Orioles buried early, never sniff comeback in 5-2 loss to Angels

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on May 11, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — If the Baltimore Orioles had any momentum carrying over from their uplifting win over the Angels on Friday night, it was gone by the end of the first inning.

Baltimore (14-24) fell into an early hole and never dug itself out in a 5-2 loss to the Angels on Saturday night. Kyle Gibson didn’t record an out past the fourth inning for his third straight start since joining the club’s rotation in late April and the Orioles’ offense managed only one run against a Los Angeles pitching staff that entered the game with the fifth-highest team ERA in MLB.

No longer the comeback kids of two years ago, the Orioles moved to 0-21 when trailing after six innings this season with the loss.

The Angels strung together three straight hits and a sacrifice fly to score two immediate runs to open the game against Gibson, who has allowed seven first-inning runs across his three outings. He later allowed a solo home run to right fielder Jo Adell and returned for the fifth but loaded the bases with no outs to prompt manager Brandon Hyde to pull him.

Colin Selby did well to limit the damage, inheriting the toughest position for any reliever and getting three straight groundouts that allowed only one run to score. He combined with Cionel Pérez and Charlie Morton to get the Orioles into the ninth inning without another run crossing the plate, but the offense never sniffed a big enough rally to climb back.

A brief delay interrupted the bottom of the fifth when home plate umpire Nestor Ceja ejected Angels hitting coach Johnny Washington. No announcement was made to the Angel Stadium crowd, which rained down boos as manager Ron Washington and Adell argued with the umpire crew for several minutes.

Ryan Mountcastle drove in the Orioles’ lone run off Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz with an RBI double in the sixth, scoring Gunnar Henderson from first on a line drive into the left field corner. Kochanowicz, who had a 5.79 ERA heading into his start, finished with one run allowed over 5 1/3 innings to pick up just his second win in eight starts.

The Orioles didn’t fare much better against the bullpen, owners of an American League-worst 6.99 ERA, tacking on one more run in the ninth on a solo home run by Ramón Laureano. Pinch hitting for Ryan O’Hearn, the veteran outfielder smacked a 108.1 mph laser that broke a cell in the LED scoreboard ribbon behind the wall in right field.

The rally ended there as Angels left-hander Brock Burke retired the next three batters he faced to end the game.

Instant analysis

Cedric Mullins has gotten off to a rough start so far in May.

After finishing April with a .972 OPS that ranked fifth best in the AL, the Orioles’ center fielder has gone 1-for-30 (.033) this month including an active 0-for-19 skid. Hyde bumped him down the order Saturday to take some of the pressure off him, starting Jackson Holliday at leadoff instead and slotting Mullins in at the No. 6 spot.

Mullins did well to lift the Orioles’ offense up enough to the point that it wasn’t a glaring problem early on in the season, but his drop-off coupled with very few of his teammates finding any rhythm has been a big reason Baltimore has scored three runs or fewer in 14 of its past 18 games.