KANSAS CITY -- Orioles manager Brandon Hyde had one recurring word when characterizing the first 10 games of his club¡¯s season: Frustrating.
At 4-6, the O¡¯s aren¡¯t where they expected to be. After a 4-1 loss to the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, Baltimore has still yet to win a series.
The cause?
¡°Up-and-down [baseball],¡± Hyde said. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s only 10 games. We¡¯ve definitely had opportunities to win some of the games that we¡¯ve lost. So that's frustrating. Today¡¯s frustrating. First game of the series here was frustrating. We can play a lot better baseball.¡±
Let¡¯s take a look at why the Orioles¡¯ start to 2025 hasn¡¯t gone as planned:
Inconsistent offense
The most glaring issue has been Baltimore¡¯s inability to put up back-to-back good games at the plate. The Orioles scored just 10 runs in their six losses, but 37 runs in their four wins. They have not won two games in a row this season, and have not scored three runs or more in consecutive games.
For a club that finished second in the American League in runs scored (786) in 2024 -- behind only the Yankees (815) -- it¡¯s an issue the Orioles expect will resolve itself as this season progresses.
¡°We had five hits, or six hits, whatever we had [Sunday], we scored one run and that was on a wild pitch,¡± Hyde said. ¡°So we got to do a better job offensively from a consistency standpoint of taking good at-bats. ... Gunnar [Henderson] hasn¡¯t gotten going yet ... without Gunnar [and] going 4-6, we are going to be a better team going forward.¡±
Henderson returned from the injured list on Friday, but he went 1-for-13 with seven strikeouts -- his one knock being an infield single. Cedric Mullins (1.092 OPS), Tyler O¡¯Neill (.954 OPS) and Jordan Westburg (.891) have gotten off to hot starts, but that was also inflated by power numbers in Toronto.
The Orioles clobbered 10 home runs in three games against the Blue Jays, but have hit just one in their past seven contests. That will need to change if the O¡¯s are going to get back to a 90-plus win total for the third straight year.
Starting pitching struggles
Cade Povich allowed four runs on nine hits through two innings, but became just the second Baltimore starter to complete six innings (Zach Eflin, twice) this season.
Pitching coach Drew French spoke pregame about the club focusing on efficient at-bats to be able to lengthen outings from the rotation to soften the load on the bullpen -- which entered with the third-most innings pitched in the AL by a relief corps.
¡°I think [efficiency] is something that we¡¯re really [pushing], and it¡¯s about how we get there more so than just, ¡®Hey guys, we need at-bats to end faster,¡± French said. ¡°But there¡¯s strategy involved, certainly, there¡¯s a mentality shift that¡¯s involved at times and getting guys to be confident in themselves and what their stuff is going to provide for them.¡±
For Povich, it¡¯s his new kickchange, which he threw 10 times on Sunday, to aid him through his start. But his future in the rotation is unclear with the recent addition of Kyle Gibson and Grayson Rodriguez, who continues to rehab from right elbow inflammation.
With those two arms potentially joining the fold by the end of April or sometime in May, and Tomoyuki Sugano¡¯s recent brilliance, the Orioles are confident the rotation will begin to find its groove.
Defensive miscues
The O¡¯s have five errors this season, two shy from a bundle of teams tied atop MLB, but that doesn¡¯t tell the whole story. Jorge Mateo, who has played only 21 games in center field, misplayed a line drive from Bobby Witt Jr. on Sunday that would have made it two outs and none on -- and instead the Royals scratched across three runs.
On Friday, Kansas City capitalized on Henderson¡¯s error at short for a run before Vinnie Pasquantino put the game out of reach with a three-run single in the eighth -- aided by O¡¯Neill¡¯s throw to second base, which allowed Witt to score from first base uncontested.
In addition to two errors and allowing a run to score on a wild pitch on March 28 against Toronto, the Orioles simply haven¡¯t played clean enough to win close games.
¡°We have to get better defensively,¡± Hyde said postgame on Friday. ¡°We were pretty good the last few years, and that¡¯s something we have to get back to ... We have to make the routine play and be able to throw to the right base and things like that.¡±