O's offensive woes surface in shutout loss

BALTIMORE -- A 6-0 Sunday shutout loss to the Yankees at Camden Yards will do little to alter the Orioles’ thinking, let alone their confidence. But if the O’s have hopes of remaining one of baseball’s best stories down the stretch and in contention for an AL Wild Card spot, they will need to find offensive consistency.

Escaping the Orioles this year has been the ability to put their foot on the pedal and keep it there. They have only five double-digit outputs this season -- and two were necessary for comebacks. Even amid their 10-game win streak, only two victories came with scoring margins greater than three runs.

On Sunday, against a staunch Nestor Cortes, the Orioles boasted just two runners in scoring position.

“We normally don't swing the bat very well against him,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

A win on Sunday would have elevated the Orioles into fourth place in the division over the Red Sox. Should they want to make that a reality in the future, they might want to keep an eye out for these three components of the offense through the season’s final two-plus months:

1) Get on base at a better clip

With the speed of Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins, the headiness of Adley Rutschman and dynamism throughout the lineup, the Orioles are at their best with balls in play. The struggle has been getting individuals on base in the first place.

Baltimore entered the All-Star break with a .301 team-wide on-base percentage, sixth-worst in the Majors, exacerbated by poor strikeout (23.5 percent -- 21st) and walk rates (7.4 percent, 27th).

The Orioles thrive when putting pressure on offenses; an array of their marquee wins coming with close plays at the plate late. Case in point being Saturday’s wild trip around the bases for Mateo in the seventh inning. They just didn't get many chances on Sunday.

2) See which trends are real

There’s the good: Ramón Urías’ tear since he was activated off the injured list, Rutschman fully coming into form and Mullins showing shades of his All-Star caliber self from a year ago.

And then there’s the not-as-good: Trey Mancini is 0-for-his-last-20 with a fifth straight hitless showing on Sunday, Ryan Mountcastle has sandwiched one of his cold spells around the break, Austin Hays saw a potential All-Star bid waffle out of his grasp, now batting .220 and drawing just three walks across his last 28 games.

The nature of baseball. There are cold streaks and there will be some hot ones. It’s all about seeing which end of the spectrum is real.

Rutschman’s trajectory is the most important to follow. On base three more times on Sunday -- 2-for-3 with a walk -- he’s now hitting .326 over his last 15 games, raising his OPS on the year to .765.

The Orioles believe it will soon be that the entirety of their lineup is clicking in a consistent manner, joining their energetic rookie.

“I think so. I believe in this group of hitters here, man,” said fellow catcher Robinson Chirinos. “Lately, it's been rough, and hopefully we can do things as a team, put runs on the board. I mean, our pitchers are doing a really good job and they keep it -- even like today -- they keep us close on the scoreboard. We just have to do better at-bats together and hopefully compete this second half for the Wild Card.”

3) Measure when it makes sense to tinker

Also soon the offense might be joined by fresher faces. Terrin Vavra, the Orioles’ No. 12 prospect, is finding a swath of comfort for Triple-A Norfolk, entering Sunday with a .329/.438/.459 (.897 OPS) slash line across 44 games.

Could he join the Orioles soon? It feels more likely by the day, and perhaps not long after the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline. Could he be joined by top prospects Gunnar Henderson (No. 2) and Jordan Westburg (No. 5) by season’s end? That feels less likely.

But in any event, it would behoove the Orioles to set the stage of offensive success for their young talent. They feel it coming, it just soon has to start.