Baltimore (47-58) has gone 4-6 to open the second half and is now 8 1/2 games back of the final wild-card spot in the American League. As a result, the front office’s fire sale has begun, as general manager Mike Elias has already traded relievers Bryan Baker and Gregory Soto.
Ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, here’s the Orioles reset:
What was good?
Trading Tomoyuki Sugano makes a ton of sense. Whether a contending team wants him is the question.
Sugano was the Orioles’ best starting pitcher through his first 12 starts of his MLB career with a 3.04 ERA. But his ERA rose after each of his next seven starts as MLB hitters began to adjust to the 35-year-old’s pitch-to-contact repertoire. His 7.88 ERA severely diminished his trade value and potentially removed it entirely, especially considering the underlying metrics tell a concerning story for a pitcher who struggles to generate swings and misses.
However, Sugano’s outing Sunday against the Colorado Rockies was one of the best of his big league career, striking out an MLB-career-high eight batters across six innings of one-run ball while displaying a firmer-than-usual 94.5 mph fastball. He’s tossed a quality start in two of his past three outings after he also did so July 10 against the New York Mets.
“I’ve experienced good times and bad times, especially the past month,” Sugano said after Sunday’s win through team interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “June, I went through some struggles, but I can overcome that moving forward.”
Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said Sugano has spent the past few weeks working with Baltimore’s pitching coaches on adjustments that helped unlock some extra velocity and keep hitters off-balance. Does Mansolino think Sugano should be an attractive target for contending teams at the deadline?
“If they watch the last three starts, yeah, I’d take that,” Mansolino said. “I felt pretty good about it. If you watched that Mets start, I’d take him. In a heartbeat.”
Sugano is one of the most decorated pitchers in Japan history, but he wanted a new challenge and came over to MLB this offseason on a one-year, $13 million deal with the Orioles. Mansolino said Sugano has assimilated to a new country, a new league and a new clubhouse “very gracefully.”
“Players love him,” Mansolino said. “He is so well-liked in that room. The players mess around with him, he messes around with his teammates.”
What clubhouse will he be joking around in a week from now?
What wasn’t?
When Félix Bautista took the mound July 20 in Tampa, Florida, it was clear immediately that something was off.
The 6-foot-8 closer hasn’t fully regained the triple-digit velocity he consistently flashed before his elbow injury, but he’s been throwing high 90s mph for most of the past two months. But when he entered for the save versus the Rays, he was initially throwing 94 mph — a concerning number for someone who was averaging about 98 mph.
Bautista hasn’t pitched since. As he began to warm up Wednesday in Cleveland, Mansolino said the right-hander reported that “something didn’t feel right.” He was placed on the injured list the next day with shoulder discomfort, and the team has yet to provide additional details. This could be simply a minor injury and Bautista will be back shortly. But until that’s known, the concern level will always be high for a pitcher as important as Bautista.
What’s next?
The best team in baseball is coming to town.
Yes, the Toronto Blue Jays have the best record in baseball. The red-hot Blue Jays (63-43) have won eight of their past 10 and 18 of their past 23 to decidedly move atop the AL East standings.
The O’s and Jays will play four games in three days with a doubleheader Tuesday because of a rainout in April. Zach Eflin will start Monday and Charlie Morton will take the ball for one of the games Tuesday in what could be both starters’ final outing in an Orioles uniform with the deadline looming.
On the farm
Samuel Basallo missed six games because of a minor oblique injury, but he proved he’s plenty healthy when he returned to the field Friday for Triple-A Norfolk.
Basallo went 5-for-5 on Friday with a homer and then hit a 107.8 mph single off the right field wall Sunday. The 20-year-old top prospect is hitting .280 with an impressive 1.009 OPS in Triple-A this season.
Mansolino said Saturday that the Orioles’ front office has a “plan in place” for the rest of Basallo’s campaign, which could include a promotion later this year. Only a select few in the organization are privy to those details, but the slugger’s performance is making it more difficult to envision this season ending without Basallo in the show.
Extra innings
• Coby Mayo has spent most of July on the bench, starting only three of the Orioles’ first 15 games of the month. During that time, the top prospect has been working on his swing and making changes, Mansolino said. It appears Mayo has narrowed his batting stance, remaining taller throughout his swing. Other changes include slightly opening his stance and lowering his back elbow. He’s started four of the past six games, going 4-for-10 with two doubles, a home run, four walks and zero strikeouts. “He’s making a real adjustment,” Mansolino said. “When you see guys make changes … it gives the coaching room a lot of excitement and a lot of belief.”
As Coby Mayo has spent most of July on the bench, he's been working on his swing & making changes.
It appears Mayo has narrowed his stance, remaining taller throughout his swing. He's also slightly opened his stance & lowered his back elbow.
Left is from May 31. Right is today. pic.twitter.com/GI0Rwy8xWx
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) July 27, 2025
• After Gunnar Henderson made two web-gem defensive plays Sunday, his skipper praised the shortstop’s improvements defensively — no matter what the metrics say. Last year, Henderson made an AL-worst 25 errors, but advanced metrics defensive runs saved (5) and outs above average (0) were more favorable. This year, Henderson has drastically cut down on the errors, making only seven in 91 games, but his DRS and OAA (entering Sunday) are both at minus-4. “There’s no way anybody in the room thinks he played a better shortstop last year than he did this year,” Mansolino said. “Man, you’ve got to watch the game, too. … This is one of the better versions of Gunnar we’ve ever seen at shortstop.”
• The deadline for MLB teams to sign their draft picks is Monday at 5 p.m. The Orioles have signed 20 of their 24 draftees, including all of their picks in the first 10 rounds. Junior college right-handers Daniel Lopez (12th round) and Brayan Orrantia (14th round), high school outfielder William Johnson (18th round) and JUCO shortstop Jimmy Anderson (19th round) have yet to sign.
• With Adley Rutschman and Keegan Akin expected to rejoin the Orioles on Monday, Ryan Mountcastle and Cade Povich might not be far behind. Mountcastle is crushing the ball on his minor league rehabilitation assignment, going 6-for-12 with four extra-base hits in three games last week for Norfolk. Povich, who tossed five innings of two-run ball Thursday, will start again for the Tides early this week, but the left-hander could be a top candidate to rejoin the rotation after the deadline.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
]]>For a team expected to be a contender this season, much of the focus has been on which players the Orioles will be selling at the deadline. But with the Orioles already initiating two trades earlier this month (Bryan Baker and Gregory Soto), there’s even more focus on what types of prospects Baltimore could receive.
