O's can't capitalize on scoring chances or Sugano's great start, fall 4-3

WASHINGTON – The Orioles' offense had plenty of opportunities to cash in for a breakout inning in tonight’s 4-3 loss to the Nationals. Instead, they made smaller deposits. 

For the most part, pitching held up its end of the bargain. Sometimes, you can still win baseball games like that, even when you go 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. In this case, the offense came up just short. 

“I’m really happy with how we played,” said Brandon Hyde after the game. “We play baseball like that, we’re going to win a lot of games.”

The Orioles' offense started the contest with three straight batted balls hit over 100 mph off the bats of Cedric Mullins, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman. Only one, a single from Rutschman, resulted in a hit. Despite the loud contact, Baltimore left the top of the first without a run. That would be a theme. 

“We hit a lot of balls hard that we weren’t rewarded for,” Hyde noted. “I thought we took really good at-bats for the most part.”

James Wood led off the bottom of the first for the Nationals, and also drove a ball over 100 mph. 

This one went for 116.3 mph, the eighth-hardest hit ball in the big leagues this year, according to Statcast. More importantly, it was a solo home run. Just like that, Washington was out to an early 1-0 lead. 

A few batters later, Josh Bell pulled Tomoyuki Sugano’s middle-middle curveball nearly 400 feet inside the right-field foul pole. This time, the home run was of the two-run variety. 

One inning, 3-0 Nationals. 

Yet again, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the O’s found themselves in an early hole. 

“We’re giving up some runs early some nights,” Hyde said with an exasperated chuckle.  “Offensively, it’s kind of put us in a funk a little bit early, and that’s happened a handful of times.”

But in the top of the third, the lineup showed some life. Jackson Holliday singled on a flare to left and Ramón Urías walked. 

Mullins was up with nobody out and runners threatening. The team’s OPS leader squared to bunt on the first three pitches, then struck out swinging on the next. Henderson flew out to left, but Rutschman delivered an RBI on a hard-hit single to right field. 

Ryan O’Hearn wasn’t able to cash in with runners in scoring position, but Baltimore chipped away at the lead. The Nats, however, still had a 3-1 advantage. 

But Sugano settled in. After a rough first inning, the veteran right-hander bounced back, delivering two straight 1-2-3 innings in the second and third. 

“Tomo going back out there, putting a zero in the second, a zero in the third kind of allowed our offense to get going,” Hyde said of his starter. “I’m just really happy with our effort. I thought we played extremely hard. Everybody was into it. Nobody’s satisfied with how we’re playing. We were just a little short tonight, but really happy with how we played tonight.”

The Orioles were firmly in this ballgame, but needed to cash in on opportunities. 

Another chance came in the top of the fourth, with Heston Kjerstad and Holliday delivering singles and looming on the corners. But with two away, Urías wasn’t able to bring them home, and the game remained 3-1 Washington. 

Wouldn’t you know, just one inning later, Baltimore had another runner in scoring position. This time around, Henderson, Rutschman and O’Hearn couldn’t capitalize. Still, it remained 3-1 Nats. 

Trevor Williams kept finding himself in trouble, but tightroped his way out of it inning after inning. The veteran only allowed one run in five innings of work, but racked up a high pitch count. So, it was Jackson Rutledge time in the sixth, and the former first-round pick found similar results in the frame: traffic and trouble, but no runs. 

To lead off the seventh, Mullins reached base with his second hit of the game. Two batters later, Rutschman reached on a walk, once again putting ducks on the pond. Ryan Mountcastle pinch-hit for O’Hearn and was promptly plunked, loading the bases with just one away. 

But after a Tyler O’Neill sacrifice fly and a loud Kjerstad out to the warning track, Baltimore put just one run on the board, and the Nationals still led 3-2. 

Sugano’s performance kept them in it.

All in all, the veteran delivered seven innings of work, allowing only those three first-inning runs on five hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out one, but he didn’t need the punchouts to be effective. 

“I made sure I just kept going. I pounded the zone. That was what I was thinking,” Sugano said postgame. “I always have this mentality of going deep every time I pitch, but the first inning, the homers, it hurt, but I didn’t have any walks today, so that was a positive outcome.”

“Yeah, he’s awesome,” added Holliday. “Every time he goes out there, we know we’re going to get a quality start, he’s going to throw a bunch of strikes and get late into the game. It’s very fun to play behind him, for sure.”

To lead off the eighth, a Jordan Westburg triple down the line kicked off yet another inning with a bang. Urías brought him home on a sac fly, and it was all tied up. 

In the bottom of the frame, though, Gregory Soto worked himself into hot water. 

He almost found two outs on a double-play ball, but the O’s defense could only get one. So, with just one away, a Luis García Jr. fly out to center field became a sacrifice fly, and resulted in the game-deciding run. Ultimately, it gave the Nationals a 4-3 victory. 

It’s hard to point a finger at a taxed bullpen that has been so effective all year. Sugano provided a great start, and the ‘pen only allowed one. That’s enough to win a game. 

The Orioles threatened again in the ninth, but as was the case all game, they couldn’t capitalize. 

“I mean, obviously you want to cash in and score runs,” said Holliday in the clubhouse after the loss. “But I thought, as a team, we put together some good at-bats and had runners in scoring position. So yeah, you’ve got to take the positives when you can get them.” 

Baltimore has now dropped three straight games and four of their last five, and will need their small victories to translate against MacKenzie Gore tomorrow night. Gore, one of the best young lefties in the league, leads Major League Baseball with 14 strikeouts per nine innings. 

The O’s are looking to avoid a sweep in the nation’s capital before heading to Detroit.