The Orioles got the kind of week that should have felt better than this. They won the series, climbed in the Wild Card race and still had a chance to make it cleaner with a sweep. Instead, they left Camden Yards with a 4-1 loss to the Angels, and with it the reminder that a missed chance against the worst record in baseball stings all the more.
The damage came from the same place that has haunted them too often: traffic without payoff. Baltimore drew eight walks and was hit by a pitch, but none of those runners crossed. Eight men were left on base, and the offense never found the one swing or one timely hit that could have changed the shape of the afternoon.
That made Zach Neto’s third-inning three-run homer off Brandon Young feel like the turning point, even before the game drifted away. Catcher Yohel Pozo answered with a solo shot off Ryan Johnson in the bottom of the inning, but the Orioles never got closer than that. The Angels added another run in the seventh against Yaramil Hiraldo, piecing together a single, walk, balk and sacrifice fly to extend the lead.
Young had to work through plenty of trouble early. The Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning after a popup was lost in the sun for a gift single, an infield hit rolled to the left side of the mound and an opposite-field single on an 0-2 count. Young escaped by striking out Jose Siri and Josh Lowe, then getting Oswald Peraza on a fly ball.
He was back in danger in the third. Wade Meckler opened with an infield single and advanced when Young threw wildly to first. Nolan Schanuel walked, Neto launched his 20th homer, and suddenly the Orioles were chasing.
Young finished with three runs allowed and six hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out Mike Trout again before exiting after his 91st pitch. He has now thrown 10 innings across his last two starts and owns a 3.43 ERA.
Baltimore’s own pitching never let the game fully unravel, but the lineup couldn’t make the Angels pay. Johnson, who had shut out the Orioles on one hit over six innings in Anaheim, entered with a 7.63 ERA and 1.587 WHIP and still found enough to keep Baltimore off balance.
Manager Craig Albernaz said this morning, “He did a great job of mixing his arsenal against us,” Albernaz said this morning. “It’s a different look, funky look, and he was throwing a ton of strikes and he kept us off-balance.
And that was the biggest thing. We just couldn’t get our timing in or square him up.
He did a good job of staying out of the middle of the strike zone and nibbling on the corners. His command was there.
“Our guys know, they’ve seen it before, so now you know what you have to deal with.”
Johnson walked two of the first three batters he faced, but Christian Encarnacion-Strand grounded into a double play. He kept dodging damage after that, even as the Orioles kept putting men on.
Dylan Beavers singled, was thrown out trying to steal, and Johnson later walked two more and hit Encarnacion-Strand to load the bases. Jackson Holliday then bounced out on the first pitch.
Pozo’s homer was his first in 2026 and the seventh of his career. It also was the first by an Orioles catcher since Samuel Basallo on July 12. Whether Pozo sticks around is tied to roster math more than anything else; he would only remain if the Orioles carry three catchers after Basallo is reinstated from the injured list.
The Angels kept getting chances, but they also kept missing them. They were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position through six innings, then 2-for-13 with seven left on base after the seventh. Albert Suárez stranded two more in the eighth, leaving the Angels 2-for-15 in those spots by the end.
Baltimore had one last opening in the eighth. Tyler O’Neill came off the bench and delivered again with a two-out single that pushed Gunnar Henderson to third. Henderson tried to score on Samy Natera Jr.’s pitch to the backstop, but the ball caromed back to Ballesteros, who flipped to Natera for the out.
So the Orioles settled for the series win and nothing more. They are 56-59, still stuck without a return to .500 since an April 30 doubleheader. And now they head to Texas for a 10-game road trip that begins Friday, carrying the frustration of a game they had plenty of chances to own.
In Other News...
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The roster squeeze only figures to get tighter as injured players start coming back, which is where the Orioles may have to make some uncomfortable decisions. Once Blaze Alexander returns, Elias could be forced into a choice between Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Jeremiah Jackson, another reminder that the club is running out of easy places to hide its most complicated development questions. [Read more 🡒]