That’s difficult to determine, but recent history could provide some insight into what the Orioles should expect in return for their top trade chips. They have six players on expiring contracts who are most likely to be traded. While it’s almost impossible to find exact one-for-one comparisons, there are players with similar profiles or production levels that have been dealt at the deadline in recent years.
Here’s a look at trade comparisons since 2021 for each of those six Orioles players who could be dealt before Thursday’s 6 p.m. deadline:
(Editor’s note: The following players were all sold while playing on expiring contracts, meaning they were set to become free agents in the upcoming offseason. All rankings are by MLB Pipeline.)
Ryan O’Hearn
2021: Royals trade OF Jorge Soler to Braves for RHP Kasey Kalich (No. 21 prospect)
Soler, who led the American League with 48 homers in 2019, struggled to begin the 2021 campaign but got hot in July, just in time to be traded. Kalich was in High-A at the time and is no longer in professional baseball.
2021: Nationals trade OF Kyle Schwarber to Red Sox for RHP Aldo Ramirez (No. 19)
Schwarber hit a whopping 16 home runs in June and had a .910 OPS in the first half — higher than O’Hearn’s .824 OPS — though Schwarber was on the injured list with a minor injury when he was traded. Ramirez, who was in Low-A when he was traded, is now pitching in Mexico.
2022: Yankees trade OF Joey Gallo to Dodgers for RHP Clayton Beeter (No. 15)
After a career year in 2021, Gallo’s first half with the Yankees in 2022 was disastrous. The Bronx Bombers cut bait on Gallo and received Beeter, a 23-year-old in Double-A. Beeter made his MLB debut in 2024 but is no longer ranked inside New York’s top 30 prospects list.
2022: Orioles trade 1B Trey Mancini in three-team deal with Rays and Astros for RHPs Seth Johnson (No. 6) and Chayce McDermott (No. 12)
Baltimore fans need little refresher on this trade. Mancini was an integral part of the rebuild-era Orioles, but he was controversially traded away at the 2022 deadline despite Baltimore being in playoff contention. Mancini struggled for the Astros down the stretch (but won a World Series), while Johnson (now with the Phillies) and McDermott (now the Orioles’ No. 10 prospect) appear to have questionable futures as relievers.
2023: Guardians trade 1B Josh Bell to Marlins for INF Kahlil Watson (No. 11)
Bell was a good player for years and a Silver Slugger the year before, but he posted just a .701 OPS for Cleveland in 2023. Watson, a former first-round pick, was in High-A at the time of the trade and is now in Triple-A at 22 years old.
2023: Nationals trade 1B/3B Jeimer Candelario to Cubs for INF Kevin Made (No. 14) and RHP DJ Herz (No. 16)
Candelario bounced back from a down 2022 season and posted an .823 OPS, similar to O’Hearn’s mark this season. Made has risen only one level in the two years since this trade, while Herz made his MLB debut in 2024 but is injured this season.
Takeaway: O’Hearn, the Orioles’ lone All-Star this season, will likely net the largest return of any player they trade at the deadline. While he’s slumped at the plate recently, his overall numbers, his consistent performance since 2023 and the recent history of trades for good-but-not-great sluggers all seem to point toward the Orioles receiving at least one, maybe two, prospects inside a contender’s top 30 list.
Zach Eflin
2023: Cardinals trade RHP Jack Flaherty to Orioles for INF César Prieto (No. 16), LHP Drew Rom (No. 18) and RHP Zack Showalter (not ranked)
Orioles fans also won’t need any reminders about this one — Mike Elias’ first deadline splash, and one that backfired. Flaherty struggled mightily with the Orioles and was moved to the bullpen after his solid first half with the Cardinals. Flaherty’s history presented intriguing upside for the Orioles, while Eflin, despite his poor numbers this season, also has history as a reliable starter on his side. Two years later, Prieto is still in Triple-A, Rom is injured and Showalter is a High-A reliever with command issues.
2024: Blue Jays trade RHP Yusei Kikuchi to Astros for RHP Jake Bloss (No. 9), Will Wagner (No. 13) and Joey Loperfido (NR)
Kikuchi posted a 4.75 ERA with the Blue Jays — not far off Eflin’s injury-impacted 5.78 ERA — and was coming off two successful seasons similar to Eflin’s 2023 and 2024 campaigns. However, Kikuchi was due for positive regression and was displaying better stuff than Eflin has for much of this season. Still, the Blue Jays received three MLB-ready prospects.
Takeaway: Eflin’s solid start Wednesday in his return from the IL was critical, and so will his outing Monday against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards. If he can deliver another Eflin-esque performance, it might give a contender confidence to pay the required price to acquire the veteran right-hander. But if no team is willing to give Baltimore multiple top 30 prospects, it’s possible the front office elects to keep Eflin and ponder whether to extend him the qualifying offer, which he could accept to remain an Oriole in 2026 or decline and likely earn the organization an extra draft pick.
Cedric Mullins
N/A
Takeaway: There are no good comparisons for Mullins, at least not since 2021. It’s rare for center fielders to get traded at the deadline since most teams put a premium on the position. Corner outfielders, especially ones in platoons, are much more likely to be dealt. Kevin Kiermaier was traded from the Blue Jays to the Dodgers last year, but the elite defender had posted a paltry .546 OPS for Toronto. An everyday corner outfielder like Andrew Benintendi was traded from the Royals to the Yankees in 2022, earning Kansas City three pitching prospects, two of whom were ranked inside New York’s top 30. But Benintendi was an All-Star that season, while Mullins has slumped since his scorching-hot April and is no longer the defender he was a few years ago. Guessing what the return for Mullins will be is difficult given there are no comps. A player who was worth 15.6 wins above replacement by Baseball-Reference’s estimation from 2021 through 2024 is someone who should garner a large return. A center fielder with a .701 OPS this season might only net a low-level prospect. Perhaps the return for Mullins will fall somewhere in between those two.
Charlie Morton
2021: Nationals trade LHP Jon Lester to Cardinals for OF Lane Thomas
In the last season of Lester’s illustrious career, he posted a 5.02 ERA — similar to Morton’s 5.48 mark this year — but was still valued at the deadline because of his track record. Thomas struggled early in his MLB career, but he was a valuable player for the Nationals for four years.
