BALTIMORE — A misty, grey haze blanketed the Attraction Metropolis on Tuesday morning. The regular rain, at first, felt like a superb omen for the Orioles. {That a} group so wholly obsessive about water and its numerous states of circulate woke as much as a downpour on the day of its first postseason sport this 12 months appeared applicable.
Over the previous 18 months, water-related gambits and gimmicks have change into an omnipresent a part of the Orioles expertise. Gamers mime taps upon hitting a single, squirt water out of their mouths each time a teammate knocks a double. A repurposed beer funnel dubbed “the hydration station” sits on the finish of the dugout. Upon an O’s dwelling run, gamers fill the contraption with water and celebratorily slurp it down. In left-center-field, a bit of seats deemed “The Birdbath” is doused with a waterhose by a floatie-and-goggle-wearing character named Mr. Splash each time the group tallies an extra-base hit.
Maybe it was a foreboding omen that the drizzle subsided an hour or so earlier than first pitch.
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On a day when ace Corbin Burnes delivered the playoff efficiency of a lifetime, permitting only one run over eight masterful innings, Baltimore’s offense ran bone-dry. Kansas Metropolis starter Cole Ragans baffled the Birds for six innings with a barrage of well-located heaters earlier than exiting prematurely resulting from a calf problem. His bullpen completed the job, tossing a trio of scoreless frames and guaranteeing that the Orioles didn’t contact dwelling.
The Royals scored simply as soon as, on a two-out RBI single from their supernova shortstop, Bobby Witt Jr. Third baseman Maikel Garcia, whose stolen base earlier within the inning proved essential, scampered dwelling to offer Kansas Metropolis the lead. That was sufficient.
“As [Royals veteran outfielder] Tommy Pham says, everytime you permit the opposite group zero runs, you’ve got a 99.999999 % probability to win the ballgame,” Witt joked after his group’s 1-0 victory.
His rising to the second ought to come as no shock. The 24-year-old shortstop spent the entire regular season establishing himself as one of the game’s best players. Time and time once more, he carried the Royals to victory. In lots of different seasons, his 32 dwelling runs, 31 steals and .332 batting common with very good shortstop protection would earn him an MVP award. And his immense expertise is matched solely by his unfettered pleasure for the sport, his uncommon, childlike power.
Final week, throughout the Royals’ Champagne celebration after clinching a wild card, Witt instructed MLB.com that he was most excited to get the October-related T-shirts he noticed on TV so typically as a child. On Tuesday, within the first postseason sport of his younger profession, the power-speed dynamo rose to the second.
The Orioles’ bats most definitely didn’t, losing one of the vital good playoff begins in latest reminiscence.
Burnes, who was eliminated after permitting a leadoff single within the ninth, grew to become the primary starter since Stephen Strasburg in Recreation 6 of the 2019 World Sequence to throw a pitch within the ninth inning of a playoff sport. Up to now decade of postseason baseball, solely seven different beginning pitchers have labored that deep. Just one — Matt Harvey in opposition to the identical Kansas Metropolis Royals in Recreation 5 of the 2015 World Sequence — ended up dropping the ballgame.
The identical destiny befell Burnes, whom the Orioles acquired from Milwaukee over the winter for a pair of extremely touted prospects. The deal represented the primary actually aggressive maneuver by Orioles normal supervisor Mike Elias and his entrance workplace because the group’s aggressive window opened in 2023. Parting with controllable, younger expertise so as to add a pending free agent in Burnes indicated to the baseball world that the Orioles had been going for it. They had been seizing the chance, benefiting from their dynamic, younger offensive core.
That core was nowhere to be discovered Tuesday. Baltimore’s high 5 hitters — Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Anthony Santander, Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman — went 1-for-18 in opposition to Royals pitching. Ragans was excellent, however the Orioles helped him alongside, losing two golden alternatives within the early innings. Twice, catcher and nine-hole hitter James McCann struck out in an unlimited spot — first within the third, with a runner on second and no person out, after which within the fifth, with runners on the corners and one down. That was as shut as Baltimore would get.
Because the zeros mounted, a darkish cloud of déjà vu inched over Camden Yards. Final 12 months, an 101-win AL East champion Orioles group paraded into the postseason with large expectations. In two ALDS dwelling video games in opposition to the Texas Rangers, the Birds faltered. They had been swept by the eventual champions, blinded within the limelight, swallowed by the second.
Forward of this autumn’s event, the Birds reframed their late-season swoon as a constructive, arguing that their brush with adversity would propel them when the October stress cooker started. They’d seen the underside and fought again. Now, they might deal with the depth.
That’s the alternative of what occurred Tuesday. As soon as once more, Baltimore’s offense wilted on the massive stage.
It was much more irritating contemplating how nicely Burnes pitched.
After talking postgame with members of the media, Baltimore’s ace sat silent in a chair in entrance of his locker. Nonetheless sporting his black, short-sleeve undershirt and sport pants, Burnes scrolled aimlessly on the cellphone resting in his proper hand, the identical dominant hand that dominated simply hours earlier than.
Different Orioles, wandering previous their ace, took a second to acknowledge his masterpiece. They patted Burnes on the again, gave him a fist bump or stammered some model of “nice job right this moment.” Burnes, the frustration wafting over him, both nodded in acknowledgement or mumbled again a response. The gesture from Burnes’ teammates was half congratulations, half apology. A “thanks” and a “sorry.”
And, if the Orioles lose Wednesday, a farewell.
Burnes is a free agent each time Baltimore’s season attracts to an in depth. He will command a contract north of $200 million. The Orioles — analytically pushed, traditionally thrifty — don’t seem prone to retain their ace. Subsequent season, Burnes is predicted to pitch in several colours. Until the Birds can conjure a turnaround, his tenure in Attraction Metropolis will probably be remembered as an unlimited missed alternative.
For six months and one moist day in October, Burnes has held up his finish of the discount.
The identical can’t be stated for Baltimore’s lineup.
