Trevor Rogers kept rolling Wednesday night, and the Orioles kept inching themselves deeper into the Wild Card race.
Baltimore beat the Angels 5-2 at Camden Yards in a game that fit both clubs’ current reality: a pair of deadline-day survivors, a couple of thin lineups, and two starters who drew plenty of trade chatter without ever moving. Rogers, the Orioles’ ace, and Reid Detmers each handled their business well enough, but Baltimore’s late push and strong pitching won out again.
The Orioles are now 56-58 and sitting in the mix for the final Wild Card spot. That came despite another rough night at the plate in some familiar ways. Baltimore struck out 10 more times and has been piling up whiffs since the All-Star break, but the pitching has covered for a lot of that damage.
Against the left-handed Detmers, the Orioles found just enough offense. Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo went back-to-back with homers, with O’Neill’s blast coming after Gunnar Henderson walked. Mayo has been hammering lefties as well as anyone in MLB, and Baltimore needed every bit of that production in a game that stayed tight for most of the night.
Rogers did the heavy lifting on the mound. He was excellent through five innings, then allowed a solo homer in the sixth before leaving in the seventh after 93 pitches.
His strikeout total climbed to nine, which pushed the pitch count higher as he kept missing bats. Newcomer Alex Hoppe, who struggled in Seattle’s bullpen, later allowed a run-scoring hit that was charged to Rogers.
“Love having Rog,” rookie skipper Craig Albernaz told the media after the game. “He was outstanding tonight. He’s been doing it for a long time now.”
Rogers’ recent run has made him one of the Orioles’ most important pieces. After a rough start to the season, he has been very good over his last 10 starts.
He also closed last year with 18 mostly strong outings after beginning that season in AAA. Baltimore is already signaling through the media that it may put a Qualifying Offer on him as a free agent - if that still exists in the new labor deal coming in 2027, as the source notes - and keeping him past the deadline suggests a possible re-signing is on the table.
That won’t come cheap. Rogers is an unrestricted free agent, not the kind of situation where a club can simply buy out arbitration years the way it might with someone like Kyle Bradish or Shane Baz. His future is shaping up to be one of the more interesting storylines of the offseason, and the same goes for Henderson, whose own situation is expected to unfold much like Adley Rutschman’s did.
O’Neill had plenty of praise for Rogers after the game, too.
“Awesome to play behind,’ O’Neill said of Rogers on the MASN post-game show. “He’s dynamite. Throws four pitches really well, hits his spots and he’s been doing great of late.”
Baltimore got another cushion in the eighth when Leody Taveras, who has been clutch all season and ranks among the team leaders in win-probability added, launched a pinch-hit two-run homer. The Orioles are good enough to keep beating the weaker teams on their schedule - they’re 28-27 against the worst teams in the league - and they should stay in the Wild Card conversation into next month even after what they moved at the deadline.
A sweep of Los Angeles is still on the table Thursday afternoon. After that, a 10-game road trip will ask a much tougher question.
In Other News...
Orioles Just Brought Back A Familiar Arm With Something To Prove
The Orioles player-development pipeline has been busy enough that it can be easy to lose track of the arms moving in and out of the system, but one familiar name still stands out for Baltimore. The organization is once again tied to a pitcher who already flashed enough in its minor league ranks to make him part of a bigger conversation about talent evaluation and long-term value, especially for a club that has built its rise around finding and refining upside wherever it can.
Michael Forret is back in the picture, and the appeal is obvious: Baltimore knows what he looked like when things were going well, and the Orioles are the kind of team that keeps tabs on that sort of arm even after roster churn sends him elsewhere. The wrinkle is that his path has changed since then, and the question now is whether the same traits that once made him intriguing can still translate into a real role after a stretch of uneven results. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Catching Depth Just Took Another Turn After The Rutschman Trade
Baltimores catching picture keeps shifting after a busy stretch of roster maneuvering, and Chadwick Tromp is the latest name to come off the board. The Orioles said the veteran backstop elected free agency after going unclaimed on outright waivers following his designation for assignment, another reminder of how quickly depth pieces can get caught up in the churn when a club is reshaping the position group.
Tromp had been in a familiar role for Baltimore, providing catching depth after spending recent seasons in that kind of spot with both the Orioles and Braves. His exit ties back to the Orioles roster changes around Jake Rogers and the addition of Carlos Narvez and prospects in the trade with Boston, and it leaves one more layer of uncertainty in a group that has changed a lot in a short time. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Taylor Ward Trade Just Raised Two Big Questions
Taylor Ward is gone, and in the immediate aftermath the Orioles are left sorting out what his departure means for the outfield depth chart and the long-view rebuild around it. The move has already opened more runway for younger players such as Beavers and Franklin, with Franklin recently getting the call to the majors, and it gives Baltimore a little more room to see whether those internal options can seize a real role.
The bigger question is what the Orioles actually got back and how much upside they believe is tucked into the pitching side of the deal. The return adds three right-handed arms to the organization, and the trade will be judged not just by Wards fit in Seattle but by whether Baltimore can turn this into the kind of pitching depth it has been trying to stockpile without sacrificing too much short-term offense. [Read more 🡒]