2021: Rays trade LHP Rich Hill to Mets for RHP Tommy Hunter and C Matt Dyer (NR)
At 41 years old (the same age as Morton this year), Hill pitched to a 3.87 ERA with the Rays. Hunter, a former Oriole, was injured at the time of the trade, while Dyer was 23 years old in Low-A. Dyer never made it to the major leagues.
Takeaway: Neither of these comparisons is great for Morton considering how well he’s pitched since mid-May. Morton was awful through the first six weeks of this season, but he’s pitched to a 3.81 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout rate over his past 10 starts. The question for contending teams is how fearful they are of his age and his start of the season and whether they pay more because of Morton’s superb postseason resume. Morton is likely worth a player or prospect of moderate value, but it’s unlikely the Orioles receive a haul.
Tomoyuki Sugano
2021: Angels trade LHP Andrew Heaney to the Yankees for RHP Janson Junk (No. 27) and Elvis Peguero (NR)
Heaney, like Sugano could be, was seen as rotation depth for contending teams, not as a way to improve a starting corps. Heaney posted a 5.27 ERA with the Angels but struck out far more batters (28.2%) than Sugano has this year (15.2%). Junk and Peguero both debuted for the Angels in 2021 but are now with different organizations.
2021: Pirates trade LHP Tyler Anderson to Mariners for C Carter Bins (NR) and RHP Joaquin Tejada (NR)
Anderson pitched to a 4.35 ERA with the Pirates and was traded for two fliers who’ve yet to reach the majors.
2024: Pirates trade LHP Martín Pérez to Padres for RHP Ronaldys Jiménez (NR)
Pérez, a veteran with a 5.20 ERA, only netted Pittsburgh an 18-year-old in rookie ball.
Takeaway: It’s difficult to imagine a team offering anything other than a low-level prospect for Sugano. The 35-year-old’s ERA has fallen to 4.38 after a hot start, and the underlying metrics look even worse because of his difficulties generating swing and miss. Perhaps the only way to get a better prospect would be to pay for some of the remaining approximately $4 million on Sugano’s contract. Or the Orioles could just look to offload Sugano in hopes of using that money elsewhere in the future.
Seranthony Domínguez
2021: Cubs trade RHP Ryan Tepera to White Sox for LHP Bailey Horn (No. 23)
Tepera was in the midst of a career year with a 2.91 ERA for the Cubs when they dealt him across town for a High-A pitching prospect.
2021: Rockies trade RHP Mychal Givens to Reds for RHP Case Williams (No. 20) and RHP Noah Davis (No. 26)
Givens, a former Oriole, was a frequent trade chip at the deadline. After posting a 2.73 ERA with Colorado, he was traded for a pair of pitching prospects. Davis has struggled during his brief time in the majors, while Williams, who was 19 at the time of the trade, is no longer in professional baseball.
2024: Mariners trade RHP Ryne Stanek to Mets for OF Rhylan Thomas (No. 30)
Stanek was Seattle’s setup man in 2024, posting a 4.38 ERA and saving seven games before his trade to the Mets. Thomas made his MLB debut with the Mariners this season and is hitting .308 in Triple-A.
Takeaway: Domínguez might be one of the more underrated players the Orioles are shopping at the deadline. His 3.24 ERA and 1.34 WHIP might suggest he’s a middle reliever, but since increasing his splitter usage, Domínguez has been one of the most dominant bullpen arms in the AL. Platoon-neutral relievers like Domínguez have transformed into often net significant value at the deadline. Last week, the Orioles traded Soto to the Mets for two pitching prospects, one of whom was ranked as New York’s No. 19 prospect. A similar (or better) return for Domínguez seems likely.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
]]>The start of the Orioles’ game against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon has been delayed because of potential rain at Camden Yards. The delay marks the third straight Sunday on which the Orioles’ game has been hindered by rain.
The game, originally scheduled for 1:35 p.m., will only be delayed until 2 p.m., the Orioles announced shortly after the grounds crew put the tarp on the field. Weather forecasts show the potential for pockets of rain in Baltimore throughout the afternoon and evening.
With only a few days before Thursday’s trade deadline, the Orioles (46-58) are hosting the MLB-worst Rockies (27-77) at Camden Yards this weekend. The Rockies came back from down 4-0 to win the series opener Friday, while the Orioles won a laugher Saturday, 18-0, for the largest shutout victory in franchise history.
Baltimore has already begun selling off players on expiring contracts, and that’s expected to continue through Thursday. Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins and Charlie Morton are among the players most expected to be traded.
Tomoyuki Sugano is another Orioles trade piece, but he’s struggled recently after an excellent start to his rookie campaign. Sugano starts Sunday opposite Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber. Lefty hitters Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser and Ryan O’Hearn were all given days off against Gomber.
Here are Sunday’s lineups:
Orioles
- Jordan Westburg, 2B
- Ramón Laureano, RF
- Gunnar Henderson, SS
- Tyler O’Neill, DH
- Ramón Urías, 3B
- Cedric Mullins, CF
- Coby Mayo, 1B
- Dylan Carlson, LF
- Alex Jackson, C
Rockies
- Tyler Freeman, RF
- Mickey Moniak, CF
- Ezequiel Tovar, SS
- Jordan Beck, LF
- Thairo Estrada, 2B
- Yanquiel Fernández, DH
- Warming Bernabel, 1B
- Austin Nola, C
- Orlando Arcia, 3B
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
]]>Catcher Adley Rutschman and left-handed reliever Keegan Akin are on track to be reinstated from the injured list Monday ahead of the Orioles’ series against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, interim manager Tony Mansolino said Sunday morning.
Rutschman is in Baltimore on Sunday for the team’s series finale against the Colorado Rockies and will go through final testing to confirm he’s ready, Mansolino said. Akin is not in the building Sunday but “will most likely be active tomorrow,” the interim manager added.
“My guess is [Rutschman] will catch tomorrow if all checks out today,” Mansolino said. “If he comes in healthy, body feels good, good chance he will be squatting behind the dish tomorrow. [Akin] pitched yesterday, so we gotta check all the boxes and make sure he recovered.”
Additionally, right-handers Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are getting one step closer to their returns. Bradish, who made his first rehabilitation start Thursday at High-A Aberdeen, will make an appearance at Double-A Chesapeake on Tuesday, Mansolino said. Wells will make his first rehabilitation start Wednesday, also for the Baysox.
Rutschman has been sidelined since June with a left oblique strain, his first time on the injured list in his career. He began his rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Norfolk last week, going 2-for-15 with a double and three walks in four games for the Tides. Akin pitched in three games during his assignment between the Florida Complex League and Norfolk and allowed one run across three innings.
