'We're getting in our own way': O's searching for way out of rut

BALTIMORE -- If you need a prime example of how things have been for the Orioles of late, go watch one play from the second inning of Saturday’s 9-4 loss to the Padres at Camden Yards.

Right-hander Dean Kremer coaxed a shallow fly ball off the bat of Kyle Higashioka, and the inning should have been over. Shortstop Gunnar Henderson (a likely future Gold Glover) and third baseman Ramón Urías (a 2022 Gold Glover) both retreated to left, and Henderson tried calling for it, swinging his arms in a wide motion.

Neither caught it. Henderson and Urías converged, and the ball hit off leather and onto the grass. The first two runs of the game scored on the play -- ruled an error on Urías -- and San Diego cruised from there, scoring eight straight to open the contest and coasting to its seventh consecutive victory.

“Thought I called it loud enough. But yeah, I guess he didn’t hear me,” Henderson said of the miscommunication with Urías. “I've got to do a better job of calling it, I guess.”

Baltimore (61-43) has lost five of its past six games. In its only victory during that stretch -- a 7-6 win in Thursday’s series finale in Miami -- it blew a 6-0 lead and narrowly avoided defeat in the 10th inning.

“I think we’re getting in our own way a little bit out there, and we just need to get back to the brand of baseball that we know we can produce every single day,” said veteran center fielder Cedric Mullins, who drove in all four O’s runs with a two-run double and a two-run homer. “I have full confidence in that.”

The rut goes back further, though. The Orioles -- who have lost 10 of 14 -- own an 8-12 record in July and have gone 12-18 since June 21.

Manager Brandon Hyde can’t pinpoint one exact reason for why things have been going wrong -- because there’s multiple.

“A little bit in every area right now we’re just going through a little bit of a funk, and I think that that’s very, very normal,” Hyde said. “You look around the league, there’s a lot of really, really good teams that are kind of going through the same thing. We’re confident that we’re going to come out of it. Living in it every day, it’s hard to not feel frustrated.”

Hyde’s point about other teams is correct. The O’s still came into Saturday with a two-game American League East lead over the Yankees, who entered their matchup vs. the Red Sox having lost five of six and were owners of an 11-24 record since June 13.

However, Baltimore can’t rely on other teams to continue to struggle. The defending AL East champions need to get back on track themselves.

Kremer delivered his best effort in trying to get the Orioles a bounce-back win Saturday, tossing six quality innings during a season-high 105-pitch outing. The 28-year-old right-hander yielded only one earned run -- although he also gave up a trio of unearned runs.

After Urías’ error in the second, Henderson committed a throwing error in the fourth that allowed the Padres to push their lead to 3-0. It marked the first time in the 23-year-old shortstop’s big league career that he’s committed an error in three consecutive games. He has 14 this year, matching his total from last season.

“It’s not just the defense. I think every part of the game we’re kind of down right now -- pitching, hitting, defense, all of it. And it’s kind of all at once,” Kremer said. “I think that’s what’s attributing to what’s been going on. But this hasn’t happened in three years? Four years? So things like these do happen. We are human. Things will start looking up here pretty soon.”

There’s “some frustration that we haven’t seen here in a couple years,” as Hyde put it.

Baltimore hasn’t had a losing month since going 15-18 in September/October 2022. In order to avoid a losing July, the O’s will need to win Sunday’s series finale vs. the Padres and then sweep a four-game home set against the Blue Jays.

“This is my first time going through it,” said Henderson, who debuted on Aug. 31, 2022. “So I feel like you just have to buy in together, just trust each other and just try to play for the guy who’s behind you and the guy that’s next to you.”

Mullins, who experienced parts of four consecutive losing seasons from 2018-21, can feel a difference between the early dark days of the Orioles’ rebuild and their current struggles.

“I think a lot of the frustration is due to the fact that we are a good team. It’s one of those things where we go through these rough stretches and it’s not us as a whole,” Mullins said. “It’s a matter of taking a step back, understanding who we are as a team and getting back to that.”