Irvin struggles again as O's lose series and homestand finale (updated)

The Orioles were looking for their third four-game sweep of this season and third in their past 11 series since May 23. But lefty Cole Irvin’s struggles continued tonight as the Birds fell in an early hole and lost big on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”

Irvin allowed five runs over 3 2/3 innings as the Rangers scored two in the second and knocked him out during their three-run fourth. The Rangers denied the Orioles the sweep whipping the Birds 11-2 tonight in front of 23,439 in the series and homestand finale at Oriole Park.

The Orioles fall back into a first-place tie with the Yankees after New York’s win this afternoon. Baltimore is leading the American League East by percentage points at .631 (53-31) to New York’s .628 (54-32).

After just their second off-day tomorrow since May 31, the Orioles begin a West Coast swing Tuesday at Seattle and then head for Oakland.

The Orioles went 18-12 (.600) in their run of 30 games over the last 31 days.

Needing a homer to complete the cycle while batting in the eighth inning, Texas left fielder Wyatt Langford got it with a three-run shot off Matt Krook, making his O's debut. That made Langford the 11th Ranger to hit for the cycle and first since Carlos Gomez on April 29, 2017 versus the Angels. He is the second Ranger to do it as a rookie joining Oddibe McDowell in 1985.

Irvin had a promising start with a 1-2-3 first inning but needed two good defensive plays. One was by left fielder Austin Hays on a ball hit into the corner at 100 mph by Marcus Semien. And the other was a leaping grab at third base by Jordan Westburg to rob Josh Smith.

Texas took a 2-0 lead against him in the second. The O’s failed to turn an inning-ending double play on Nathaniel Lowe’s grounder to third, giving center fielder Derek Hill an at-bat. He blasted a two-run homer 414 feet to left for the 2-0 lead.

Hays, who played for the first time since Tuesday while nursing a knee injury, doubled leading off the second off lefty Andrew Heaney. An RBI single by Ryan O’Hearn, in a game where he got a rare left-on-left at-bat, cut the O’s deficit to 2-1.

But a three-run fourth put Texas back in control. Langford led off with a triple, producing more loud contact against Irvin, and scored on Lowe’s single. A couple of RBI hits by Andrew Knizer and Josh Smith followed for a 5-1 lead.

That became 5-2 in the fourth on Heston Kjerstad’s RBI double to left, giving him four hits over six at-bats in his past three games. His OPS at game time was .962 in his first 12 games of this season.

But the O’s bullpen could not keep this a three-run game as Texas hammered lefty reliever Nick Vespi for three more in the fifth to make it an 8-2 game.

That inning featured Hill’s second homer, a solo shot hit 436 feet to center. Hill had no homers in his first seven major league games of this year but hit two tonight and three over the past two games. This was his first career multi-homer game.

Through the fifth, Texas was 10-for-24 with six extra-base hits and 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles' four-game winning streak ended. They had allowed just 10 runs in those wins. Texas (38-46) snapped a six-game losing streak and a nine-game road losing streak, winning the final game of its seven-game road trip.

During the third inning tonight live on the field at shortstop while mic’d up during the ESPN broadcast, Gunnar Henderson told the national audience he will take part in the Home Run Derby in Texas, a night ahead of the All-Star Game.

Henderson had a rough night at the plate though, as he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. His on-base streak ended at 36 games in a row. 

Irvin’s final line showed five hits and five runs over 3 2/3 innigns with two walks and two strikeouts on 80 pitches. He is now 6-5 with an ERA of 4.13.

Over his past four games, he has allowed 29 hits and 22 runs (17 earned) in 18 innings, raising his ERA from 2.87 at that point. The O’s are now 9-5 in his 14 starts, but 1-3 in the past four games. Irvin had allowed just 18 runs in his first 10 starts this season.

Orioles pitchers began tonight tied for fewest hit batters in the American League with 26, but four Rangers batters were plunked, two by Irvin and two by reliever Dillon Tate in the seventh inning. That tied the O's record for most hit in one game, last done Sept. 23, 2019 at Toronto.

Heaney was the winning pitcher after allowing two runs over seven innings to now be 3-9 with an ERA of 4.04. He fanned 10 without a walk after just 14 O's batters fanned over the series first three games.

The Orioles listed just one starter for the upcoming series with the Mariners. Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (9-3, 3.72 ERA) will face righty George Kirby (7-5, 3.35 ERA) on Tuesday. The O’s are TBA for Wednesday and Thursday. Righty Corbin Burnes is expected to return soon off the paternity list and righty Dean Kremer could come back off the injured list after making three rehab starts at Triple-A.

After the game, manager Brandon Hyde said Ryan Mountcastle didn't play because he was under the weather.

Hyde on Irvin's outing: “I thought he struggled with his command. I thought he got in the zone and they took good swings off him. On a night we were really short in the bullpen, everyone that was available threw tonight. Be nice to give us a little bit more, but I think he competed. He just didn’t have his best stuff.”

Hyde on Heaney: “We’ve seen Andrew quite a bit. Real sneaky fastball, thought he was on tonight. Really good fastball command with the slider and the changeup. Thought he was really sharp, that was the sharpest I’ve seen him in a while. Thought he was excellent tonight.”

Hyde on 18-12 in tough stretch: “Disappointed in this one, but I thought we played outstanding. We had a little bit of a hiccup there, about five days where we didn’t play our best baseball, ran into some really good starters. But going into the month, we knew this was going to be difficult and we’ve got to keep our foot on the gas. But the way our guys grinding through that month, I’m really proud of those guys.”

Irvin felt some progress on adjustments was made: “Actually a positive thing more than it was a negative. I know the stat line doesn’t show it. The adjustment I needed to make was to get more out of the zone. Felt like I did that. But you know, came with consequences, walked two guys, hit two guys. Not my forte of how I pitch. But there were things to pull from this that showed some quality pitches.

“There was weak contact. Had a double play that could have been made. Those things just happen. They can get blown up when things are not going well."

Irvin on trying to improve: “By no means am I trying to back away from what has been going on. I am trying to find an adjustment, make an adjustment to where I was good earlier in the season. It’s there, it’s close. Not far off."

Henderson on the Home Run Derby: “Yeah, it is definitely something I was watching as a kid growing up. Just obviously something that seemed like it would be pretty cool to have that opportunity. Pretty special. Looking forward to it."

Henderson on seeking advice from Adley Rutschman: “Yeah, I’m going to see what he’s got. I did see something where they changed the format this year, so that will be interesting. But yeah, will pick his brain a little bit.”

Henderson going 18-12 since May 31: “It’s been a tough stretch. Obviously didn’t end it the way we wanted to, but I feel like we did really well for the circumstances that we had. One off-day. Yeah, felt like we put ourselves in a good position to set us up for the last half.”

The Orioles finished June going 17-12.

They are now 15-20 on "Sunday Night Baseball" on ESPN.

Kjerstad is batting .438/.550/.938 (7-for-16) since being recalled June 24.