Rutschman is one of three catchers on Baltimore’s injured list, along with Gary Sanchez (back) and Maverick Handley (wrist). Akin, who has not pitched for the Orioles since June 30 with shoulder inflammation, will provide Mansolino another left-handed option out of the bullpen, a role that became more of a necessity after the club traded Gregory Soto to the New York Mets on Friday.
On Thursday with High-A Aberdeen, Bradish threw 37 pitches across two innings in his first time on the mound since June 2024. IronBirds manager Ryan Goll called the start, which came 13 months post-Tommy John surgery, a “step in the right progression” and added that the right-hander was “back to his normal self.”
“Positive, optimistic, felt great,” Mansolino said Friday. “For the ball to come out of his hand the way that it did after missing so much time, we’re real excited.”
Wells has not pitched since April 12, 2024, with an ulnar collateral ligament strain. Unlike Bradish, Wells did not undergo Tommy John surgery, and the club has previously said Wells is about one week behind Bradish in their recoveries. Wells most recently threw a live bullpen session in Sarasota, Florida, last Sunday.
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
]]>But that does not mean all is lost over the next two months. If more everyday veterans are to be dealt, the players who remain will be benefactors.
Such is the case for two of the biggest contributors to the Orioles’ 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday to take the three-game set. Coby Mayo’s role would expand if those in front of him are traded. And Tyler O’Neill, the club’s most expensive free agent signing who was injured for much of the first-half disaster, bears responsibility for why the team is in last place in the American League East and would surely love a chance to recover and for some of that weight to be lifted.
“There’ll be some adversity throughout the week, without a doubt,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said before Sunday’s game when asked what he thinks the next few days will bring. “I think as we lose players that we love and have helped us for a couple years win a lot of games, there’s going to be some tough hugs and some tough goodbyes.”
The ones giving those embraces will be tasked with providing reasons for optimism in the coming weeks for next season. That started Sunday with Mayo, who went 1-for-3 with a double in the second inning that put him and Cedric Mullins in scoring position. Dylan Carlson brought both of them home on a single to give the Orioles a lead they would not relinquish. In the third inning, O’Neill homered for the third consecutive game to raise his season on-base-plus-slugging percentage to .724 and make it 4-1. Tomoyuki Sugano’s six-inning, one-run, eight-strikeout outing did the rest.
Mayo is hitting .273 over his past 14 games, a stretch that’s occurred despite inconsistent playing time. The Orioles have made known they’d rather this than the alternative: playing every day in Triple-A. And Mayo is beginning to prove why.
“I’m just trying to stay on my backside a little bit longer,” he said. “Not try to jump so much at the ball sometimes. I think I get into trouble when I do that, and I think I’m seeing the ball a little bit better. Making better swing decisions. Just a little bit of that contributes a lot.”
O’Neill has taken a different path this season, but one that’s been just as mired in frustration. The outfielder has missed more games than he’s played in the first year of a deal that could keep him in Baltimore through 2027. It wasn’t the first impression he hoped to make.
Mansolino sees a lot of himself in O’Neill. The former minor leaguer, despite admitting he “wasn’t a very good one,” he joked, remembers stretches he went on akin to O’Neill’s. Only they lasted for much shorter lengths of time and were oftentimes cold streaks rather than hot ones.
“The few times I swung the bat good, I got hot, and it mattered,” Mansolino said. “Confidence is a thing. We are not robots. Human beings have confidence. It really changes the game in so many ways. As crazy as it sounds, a ball that you bloop in and you get a hit, you get a little confidence, and then you hit a ball hard, you get a little confidence, and then you feel completely differently. It’s a real thing.”
“We knew he could do it,” Gunnar Henderson added. “We knew it was only a matter of time. Just getting on the field and getting reps, and that was I feel like the biggest thing, was just getting out there.”
He’s doing his best to erase the poor introduction to Baltimore, even if the team is falling further out of the playoff race. O’Neill had a .868 OPS and six extra-base hits in 12 games in July before Sunday. His .535 slugging percentage this month entering the series finale leads the team as he looks to redefine his frustrating season.
After Sugano, Yennier Cano, Andrew Kittredge and Seranthony Domínguez were asked to go the final three innings without Félix Bautista and Gregory Soto, who completed the only save opportunity since Bautista landed on the injured list before being traded on Friday to the New York Mets. The trio tossed clean seventh, eighth and ninth frames, respectively, to seal Baltimore’s first series victory since the All-Star break.
It was no longer a save situation for Domínguez after Henderson scored from second base on a wild pitch in the eighth in a display of awareness and quickness perhaps only Henderson possesses. And in the top of the ninth, the shortstop fielded a weak grounder barehanded, turned and threw to first to help complete the win in another play that Henderson routinely makes look simple.
“Those are the types of players I want my kids to watch,” said Mansolino, who hits grounders to his two children on the Camden Yards infield before most games and joked Sunday morning he doesn’t want his boys to develop the bad, lackadaisical habits some major leaguers exhibit. “You don’t see people doing that.”
Postgame analysis
Sugano was masterful in his final start before the trade deadline. He surrendered a solo home run to Warming Bernabell in the second inning, then rebounded with four scoreless frames to lower his season ERA to 4.38. His eight strikeouts tied a season high from April 28.
The 35-year-old is one of several veteran pitchers whose contracts expire after this season and are attractive trade candidates. Charlie Morton’s recent turnaround is garnering attention. Zach Eflin is no stranger to being dealt this time of year. Domínguez, Kittredge and other relievers could be on the move.
If Sunday was Sugano’s final start in Baltimore, it offered a reminder of when he was one of the few bright spots on a floundering ballclub.
“It’s obviously my first time,” Sugano said through team interpreter Yuto Sakurai when asked about the approaching deadline. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I just look at it day by day and work on the things that are in front of me.”
By the numbers
Sunday was Mayo’s third consecutive game with an extra-base hit after homering Friday and doubling in his only at-bat in Saturday’s 18-0 beatdown. That’s the first such streak of the young infielder’s career. O’Neill hadn’t homered in three consecutive games since September 2021.
What they’re saying
Henderson and Mayo on Sugano’s outing:
“It was awesome. He was coming after guys and made pitches when he needed to. I was really happy for him.”
“I think he showed some of his best stuff today,” Mayo added.
