It was made worse by the fact that Dean Kremer was the opposing pitching. Yes, the very same Kremer that the Orioles sent to Triple-A to begin the year, and then dealt him away just a couple of weeks ago to these Twins. Of course he had his best start of the season (seven innings, one hit, one run, one walk, seven strikeouts) against his former club.

Although it may not have really mattered who pitched for the Twins because the Orioles staff had a tough day themselves. Trevor Rogers battled for four innings. Rico Garcia was lit up yet again. Grant Wolfram was up and down. It was a mess.

On offense the Orioles did end up scoring five runs, but four of them came after the game was already out of reach. They still count. They just didn’t matter. And it’s tough to give them much credit for coming alive after the point in which many of us probably turned the TV off.

That said, Coby Mayo had two hits and three of the team’s RBI. His OPS is up to .719 on the year, and he has pulled up to league average with a 100 OPS+. Jackson Holliday had two more hits. His OPS is up to .749 with a 113 OPS+. Can they continue to trend upward and bring this progress into 2027? Fingers crossed.

This, that and the other | Roch Kubatko
Included are some quotes from Craig Albernaz about Gunnar Henderson. In short, the team is going to keep sending him out there and simply hope for better results. Eh. I’m fine with Henderson starting everyday. It’s not like they have any other great choices at shortstop anyway. But does he need to be in the upper third of the batting order? Just move him down for a bit. It’s not that big of a deal! He knows he’s struggling. It shouldn’t be a surprise to him to hit, like, sixth for a week or two. Banging your head against the wall seems worse.

The Orioles’ leadoff crisis: Outs and lost momentum | The Baltimore Banner
The Orioles have struggled to find a consistent lead off hitter since Brian Roberts started to have injury issues. That was a long time ago. Even the Buck Showalter-era O’s cycled through top of the order options at a prodigious pace. The current Orioles probably want Holliday to be the guy, but he’s also one of the few guys getting hits, so he is in the middle of the order for now. The lineup just doesn’t make much sense at the moment.

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

This day in O’s history

1966 – Frank Robinson makes a game-saving catch, stealing an 11th-inning home run away from Clete Boyer to preserve a 6-5 win for the Orioles.

1993 – The Orioles give up a grand slam to Tigers outfielder Dan Gladden as part of a 15-5 loss. Gladden also hit a grand slam in prior day’s game against the Orioles, becoming the 14th player in major league history with a four-RBI homer in consecutive games.