Homers from Adley Rutschman, Anthony Santander not enough as Orioles fall to Angels, 6-5 – The Mercury News

In a game with home runs from the two best hitters on both teams, it was an infield single that made the difference.

Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout homered to give the Los Angeles Angels an early lead, and the Orioles battled back to take a one-run advantage on long balls from Anthony Santander and Adley Rutschman. But Baltimore’s bullpen faltered, as three relievers stumbled in the eighth inning of a 6-5 loss.

The decisive strike came from Ohtani. It wasn’t one of his majestic long balls — as Baltimore’s crowd witnessed Monday and Thursday — but rather an infield single he beat out to first base for the game-winning RBI.

Starting pitcher Tyler Wells was effective aside from the two homers he allowed to the pair of Angels superstars, but the Orioles’ bullpen didn’t live up to its reputation as the relief unit that entered Thursday with the lowest ERA in the majors. After Mike Baumann allowed a run in the sixth, Bryan Baker, Austin Voth and Danny Coulombe combined to give up two runs in the eighth — one allowed by Voth and one by Coulombe, but both charged to Baker.

The anti-climatic climax came with two outs and the bases loaded when Ohtani hit a sharp ground ball to the right side of the infield. Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle splayed out to corral the grounder, but Coulombe wasn’t there in time to accept the toss and retire Ohtani, who is one of the fastest players from home to first in the major leagues.

“I think Ohtani beats him,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Watching the replay, I thought Ohtani, kind of a jailbreak swing, and he’s 3-point-something [seconds] down the line. I think he gets there safe anyways.”

The Orioles couldn’t tie the game in their final two trips to the plate, going three-up, three-down in the eighth and stranding two runners in the ninth to end the day 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Adam Frazier singled with one out in the ninth but was thrown out at second attempting to stretch it into a double. Cedric Mullins then hit an automatic double, and the Angels intentionally walked Rutschman to put the winning run on, but Mountcastle struck out looking to end the game.

The loss ends the longest homestand of the season for Baltimore (28-16), during which the Orioles went 6-4. They have a six-game road trip upcoming against American League East foes Toronto and New York, their first matchup versus the Blue Jays and second with the Yankees.

Wells’ whiffs

Last week, Wells twirled the best start of his career, tying his career-high with seven innings and setting personal bests with eight strikeouts and 18 swings and misses against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

His start Thursday was not as marvelous, but he still managed to set a personal mark. In just five innings, Wells struck out seven batters and induced a career-high 19 whiffs, which is also the most from any Baltimore starter in a game this season. Wells got more swings and misses Thursday than Kyle Gibson did when the latter struck out 11 batters in April.

“That is a testament to kind of the work that I’ve been trying to put in, so I would say that’s definitely a positive for me,” Wells said.

The 19 whiffs came on a whopping 48 swings (40%) out of the 6-foot-8 right-hander’s 95 pitches, including at least one miss on each of his five pitches. Wells still owns the best ERA out of any Orioles starter at 2.94 and the best WHIP of any qualified MLB starter at 0.79.

Wells was effective for most of his start, scattering six hits and one walk, but his three runs allowed came on two bad pitches. The 28-year-old opened the game by striking out the first two batters, but he hung a changeup to Ohtani, who broke out of his mini 0-for-8 slump and cranked a solo homer to right field. In the third inning, Trout, the other superstar in Los Angeles’ lineup, jumped on a 1-1 cutter that caught too much of the plate, as the three-time AL Most Valuable Player clobbered the pitch 110.4 mph and 408 feet over Camden Yards’ daunting left field wall.

“With Ohtani’s home run and Trout’s home run, both were just poorly located pitches,” Wells said. “Just go back to the drawing board during this next time around and hit the bullpen and make sure I figure those things out.”

After the Angels took a 3-0 lead, the Orioles responded with three runs in the fifth. Infield prospect Joey Ortiz singled for the second time Thursday, advanced to third on Austin Hays’ double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Mountcastle. Santander then continued his scorching hot May, blasting a 418-foot two-run home run off Angels left-handed starter Tyler Anderson to tie the game. The switch-hitter had a .642 OPS through April, but in 16 May games, he’s 21-for-62 with five home runs.

Los Angeles shortstop Zach Neto then singled off Baumann with two outs in the sixth to give the Angels a 4-3 lead, but Rutschman’s 424-foot home run the following inning — his second career go-ahead homer in the seventh or later — put Baltimore back up one.

Baker, who relieved Cionel Pérez in the seventh, opened the eighth with a strikeout, a single and a walk. Voth, normally a middle or long reliever, then replaced the struggling Baker (3-1) and immediately surrendered a game-tying single to Gio Urshela. Voth then struck out Taylor Ward but hit Trout, bringing up Ohtani and the impetus for Hyde to bring in Coulombe.

After Mountcastle came up with Ohtani’s grounder on a dive, it appeared as if Coulombe forgot to cover first as he ran over late. But the left-hander falls off toward third base after his delivery, and that, combined with Ohtani’s speed, made it so the left-handed hitter was easily safe at first.

“Danny falls off the mound over to the right, it’s so hard to beat him to the bag,” Mountcastle said. “[Ohtani is] so fast. I dove and looked up, and it’s just one of those things. Tip your cap, he’s insanely fast. He was probably gonna beat it out no matter what.”

Around the horn

• Reliever Mychal Givens threw a bullpen session at Camden Yards before Thursday’s game. It could be the final step in the veteran right-hander’s rehabilitation stint as he recovers from left knee inflammation. Hyde said it’s “possible” that Givens travels with the team to Toronto, where the Orioles take on the Blue Jays for the first time this season before their second series against the New York Yankees.
• Outfield prospect Colton Cowser is day-to-day with left quad tightness that kept him out of the lineup for Triple-A Norfolk the past two days. Cowser, Baltimore’s second-best prospect still in the minors, is slashing .331/.469/.554 this season as one of the best hitters in Triple-A.
• Right-hander Spenser Watkins started for the Tides on Thursday in his first game off the injured list since suffering a cut finger on his right hand. Watkins, who started 20 games for Baltimore last season, pitched two innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out one.
• After the game, the Orioles announced they acquired minor league shortstop Robbie Glendinning from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for cash considerations. The 27-year-old Australia native had a .735 OPS with the Royals’ Double-A affiliate this season, and the Orioles have assigned him to Norfolk. Baltimore also signed minor league catcher Tim Susnara, a 27-year-old who last appeared in a professional game in 2021 with the Chicago Cubs’ Double-A affiliate, and assigned him to Double-A Bowie.
• The Orioles’ series opener against the Blue Jays on Friday night will be livestreamed exclusively on Apple TV+. The games are free to watch through the Apple TV app, the MLB.TV app or by logging in to tv.apple.com with an Apple ID.

Orioles at Blue Jays

Friday, 7:07 p.m.

Stream: Apple TV+

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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