On deck
The Orioles begin a four-game set with the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays, who entered Sunday winners of eight of their past nine games, at Camden Yards on Monday. Eflin will face right-hander Chris Bassitt (3.88 ERA) in the series opener.
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
Only once in his career had the veteran outfielder played a full season, arriving in Baltimore on a three-year, $49.5 million deal this offseason with 14 trips to the injured list on his record. O’Neill’s power was undeniable — he mashed 31 home runs in only 113 games last year — but the Orioles acquired him understanding that he wasn’t going to play all 162.
So far, those risks have proven to be legitimate concerns. O’Neill, 30, has returned to the IL twice with separate neck and shoulder injuries in his first season with the Orioles, limiting him to 36 games in which he’s slashed .211/.298/.398 with just five homers and 15 RBIs.
With Baltimore (46-58) already beginning to act like sellers ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, O’Neill has been among the most disappointing players on the roster this year.
“It’s been a grind, man,” O’Neill said. “It hasn’t been easy. Obviously, I’ve been injured a lot and just trying to fight my way back and figure out that routine in the cage and the prep and all that stuff. So, hopefully I’m figuring out that click now and can continue forward.
“Unfortunately, I have been dealt with the injury bug this year. Obviously, I’m doing what I have to do to make those adaptations and get myself ready on a day-to-day basis, and there’s something new every year. There’s something new every day, honestly. Just trying to keep the progress.”
His injuries have had lingering effects on his performance at the plate. O’Neill tried to play through the neck inflammation that sidelined him in late April, even though he wasn’t able to turn his head all the way to either side. He then attempted to come back too early from his shoulder impingement in June and had to shut back down, undergoing platelet-rich plasma injections before finally making it back in early July.
The constant injury management and time in the trainer’s room have affected his ability to get his swing mechanics in a good place.
“I think as his body got beat up, he was unable to do the work in the cage necessary to make the corrections he needed to make as his swing got out of whack,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “Tyler is a needs-his-swing-to-feel-good guy, and I think lately as his body has felt better and his health has improved, he’s had the ability to get in the cage and take the reps he’s needed to make the corrections he’s had. So, as I watch him start to perform on the field, it absolutely coincides with the amount of work he’s been able to do in the cage.”
After dealing with some “general soreness” and missing two more games last week, O’Neill has come back showing signs of progress. He’s collected multiple hits in three straight contests, going 6-for-10 with two home runs and a double. The Orioles brought the right-handed O’Neill in to help address their struggles against left-handed pitchers, and he has as many hits against them over the past three days (three) as he did the entire season to that point.
“I’m feeling pretty good in there right now,” O’Neill said. “Just really enjoy being here with these guys, man. It’s such a good group of guys here, and I just want to be out there grinding with them. It’s fun playing every day.”
It’s an encouraging sign for a player the Orioles are likely to have under contract for the next two seasons. O’Neill has an opt-out that he could exercise this winter to reenter free agency, but he would have to finish the season on a Babe Ruth-caliber tear to justify walking away from the remaining $33 million on his deal. Even then, it might not be enough because of the injuries.
With Cedric Mullins a popular trade candidate and Heston Kjerstad demoted back to Triple-A Norfolk after struggling mightily in his first full season at the major league level, O’Neill and Colton Cowser are the only outfielders the Orioles can write in their starting lineup with permanent marker. Just how confident they feel in O’Neill’s value could go a long way in determining whether they trade Ramón Laureano, who has a 2026 team option, this week.
The playoffs are out of the question for the Orioles at this point, but as they turn their attention to 2026, helping O’Neill finish the year strong is among the most important priorities for the club in its quest to rebound next season — almost as important as keeping him healthy.
Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich.
]]>Mullins hit his 100th career home run in the Orioles’ historic 18-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night, becoming just the third player in team history to hit 100 homers and steal 100 bases alongside Brady Anderson and Paul Blair.
“That’s him. That’s what we’ve seen,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said.
All 12 Orioles who entered the game recorded a hit, and six players had an extra-base hit in a drubbing of the Rockies, MLB’s worst team at 27-77. The 18-run margin is the largest shutout victory for the Orioles since the franchise moved the Baltimore in 1954 and the club’s third-biggest win overall.
Mullins, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, was backed by starting pitcher Trevor Rogers’ gem, Tyler O’Neill’s second consecutive game with a homer and a trio of two-RBI nights from Gunnar Henderson, Coby Mayo and Ryan O’Hearn as Baltimore pounded out 18 hits.
“Baltimore has taken my family in since the beginning. I got drafted by Baltimore and just one of those things where you just feel welcome,” Mullins said. “The engagement that I have with the fans over the course of the years has been nothing short of awesome. It’s just been fun, really fun, being here.”
A 13th-round pick in the 2015 draft, Mullins rose through the organization to make his major league debut in 2018, taking over for franchise icon Adam Jones. Mullins opened the 2019 season as the team’s starting center fielder but was demoted to Double-A after hitting .094 in 64 at-bats for Baltimore.
His story wasn’t finished, though. Mullins made the switch to become a full-time left-handed hitter in 2021 and had a career season, becoming the starting center fielder for the American League in the All-Star Game. As top prospects Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg debuted in Baltimore following a painful rebuild, Mullins was the string between two eras of Orioles baseball.
But the outfielder never recaptured the form of his 2021 season, in which he became the first Orioles player with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases. While he’s been a positive Wins Above Replacement player since then, his performance has dwindled.
Mullins’ expected batting average, hard-hit rate and expected slugging percentage are among the lowest in baseball this season. He has also been the worst defender in MLB, according to Fielding Bible’s Defensive Runs Saved, largely because of his below-average arm. After a hot start, the 30-year-old’s performance — and trade value — has tanked.
Baltimore (46-58) isn’t expected to net much for the outfielder by Thursday’s trade deadline. He’s on an expiring contract and has struggled recently, batting just .172 since June and .192 against right-handed pitchers this season.
But his time in Baltimore shouldn’t be forgotten. His 2021 season produced the fourth-highest WAR by an Orioles position player in the past decade, while his 14.6 WAR is tied for the third-highest among Baltimore’s position players since 2015.
Saturday was a vintage performance from the longest-tenured Oriole. His diving catch in the third inning drew a stunned reaction from Rogers, who delivered another sparkling start by allowing just one hit over seven scoreless innings.
“It was the best catch I’ve ever seen,” Rogers said. “I still have no words for you. It was unbelievable.”
