-for-3 with an RBI, walk, two runs scored and two strikeouts. Jud Fabian came within a triple of the cycle and drove in four runs.

Alex Pham tossed five scoreless innings with no walks and six strikeouts.

Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall, the 32^nd-overall pick in the draft, had a single and RBI for Single-A Delmarva in his first professional game.

* MLB Pipeline published its latest prospect rankings and Holliday remains No. 1 in baseball. Coby Mayo is 10^th and Samuel Basallo is 11^th. First-round draft pick Vance Honeycutt is No. 4 in the organization’s top 30 after Holliday, Mayo and Basallo. Cade Povich is fifth.