O's fall again to end 2-4 road trip with a loss at Detroit (updated)

DETROIT – An O’s starter pitched well, but got little or no run support. A recurring theme in Birdland a lot lately.

Facing a traditional starter – not an opener – was not something that helped the struggling Orioles offense today.

They saw Detroit right-hander Keider Montero. And while his 4.88 ERA was not impressive, his last outing was. He pitched a three-hit shutout Tuesday on 96 pitches versus Colorado.

Today, he didn’t get that deep in the game, but the O’s could not score off him either.

They finally got some offense, but it proved too little and too late today.

The Orioles lost 4-2 to Detroit in the series finale in front of 20,643 at Comerica Park.

The Orioles lost two of three this weekend, scoring six runs. Today, the Orioles were held to two runs or less for the sixth time in the last 10 games. 

The O’s woes on offense show a team that went 2-4 on this road trip scoring 17 runs. They have scored 21 runs the last 10 games, getting three or less eight times in this span.

They try different players, switch some spots in the batting order, activated Heston Kjerstad today, but nothing seems to work.

Down 3-0 in the eighth, Adley Rutschman hit a two-run homer to pull them within a run. It was his 19th homer, but first since Aug. 18. He had just one in his last 45 games.

This afternoon, under the Detroit sun, lefty Cade Povich gave the Orioles a solid five innings outing allowing a two-run homer and nothing else. But he took the loss to fall to 2-9 with an ERA of 5.74.

Over the five innings, he allowed two hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. Baltimore starting pitchers have an ERA of 1.42 the last five games and 2.33 the past nine. But they need some runs to win those games. 

Tigers left fielder Riley Greene cranked a two-run homer to right off Povich for a 2-0 lead in the home third. Greene, who has an OPS of .918 this month, hit his team-leading 22^nd for the lead. He mashed the ball with 109.2 mph exit velocity and drove it 412 feet into the right-field stands. That was his first career homer off a lefty starter. 

Right-hander Jacob Webb returned from the injured list and got three groundball outs to the mound in the Tigers’ sixth. But he also allowed a two-out walk and stolen base to Matt Vierling who scored on Colt Keith’s single for a 3-0 lead.

The O’s had chances early today but went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position the first three innings. Anthony Santander doubled with two outs in the first and so did Colton Cowser in the second, but no runs. The first two reached base in the Baltimore third, but then Cedric Mullins flied out, Santander popped out and Kjerstad, also activated today off the injured list, grounded out. They had two singles in the fourth but a double play was mixed in. Whatever momentum they built with Saturday’s win was long gone it seemed in the early innings today.

Greene's second homer of the day, a solo shot in the eighth off Gregory Soto, gave the Tigers a late insurance run in the victory. 

At 84-66, the Orioles have lost six of eight and seven of the last 10 games. With each loss, they lose another day on the calendar to try and catch the New York Yankees for the division lead. For now, they are trying to hold off Kansas City for the top American League wild-card spot.

The Orioles are 26-28 since the All-Star game and 31-35 since July 1. 

They have now lost three straight series to Tampa Bay, Boston and Detroit.

A few postgame quotes:

Hyde on the offense: “We’ve just got to get going offensively. We got a two-run home run late in the game. We’re not stringing together many hits. When we’re having opportunities, we’re not cashing them in. We had a couple of opportunities early and didn’t cross them. So, tough to be perfect on the mound right now. We’ve got to start scoring more runs.”

Hyde on runners in scoring position issues: “At times we try to get too big. At times we have inexperience. We’re not using the whole field. We hit a lot of balls at the second baseman today. He was very active. We’ve got to do a better job with better at-bats with runners in scoring position.”

Povich on his day: “Yeah, I mean, pretty good. You know had a good amount of swing and miss today. Felt like I had command pretty well. Felt overall pretty well.”

Povich, is it tough to pitch with few runs?: “Yeah I mean, I think the job is the same whether we score zero or 20. Just to keep the team in the position to win ballgames.”

Rutschman on what has been working better for him the past few games and his homer: "I’m working with the hitting coaches, defensive coaches, staying with our process. It’s what we’ve always done and are going to continue to do.

"Yeah, I put a good swing on it. You know at this point I think we are just focused on winning that’s our main priority."

Rutschman, team trying to stay positive: "That’s the thing about our clubhouse: We’ve got a great group of guys. I think our guys, they come ready to play every single day regardless of what they did the day before or what the team did. I think everyone here has got faith that we have the ability to do great things. We’re just going to try to stick with our process and learn from this and keep moving forward."

Rutschman, hard to keep that faith with losses mounting?: "No. No. Our guys are resilient. They always have been. This is a group of high-character individuals. Baseball is a tough game. Sometimes effort doesn’t equate to more success, especially when it comes to hitting. There’s no lack of effort or resiliency from our guys. There’s no lack of faith. Our guys trust in each other and trust in our process."