Defensive metrics are low on Mullins, who has been considered among the best defensive outfielders since making his debut, but Mansolino thinks the analytics are wrong.
“The eye test doesn’t show that,” Mansolino said before the game. “When you look at the DRS — and you guys watch the games every night — it doesn’t match up with what I’m watching.”
In the fourth inning, Mullins’ sky-high home run drove in three and made him the 35th Oriole to hit the century mark. He’s the 13th MLB player to do that since 2000.
The Camden Yards crowd rewarded him with a standing ovation as a montage flashed over the video board. If that’s one of Mullins’ final moments in a ballpark he’s called home for seven years, it was a fitting ending.
Postgame analysis
Rogers continues to pitch like one of the best starters in baseball.
Nothing about the 27-year-old left-hander’s season seems fluky. He likely won’t take a 1.49 ERA into next season, but Rogers has not allowed more than three runs in a start this year. He’s pitched into the sixth inning in all of his past four outings.
Since his strong first start May 24 against the Boston Red Sox, Rogers has the third-lowest ERA in baseball among pitchers with at least 40 innings during that span; only Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and Matthew Boyd have been better. All three of those pitchers were All-Stars, while Skubal and Skenes started the Midsummer Classic.
“I mean, there’s always that voice in the back of my mind that’s like, ‘Maybe it’s just a fluke.’ I’ve had a lot of practice shutting that voice down and staying within my process, staying within myself,” said Rogers, who has been heavily scrutinized since being acquired at last season’s trade deadline. “On the other hand, I’ve prepared for this, these couple starts, since I got traded over here.”
The underlying metrics are encouraging, too. Rogers’ Fielding Independent Pitching — which estimates a pitcher’s performance based only on events within their control: home runs, strikeouts, walks, and hit-by-pitches — is slightly higher than his ERA at 2.97, but that doesn’t suggest that massive regression is incoming.
Rogers struck out five Rockies on Saturday and generated weak contact all evening.
What they’re saying
Mansolino on Rogers’ excellent stretch:
“That fastball plays way up. I don’t feel like we’ve seen the same [95-96 mph fastballs] that we saw the first couple of starts now that he’s on regular-like rotation work. Those [93-94 mph fastballs] play like [95-96 mph]. There’s huge extension. It’s a very attacking style on the mound. I don’t feel like he’s beating around the bush much, regardless of who’s at the plate in the lineups he’s seen the last couple of starts.
“Just a ton of confidence. There’s a ton of presence on the mound. Again, I’m going back to seeing him [as an All-Star with the Miami Marlins] in ’21. It was electric when I saw him in ’21. Maybe not the same type of velocity on the fastball in some ways, but the way the hitters swing at it, some nights it looks like it.”
By the numbers
Ten straight Baltimore batters reached base to start the seventh inning. It was nearly 11, but outfielder Colton Cowser’s fly ball was caught at the wall in center field. Henderson had two doubles in the frame, which produced nine runs.
In the eighth inning, catcher Alex Jackson crushed a solo homer off Rockies position player Kyle Farmer to cap the scoring. All of Jackson’s first seven hits with the team since being acquired midseason amid a rash of injuries have gone for extra bases.
On deck
Baltimore will look to win its first series of the second half on Sunday when it faces Colorado at 1:35 p.m. Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano will start against Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber, whose 6.03 ERA and 0-4 record lines up with the rest of the team’s pitching staff.
Have a news tip? Contact Sam Jane at sjane@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/Sam_Jane230.
]]>Basallo on Friday went 5-for-5 with a home run for the Norfolk Tides — just the rising star’s latest impressive performance. The 20-year-old catcher is hitting .282 with a whopping 1.020 OPS this season with 20 homers in 63 games.
His .918 career OPS in Triple-A (which includes the 21 games he played there at the end of last season) is higher than the career marks of the other elite prospects in the Mike Elias era. Basallo, the top catching prospect in MLB, is hitting better in Norfolk than Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo did when they were there.
So, when will Baltimore promote him to the major leagues?
Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said Saturday before the ballclub’s game against the Colorado Rockies that the organization has a “plan in place” for what the rest of Basallo’s season could look like.
“You guys don’t know what it is, we’re not going to tell you,” Mansolino quipped. “But there’s definitely a plan in place. Mike [Elias] is thinking about him every day. Our front office is really smart. There’s a lot that goes into those decisions.”
The Orioles (45-58) have spent the past month with near-historic catching injuries. At one point, they had four backstops on the injured list, including starter Adley Rutschman (oblique) and backups Gary Sánchez (knee) and Maverick Handley (wrist). Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson both joined the organization in the past five weeks and have since formed Baltimore’s catching duo.
Last month, Mansolino said that, in his mind, superstar prospects such as Basallo should not be promoted because there’s a need, but rather once the organization deems they’re ready in all aspects.
“I don’t think you take a guy like Sammy Basallo and you bring him to the big leagues just because there’s a need,” Mansolino said in late June. “I think you bring a Sammy Basallo to the big leagues when he’s destroyed Triple-A in all facets of the game — his at-bats, his defense, his everything. So when he destroys Triple-A and he knocks the door down, to me, then he becomes part of the conversation. I don’t personally think you bring a guy to the big leagues with that type of profile until that happens.”
Since those comments, Basallo has hit .327 with a 1.178 OPS in 17 games with more walks (12) than strikeouts (10). Those numbers and his overall stat line on the season suggest that Basallo, despite being 6 1/2 years younger than the average Triple-A player, is too advanced a hitter for the level.
“We talked earlier in the year about knocking the door down, and it feels like he’s starting to do that in a lot of ways,” Mansolino said.
While Basallo’s offense is clearly ready for the next step, it’s his defense that remains an unanswered question. The Dominican Republic native has spent only 213 innings behind the plate this season while splitting his time between catcher and first base.
“What you’re not seeing is the catching. There’s no catching in the box score, so that’s still a really important piece for us,” Mansolino said. “We’ve got to have catchers that are great catchers. They affect 13 other guys, they affect the defense, they affect the whole team every night. His development right now is probably mostly coming on the catching side. The bat’s probably ahead of that.”
Mansolino said reports from Norfolk manager Tim Federowicz and his coaching staff show improvement in Basallo’s defense and his ability to manage a pitching staff — the latter part perhaps more important for his development than his framing or blocking.
“All reports are that the catching is massively going up,” Mansolino said. “Federowicz down there in Triple-A, he’s doing a great job with him. … He’s teaching Sammy a lot. Mike has a plan in place. We’ll figure that out here as we go, and we’re really excited about him.”
