O's streak ends, but 'we're up there with the best'

ATLANTA -- The visiting clubhouse at Truist Park was completely silent late Sunday afternoon. Many Orioles players sat quietly at their lockers, slowly packing their bags and digesting the previous 3 hours and 29 minutes.

For the first time in almost a month, Baltimore had lost a series, dropping a hard-fought rubber game to Atlanta, 3-2, in 12 innings. After the Braves didn’t record a hit from the sixth through the 11th, Michael Harris II ended it with a walk-off RBI double off O’s left-hander Cionel Pérez.

It wasn’t how the Orioles wanted to finish their season-long 10-game road trip after previously taking three of four in Detroit and two of three in Kansas City. But it also wasn’t an embarrassing showing by any means.

Baltimore suffered its first series loss since dropping two of three to the Yankees from April 7-9, ending a streak of seven straight series wins. The Orioles took the opener against the Braves, then lost by only one run on both Saturday and Sunday.

“It just shows that we’re up there with the best. I think that the last three games have been great baseball, regardless of the outcome,” said right-hander Tyler Wells, who tossed five innings of one-run ball in the finale. “We came in and I think we just showed everyone exactly who we are.”

What the O’s (22-12) are is a strong baseball team. So are the Braves, the five-time defending National League East champions who won a World Series title in 2021 and are off to a 24-11 start this year. That ranks first in the NL and second in MLB behind only the Rays (28-7).

Still, Baltimore had ample opportunities to come out of Atlanta with another win Sunday.

Anthony Santander led off the 10th with an RBI single that put the Orioles ahead, 2-1. However, the Braves also cashed in their automatic runner in the inning, knotting the game when a Félix Bautista wild pitch allowed Sam Hilliard to score from third base.

Even after Baltimore failed to score in the 11th, Mike Baumann kept the game tied by stranding a pair of Atlanta baserunners in the bottom of the inning. But after the O’s lineup put up another zero in the 12th, the Braves won on Harris’ double to center field shortly after.

“That’s a great lineup and that’s a really good club, and we had a chance to win last night, we had a chance to win multiple times today,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “So we’re obviously disappointed. I thought we played well. We just didn’t do a few things to get a lead there.”

On Saturday, the Orioles lost, 5-4, as a recent tough stretch for the bullpen continued when Danny Coulombe gave up a go-ahead pinch-hit homer to Kevin Pillar in the eighth. On Sunday, the relief corps responded by getting six hitless innings from Austin Voth, Yennier Cano, Bautista and Baumann. But Baltimore didn’t give the unit enough support, going 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 runners on base.

Santander expressed Hyde’s sentiment that the O’s are leaving Atlanta disappointed. That was evident by the postgame atmosphere. They may be pleased with various aspects of their performance, but they’re not satisfied with the results.

“As a team, we played good. We fought all those games,” said Santander, who went 12-for-27 on the road trip and has collected multiple hits in each of the first six games of May. “We were playing against a really good team. We’re also right now a really good team.”

Now, the club returns to Baltimore for a 10-game homestand. Per Santander, the Orioles will “forget about this and continue playing hard and win more games.”

However, the schedule won’t let up anytime soon. The MLB-best Rays come to Camden Yards for a three-game series beginning Monday, followed by the NL Central-leading Pirates for three and the Angels for four. Friday’s opener vs. the Braves marked the beginning of 22 consecutive games against teams with winning records as things stand for the Orioles.

The O’s are confident they’re good. They’ll have plenty more opportunities to prove it. And they’re hoping to do so by bouncing back from a tough final two days in Atlanta and starting another run of series victories.

“We have to continue playing as a team together, stick together,” Santander said. “We’ve still got a long season.”