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The second half of the 2024 season hasn’t been kind to the Baltimore Orioles. Their fall-off was encapsulated in a 10-0 shutout loss to the San Francisco Giants on September 17.
It’s the eighth shutout for the Orioles this season, who are 39-45 since the All-Star break. Gunnar Henderson went 0-for-4 at the plate with 3 strikeouts, and spoke with reporters following the loss.
On the team’s second-half slump, he told reporters that Baltimore has to “keep pushing” with the postseason around the corner.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while. Just trying to figure out a way to get through it,” Henderson said postgame, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. “We’ve done it pretty much the first three quarters of the year and then just kind of this last little bit it’s been kind of weird. Just kind of getting out of sync it seems like. Obviously we know we’ve done it. They’re new faces but they’re all awesome players. It’s kind of weird not being able to get through it but just got to keep pushing. Eventually it’s going to go our way at some point.”
Henderson and the Orioles have scored 21 runs over their last 11 games.
After winning the division last season, Baltimore’s postseason hopes hang firmly on on a Wild Card spot.
At 84-67, the Orioles are 2.5 game ahead of the Kansas City Royals for the top American League spot in the Wild Card.
Gunnar Henderson on Blake Snell: ‘He’s Just Got Obviously Electric Stuff’
Baltimore’s latest shutout loss came at the hands of former Cy Young winner Blake Snell, who pitched six innings and threw 12 strikeouts.
Henderson told reporters that Snell was at the top of his game against the Orioles.
“Didn’t really seem to miss over the plate today,” Henderson said, according to Kubatko. “He’s just got obviously electric stuff. He showed that tonight.”
Baltimore showed trade interest in Snell ahead of the trade deadline, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
“Orioles, with new, wealthier, win-oriented owner (and great prospect stash), are aiming high and are among teams to check on Blake Snell,” Heyman tweeted on July 29.
He showed the Orioles exactly what they’re missing in the September 17 matchup. Baltimore’s starter, Albert Suarez, lasted only 3.1 innings after giving up 4 runs on 6 hits to San Francisco.
Brandon Hyde on Craig Kimbrel: ‘That Wasn’t His Normal Stuff’
Any hope for a ninth-inning Orioles’ comeback was crushed when Craig Kimbrel took the mound against the Giants. The Future Hall of Famer gave up 6 runs on 3 hits in only two-thirds of an inning.
Kimbrel has a 10.59 ERA since the All-Star Break and has seemingly lost his job as Baltimore’s go-to closer in save situations.
Team skipper Brandon Hyde told reporters postgame that fatigue was evident during Kimbrel’s disastrous inning.
“I think as the inning got along and got tired,” Hyde told reporters on September 17, according to Kubatko. “I didn’t want to use anybody else. I was hoping he could just get out of the inning, and unfortunately there was some fatigue there at the end. The velo started getting down a little bit. Normally, he’s not out there for that long. In that type of game, I just didn’t want to use anybody else at that point, so I had to get Bowman up. That wasn’t his normal stuff there at the end.”
Pitching has been the Achilles heel of the 2024 Orioles all season long. And on nights where the starter can’t get through five or six innings, the bats can’t find a rhythm.
With the 2024 playoffs only weeks away, there isn’t much to Baltimore’s play that’s inspiring optimism for a World Series run.
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