It’s also important to remember that Basallo is only 20 years old. While Mansolino said that he can’t comment on the youngster’s “mental game,” the skipper did note that it’s important for a young prospect to be ready for the challenges of being a big leaguer.
“In general, yeah, it’s huge for every prospect, not just Sammy,” Mansolino said. “Watching what Jackson Holliday went through last year is a great example. If Jackson is not Jackson Holliday and doesn’t have the stability he has at home with his dad and being raised in a major league clubhouse, with how Jackson was treated through the media and through everywhere else last year and how he was handled, he would not be where he’s at today. Jackson’s one of the unusual ones where things like that didn’t faze him.
“For most players to be kind of brought up into the big leagues and go through the ringer, you’ve got to be very careful. They’ve got to be ready. Sammy might already be there. I just don’t know him that well.”
Since 2022, the Orioles have promoted nine top prospects — ranked on at least one top 100 list in their minor league career — whom Elias drafted. Those players averaged 92 games, 414 plate appearances and a .903 OPS in Triple-A before their promotion to the majors. Basallo has played 84 games with 344 plate appearances and a .918 OPS.
Five of those prospects were promoted with fewer Triple-A plate appearances than Basallo: Rutschman (2022), Henderson (2022), Joey Ortiz (2023), Kjerstad (2023) and Jackson Holliday (2024). Some prospects — such as Westburg (2023) and Mayo (2024) — played a full season’s worth of games in Norfolk before they got the call.
However, it can’t be ignored that there are potential organizational benefits to keeping Basallo in the minors longer. Notably, if Basallo isn’t promoted until late August or September (like Henderson in 2022), he would likely remain rookie eligible in 2026 and have the chance to earn the Orioles an extra draft pick if he wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award next season.
The trade deadline could present an opportunity for the Orioles to promote Basallo. If the club trades left-handed-hitting first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, it could open a spot for Basallo to split time at first base, designated hitter and catcher.
Whether that’s part of Elias’ “plan” remains to be seen.
Around the horn
• The Orioles on Saturday optioned Jeremiah Jackson to Triple-A Norfolk one day after promoting the shortstop to the big leagues for the first time in his career. Baltimore recalled reliever Yaramil Hiraldo to give it a full eight-man bullpen. Hiraldo, a righty who made his MLB debut with the Orioles earlier this season, has a 4.19 ERA with a 32.9% strikeout rate in the minors this season.
• Mansolino said that left-hander Keegan Akin (shoulder) will likely rejoin the Orioles on Monday after his minor league rehabilitation appearance Saturday for Norfolk. Baltimore’s bullpen only has one left-hander after the Gregory Soto trade Friday.
• The Orioles are promoting pitching prospect Esteban Mejia to Low-A Delmarva, a source with direct knowledge of the move confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. Mejia has skyrocketed up Baltimore’s prospect ranks in recent months after Baseball America put the 18-year-old flamethrower as the No. 82 prospect in MLB.
Baltimore Sun reporter Matt Weyrich contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
]]>The trade is the Orioles’ second this month after they sent reliever Bryan Baker to the Tampa Bay Rays on July 10. Many more players will likely be traded ahead of Thursday’s 6 p.m. deadline.
Here are five takeaways from the Soto trade:
A pitching prospect like Aracena is a valuable return for two months of Soto
No one knows what Aracena, the key piece of this trade for Baltimore, will turn into. He’s 20 years old and in Low-A. All he is now is a prospect, and it’s not common to receive one of his caliber for a pitcher like Soto.
Since 2021, eight good-but-not-great lefty relievers on expiring contracts have been traded at the deadline. Only three of those trades netted the selling team a prospect inside the buying club’s top 20 prospects list, according to MLB Pipeline. Aracena was the Mets’ No. 19 prospect.
Elite relievers — like Josh Hader in 2022 or Aroldis Chapman in 2016 — are often sold at a king’s ransom. But southpaws like Soto, who posted a 3.96 ERA with the Orioles this season, often don’t garner top-tier prospects in return. Four of the eight trades of lefty relievers like Soto since 2021 did not include a top-30 prospect.
The Orioles certainly don’t care about where Aracena is ranked on prospect lists, but that’s one of the only ways to judge trades involving prospects. By that measure, the Orioles appeared to get excellent value for two months of a reliever.
Aracena is a flier — but one that could soar
It’s not difficult to see what the Orioles like about Aracena.
The 20-year-old righty is 6-foot-3 with a lanky build, long levers and a low-effort delivery. Aracena sports a five-pitch mix with a high-90s mph fastball that’s topped out at 101 mph, a mid-90s mph cutter and a high-80s mph slider with a curveball and changeup mixed in. In May, the Dominican Republic native struck out eight straight batters, mixing his fastball, cutter and slider to baffle opposing hitters.
OK, if he’s so nasty, then why was he only the Mets’ 19th-ranked prospect? Yep, you guessed it: He allows a ton of walks.
In 173 career professional innings, Aracena has walked a whopping 123 batters. Last season, his first stateside, he walked 20.9% of opposing batters — more than double MLB’s average rate. But he’s taken a giant leap forward this season, dropping his walk rate to a high-but-manageable 13.2% while posting a 2.38 ERA with an impressive 31.7% strikeout rate.
The lower you go in the minor leagues, the more volatile the prospects get. Aracena might have a low floor because of his command issues, but his ceiling might be as high as almost any pitcher on Baltimore’s farm.
The Orioles recouped some value they lost a year ago
There are many ways to view a deadline deal. The Mets get a high-strikeout southpaw who dominates left-handed hitters. The Orioles get an intriguing young pitching prospect. The next few days should be interesting for both teams — one buyer, one seller.
Another lens through which to view the Soto trade is with last year’s Soto trade in mind.
Last deadline, the Orioles traded pitching prospects Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace to the Phillies for Soto when Baltimore was a buyer. Soto pitched about a calendar year for the Orioles and was overall so-so, recording a 4.33 ERA with a 3.45 FIP — an ERA-equivalent metric that only accounts for what the pitcher has the most control over (walks, strikeouts and home runs) — before he was traded for Aracena and Foster, a 26-year-old reliever in Double-A.
If combining the two trades from a macro view, Chace and Aracena cancel each other out. Chace, 22, is Philadelphia’s No. 8 prospect, but he underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery in May. MLB Pipeline ranks Aracena as the Orioles’ No. 19 prospect.
