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Orioles suffer worst loss of season, 19-8, as Athletics pound Cade Povich, bullpen

No, the teams did not swap uniforms for the afternoon. The Oakland Athletics, the second-worst team in the American League, so thoroughly trounced the Baltimore Orioles, the circuit’s best ballclub, that the only explanation for what happened Saturday afternoon is that, well, baseball can be weird sometimes.

The A’s played like the O’s – and vice versa – as Oakland handed Baltimore its worst loss of the season, 19-8, to give the few thousand fans at the Coliseum a show. “These kinds of games happen,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We just had a tough time keeping them from scoring.” Orioles starting pitcher Cade Povich was ambushed by the Athletics, and his bullpen didn’t do much better. The rookie left-hander allowed eight runs and recorded only three outs for one of the worst starts in Orioles history. Dillon Tate replaced Povich and was hammered for four runs in two innings. Long reliever Cole Irvin then fell on the sword to pitch four innings, surrendering five runs to save the rest of the bullpen.

“There’s always stuff to learn from, Povich said. “It doesn’t matter what team it is at this level, if you’re not on attack and coming out with your best stuff, it’s going to happen to you.” The Athletics (34-57) tallied 18 hits with five doubles and five home runs. Oakland entered the game with one of the worst offenses in MLB, ranking in the bottom five in runs and batting average, while Baltimore led the sport in runs per game and OPS. The Orioles recorded 15 hits – their biggest a three-run blast by Adley Rutschman in the seventh and a solo shot from Ryan Mountcastle in the ninth – but their struggles with runners in scoring position persisted. After going 2 for 10 in such situations in Friday’s narrow win, the Orioles were 4 for 14 in them Saturday, including stranding the bases loaded without scoring a run in the third.

The game went from ugly to laughable in the eighth when veteran catcher James McCann entered to pitch and gave up a two-run homer for the Athletics’ final two runs. The last time the Orioles allowed 19 or more runs in a game was during the rebuild when they lost 22-7 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 12, 2021. Those Orioles fell to 46-97; these Orioles are now 56-33. Baltimore is now tied atop the American League with the Cleveland Guardians. The loss reduces the Orioles’ AL East lead over the New York Yankees, who ended their four-game losing streak Saturday, to two games.

From the first batter Povich faced, it appeared something was off. The southpaw isn’t known for his command, as walks were at times an issue in the minors, but none of his four pitches to leadoff batter Daz Cameron were anywhere close to the strike zone. Povich then walked Miguel Andujar on six pitches, the four balls also nowhere near the zone. Povich, the Orioles’ top pitching prospect, found the zone against Brent Rooker, a potential All-Star for the A’s with an .891 OPS, but the designated hitter demolished the 0-1 cutter 414 feet to left-center field for a three-run homer. “Just looked like he didn’t have his command from the beginning,” Hyde said.

The second inning started even worse than the first for Povich, who allowed the first five batters to reach base. After former Oriole Tyler Nevin singled and Brett Harris doubled, No. 9 hitter Max Schuemann crushed a 390-foot big fly. Povich then walked Cameron and allowed a single to Andujar to earn Hyde’s hook. Povich is only the fourth starter in Orioles history to allow eight or more runs and record three or fewer outs in a start, joining Chris Tillman (2014), Víctor Zambrano (2007) and Hayden Penn (2006). He allowed five hits and walked three while striking out one. He did not generate a whiff on any of his 43 pitches. “I mean, I’m still alive, still breathing,” Povich said. “Just kind of stay the same course, look over stuff, see what was good and what was bad and prepare for the next one.”