There’s no sugar-coating the results for the Baltimore Orioles with eight games left in the regular season.
They stand three games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League and would need to leapfrog three teams to land in the postseason.
So they’ll try to wipe away the painful result from Friday night in advance of the second game of the three-game series with the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday afternoon.
The Brewers claimed the series opener Friday with a 6-5, 10-inning escape. The Orioles came back from deficits of 3-0 and 5-3 to forge ties, only to lose in the first extra frame.
“Losing right now is tough,” Baltimore infielder Coby Mayo said. “Obviously, we did a great job rallying back, and you’re going to have those games where you rally back and lose. You’re going to have the games where you rally back and win.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy lauded his team.
“We did some good things,” he said. “We were fortunate things worked out.”
Milwaukee (96-58) has baseball’s best record and leads the Los Angeles Dodgers by two games in the race for the top seed in the NL playoffs.
The Orioles (75-79) had a three-game winning streak snapped even after scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth to extend Friday’s game.
“Our guys have shown the resiliency all year and coming back,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “We have numerous comebacks and keep on clawing, fighting back. But also we know where we’re at right now. We’ve got to win as many games as we can is an understatement.”
Murphy has become a fan of the Orioles’ energy under Albernaz.
“I don’t know what place they’re in or what place they are in the standings,” Murphy said. “But to have those guys playing the way he’s got those guys playing and the commitment and the way the fans are into the game, they’re playing like a first-place team.”
Left-hander Robert Gasser (4-5, 4.30 ERA) will start for the Brewers on Saturday. He has a 2.57 ERA in three outings this month and gave up one run in five innings Sunday in his team’s 4-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. He does not have a decision this month.
Gasser has never faced the Orioles in parts of three big-league seasons.
Left-hander Trevor Rogers (10-10, 4.22 ERA) will start for the Orioles. He took an 8-1 loss Sunday when he allowed four runs in six innings vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. That followed two strong outings earlier in the month when he gave up a total of three runs covering 14 innings.
Rogers has been the winning pitcher in his past three starts at home. In five career starts vs. the Brewers, he’s 4-0 with a 2.84 ERA.
The Orioles are juggling bullpen possibilities, particularly with right-hander Felix Bautista joining the team in Baltimore at the beginning of the series. It’s unclear if he’ll be placed on the active roster this weekend, though he has completed an injury rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues as he works his way back from surgery in August of last season to repair a torn rotator cuff and a torn labrum.
Many of the roster decisions are bound to depend on Baltimore’s status in the playoff chase.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into play; that’s one of them,” Albernaz said. “We try to factor in everything when we make a decision, but more importantly, it’s where the player (is) at and how they are feeling. We don’t want to force them into anything that they’re not comfortable with or physically comfortable with.”
The Orioles will honor former first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini (2016-22) before the game. He’ll sign a one-day contract with the team to officially retire as an Oriole.
Mancini, 34, played in 701 games for Baltimore, batting .270 with 117 homers and 350 RBIs. He played in five games for the Los Angeles Angels this season, hitting .308 with no homers and four RBIs.
–Field Level Media