This effectively means that the Orioles traded Johnson, a 26-year-old reliever and the Phillies’ No. 13 prospect, for a calendar year of Soto.
If Johnson and Chace become stars for the Phillies and Aracena doesn’t for the Orioles, then these trades will be viewed as failures. But without knowing what’s to become of these three young arms, Friday’s trade served as a way for the Orioles to recoup some value they lost at last year’s deadline.
The trade doesn’t help the 2026 Orioles — or maybe it could?
Orioles general manager Mike Elias said on MLB Network Radio on Sunday that his focus is on getting the team back on track in 2026.
“We’re not blowing up the team,” Elias said. “We think we’re going to be very good again in 2026 and have that intention. We’re not interested in changing the foundation of the team.”
Trading Soto, a reliever set to be a free agent this offseason, doesn’t hurt the 2026 Orioles. But acquiring a 20-year-old pitching prospect doesn’t help next year’s team, either.
It’s not that simple.
Even if a trade doesn’t directly help the 2026 Orioles, it has the potential to by simply bolstering the farm system. Elias could theoretically be more comfortable parting ways with a pitching prospect now that he’s added another arm to the farm — or ship away an outfield prospect after drafting Slater de Brun with the No. 37 overall pick that was acquired in the Baker trade.
Elias was able to acquire ace Corbin Burnes before the 2024 season because he possessed the best farm system in baseball. The Orioles’ farm won’t be ranked as highly going into next season, but it could jump back into the top 10, giving Elias depth from which to trade to improve the 2026 club.
The Orioles officially have a pitching pipeline worthy of praise
With the Orioles owning one of the worst pitching staffs in MLB, Elias and his front office have been criticized this year for their failure to develop pitching prospects. Kade Strowd, a reliever, is the only Elias-drafted pitcher to make it to the major leagues with the Orioles, and Elias’ first four drafts produced few noteworthy pitching prospects.
But the pitching pipeline has finally started to pop this season. With the addition of Aracena, the Orioles have 11 pitching prospects who have legitimate value and upside. Esteban Mejia, Michael Forret, Braxton Bragg, Keeler Morfe, Nestor German, Chayce McDermott, Patrick Reilly, Luis De León, Trey Gibson, Joseph Dzierwa and Aracena are all prospects with the potential to make an impact in the big leagues. Just a year or two ago, it was difficult to say that about more than a few Orioles pitching prospects.
Teams that trade away MLB-caliber pitching often want pitching prospects in return. Elias finally has a pitching prospect surplus to play with.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
]]>As Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer jogged out to the mound in the top of the sixth inning, Camden Yards’ public address announcer asked fans to take cover because of lightning strikes in the Baltimore area. Ushers at Oriole Park then temporarily forced fans in the lower bowl to move from their seats to ones under cover.
But the game was not put into a delay despite lightning strikes occurring throughout the sixth and seventh innings. Attendance at Camden Yards for the series opener against the Colorado Rockies was an announced 25,090 for Floppy Hat Night.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the National Weather Service forecasts show a continued threat of lightning strikes in the ballpark area,” read a message on Camden Yards’ videoboard. “In order to keep everyone save, we are asking all of those who are currently sitting in open areas of the seating bowl to please seek shelter in covered areas of the ballpark. We thank you for your cooperation.”
Near the end of the seventh inning, shortly after the Orioles tied the game on Jackson Holliday’s RBI single, fans were allowed back to their original seats.
An Orioles spokesperson said the decision to temporarily remove fans from their seats was made “for the safety of our fans because lightning was in close proximity to the ballpark.” Fans will not be issued refunds, the spokesperson said.
Whether a game enters a delay is not up to the Orioles. That decision lies with Major League Baseball and the umpiring crew. When asked why the game didn’t enter a delay, an MLB spokesperson referred to crew chief Bill Miller, who spoke with a pool reporter after the game.
Miller said that the umpiring crew had no role in clearing fans from the lower bowl. The umpire said that he did not feel pressure to delay the game once the Orioles told fans to take shelter.
“I was getting updates every half-inning from the grounds crew gentleman,” Miller said via a pool reporter. “He said that we were going to get hit by a big storm in a half an hour. He said at 8:45 [p.m.] it was going to come. It was going to be windy, it was going to be rainy and there was going to be thunder and lightning. I asked him to give me a half-inning update, and it progressively diminished. The storm was decidedly moving south, he thought the top of it was going to catch us. They did clear the stands unbeknownst to me. We are concerned about lightning, but the crew did not see any lightning in the area. We saw it from afar, but we didn’t think at any time anybody on the field was in danger.
“When we pull the teams off the field when it’s not raining hard, we get second-guessed. We work in conjunction with the grounds crew. We are a team. At no time did I feel like the field was dangerous. I don’t think the field took rain in a way that there was any slipping. We did have them treat the mound and plate area with a little bit of [clay] Turface. But even that wasn’t really necessary. That was just trying to get ahead of the game, but the heavy rain just never came. Hindsight, I think we handled it accordingly. It would have been difficult to pull teams off the field and then we get into the waiting game of when we actually come back. Both starters at that point in time were still in the game, and so that’s difficult as well, because now you’ve got to burn starters.”
Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said that he’s experienced a similar situation during his player and coaching days in the minor leagues. Mansolino didn’t question the umpires’ decision to continue playing the game.
“I trust the fact that the umpires have our health and safety in their best judgment,” he said. “I applaud the Orioles for kind of clearing out the lower bowl and kind of mitigating any risk whatsoever, making sure that the fans were in a safe spot.”
The Orioles led 4-0 after hitting four solo homers in the first two innings. But Kremer surrendered five runs between the third and fifth innings to allow the Rockies (26-76) to take a 5-4 lead. After Holliday’s RBI single in the seventh, Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar put Colorado back up one with a solo homer off Orioles reliever Andrew Kittredge, one of Baltimore’s top relievers after the trade of Gregory Soto on Friday afternoon. Baltimore’s bats couldn’t mount a late-inning comeback, falling 6-5 to the MLB-worst Rockies.
While the sight of Kremer pitching as fans retreated under cover was unusual, watching an Orioles game with no fans in the lower bowl wasn’t. The ballclub frequently played games during the rebuild with few fans in the stands. In 2020, MLB games were played with no fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And on April 29, 2015, the Orioles hosted the Chicago White Sox for the first game in MLB history without fans amid the protests following the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who died while in police custody.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
