The Orioles spent Tuesday night trying to make a point, and they made it loud enough at Camden Yards.
After a Deadline that sent Dean Kremer to the Twins, president of baseball operations Mike Elias was adamant that Baltimore was not waving off 2025. He said as much on the MASN broadcast during the series opener against the Angels, and the message carried into the clubhouse before first pitch.
“We are not rebuilding the team,” Elias said. “We have a very strong, competitive team out on the field right now with a ton of talent at the big league level and a very full Minor League system again. So, we’re ready to jump back in the fight."
Hours earlier, Elias and manager Craig Albernaz had met with the team to talk through the post-Deadline fallout. Pete Alonso said the tone was clear.
“The message he said is, ‘Still believe in you guys, you guys are still a great team,’” Alonso relayed later. “‘The expectation is still to go to the playoffs and still go on a run.’”
Baltimore answered with a 3-1 win, and Alonso was right in the middle of it. He delivered the big swing in the third inning, a two-run single that put the Orioles in front for good after they loaded the bases with nobody out. That was the difference on a night when the offense never truly broke loose, but did enough.
Cade Povich did the rest. Recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to cover Kremer’s rotation spot, he gave Baltimore six scoreless innings and steadied everything behind him. It was the kind of fill-in start a club needs when the calendar turns and the roster starts to change.
The Orioles entered the day at 55-58, still 2 1/2 games out of the third American League Wild Card spot. With the postseason race bunched up, Albernaz kept calling Tuesday the start of a “50-game sprint,” and the club opened it with something close to exactly what it needed.
Baltimore didn’t do much against Angels right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who was facing his former team for the first time since being traded to Los Angeles last Nov. 19. The 26-year-old, once Baltimore’s 2018 first-round Draft pick and a former top prospect, turned in a season-high seven strong innings.
But the Orioles found their opening in the third, and Alonso made it count. Povich then held the line, delivering six or more scoreless innings for the third time in his 43-game MLB career, and the first time since he blanked the White Sox for 7 1/3 innings on Sept. 3, 2024.
It was a clean, necessary start to whatever comes next in Baltimore.
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