After coming inches away from tying the game in the top of the 7th, a seven-run bullpen blowup in the bottom of the inning sunk the Orioles, leading to a 13-3 loss to the Nationals in DC.
The Orioles offense finally came alive in the 7th after a lackluster first six inning for the Baltimore bats. Trailing 4-0, Samuel Basallo put the O’s on the board with his sixth home run of the season. The burly backstop turned on a first-pitch sweeper from Nationals’s starter Cade Cavalli, sending a screaming line drive over the right field fence for a solo blast. Tyler O’Neill then followed the rookie’s lead, blasting a middle-middle Cavalli fastball into the left field bleachers to cut the Washington lead to 4-2.
The Orioles then sent all of Birdland on an emotional rollercoaster. After Leody Taveras reached on a ground ball sinlge, it looked like Coby Mayo tied the game on a towering fly ball to left. However, the blast was said to have crossed the foul pole just inches into foul territory. Mayo would go onto strikeout, before Jeremiah Jackson barely missed a game tying home run on his own—with a deep fly ball to left center that was run down by Nats center fielder Jacob Young.
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The O’s would manufacture their third run of the inning. Gunnar Henderson walked to move Taveras to second, and then Taylor Ward bounced a single through the left side to bring home Taveras and make the score 4-3. The rally would end there, though, as Adley Rutschman lined out to short to strand both runners and leave him 0-for-4 on the day.
If the called back, would-be Mayo homer was slightly deflating, what happened in the bottom of the 8th was Austin Hays stamping on a beach ball. Keegan Akin took over for Deitrich Enns, walked James Wood to lead off the inning before the wheels completely fell off with one out. Pinch hitter Brady House doubled to left to score Wood and then moved to third on a CJ Abrams single. Daylen Lile then bounced a ball to a drawn in Gunnar Henderson, who tried to gun down House at the plate, only for Rutschman’s tag to catch him a fraction of a second late.
Akin then walked the bases loaded before giving up a two-run single to Keibert Ruiz to give Washington an 8-3 lead. Andrew Kittredge then entered trying to put out the fire, but only added fuel to the flames. In a perfect metaphor for Baltimore afternoon, Kittredge almost struck out Young only for strike three to be overturned on an ABS challenge. The very next pitch, Young blasted a hanging slider to left for a three-run homer and an 11-3 lead. House would then add long ball in the 8th, blasting a two-run shot off reliever Josh Walker.
The Orioles found themselves down early thanks to another shaky outing from starter Chris Bassitt. The 12-year vet came into Saturday’s start vs. the Nationals having never allowed an earned run against the Orioles’ southern neighbors in 21 career innings. However, like we’ve seen too many times this season, Bassitt was undone by a bad 2nd inning.
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Bassitt breezed through the 1st inning, setting down the top of the Nats’ order on just nine pitches. However, the 37-year-old righty came into his outing vs. Washington with an 11.25 2nd-inning ERA, and that number only got worse after the second frame in DC. Abrams led off the bottom of the 2nd with a double on a ball hit down the first base line before kicking off a corner in foul territory. Nasim Nuñez then worked a one-out walk to give the Nationals two runners on. Bassitt then left an 0-1 cutter up and over the plate to Ruiz, who blasted it just over the fence and into the right field bullpen for a three-run homer.
Former All-Stars Abrams and Wood would then combine to grow the Nationals’ lead in the 3rd. The towering Wood just missed a home run to start the inning, flicking a 105 mph double off the top of the left field wall for a lead-off double. Bassitt almost got out of the jam after getting a pop-up and a groundout from Luis García Jr. and José Tena. However, Abrams would tag the veteran right again, lining a 1-2 sinker into the left-center gap for a double that pushed the lead to 4-0.
Bassitt would rebound to keep Washington scoreless across his final two frames. In the 4th, the O’s starter finally posted another 1-2-3 inning after a pair of fly outs to left and a 3-1 groundout. It then looked like the righty’s afternoon was going to get really ugly after he loaded the bases with no outs in the 5th. Bassitt showed his veteran savy, however, punching out Tena before getting Abrams to pop up and Lile to ground out to strand all three runners.
The 2nd inning long ball still doomed it to being another example of Bad Bassitt that Birdland has seen far too often. Bassitt came into Saturday with four starts of one or zero earned runs, and four starts of 4+ earned runs. After finishing with a final line of 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB and 4 K on Saturday, Bad Bassitt has taken the lead in his weird Jekyll and Hyde impersonation.
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Early on, the Orioles continued to squander prime running scoring opportunities. In the 1st, Taylor Ward reached on a single slashed to right center. Pete Alonso then moved him into scoring position on a hard-hit, two-out single up the middle. Samuel Basallo had a chance to give the O’s an early lead, and got ahead 3-1, but ended up striking out on a 3-2 curveball.
The 2nd saw a similarly promising rally die from a lack of clutch hitting. Leody Taveras started the ill-fated rally with a one-out single and then stole second to get into scoring position. Coby Mayo looked to break the 0-0 deadlock, sending a laser-beam single to left. However, the 107-mph base hit was hit so hard that Taveras had to hold at third. Nine-hitter Jeremiah Jackson then grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to strand Taveras and erase another run-scoring opportunity.
The win snaps a 15-game losing streak for the Nationals in games where a win would give them a .500 record. The last such win for Washington came on May 14th, 2024.
The loss drops the O’s to a 1-4 record in their last five games in DC, and 1-7 against the Nationals over the last two seasons. Baltimore will try to get back in the win column tomorrow, with Brandon Young taking the mound for a 1:35pm ET start.
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