ARLINGTON, Texas — Not so long ago, Tomoyuki Sugano was among the most efficient pitchers on Baltimore’s staff. The past month hasn’t been so kind to him.
He hasn’t reached the sixth inning in any of his past five starts. The 35-year-old rookie allowed 22 earned runs in that span, the most of any five-game stretch in his short MLB career. And opposing hitters have clubbed at least one home run against him in four straight outings. That makes 19 homers allowed in 17 starts, tied for third most in the American League. Sugano was the hallmark of consistency — or at least the Orioles pitcher best equipped to keep his mistakes to blips, not trends.
Wednesday night, the Texas Rangers gave him more trouble to the tune of a career-high 10 hits and all six earned runs of a 6-0 Orioles (37-49) loss.
“I think the league has kind of seen him a little bit, and the scouting report is out a little bit,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said.
The head-rattling fireworks at Globe Life Field were first discharged in the third inning. Texas’ Billy McKinney drew a walk and Josh Smith singled. Then Marcus Semien drilled an 84 mile-per-hour sweeper over the left field fence. It was an early 3-0 Texas lead that made Sugano purse his lips as he looked up toward the replay board.
Earlier this season, pitching coach Drew French told The Sun that Sugano was a master of flushing innings — troubled ones, sharp ones or somewhere in the middle. At the time, he was. With Sugano, “It’s just, ‘What’s next?’” French said in May.
Not so much on a July night in Arlington.Mansolino chalked it up to location and command.
“There’s pitches he’s setting up away and we’re kind of yanking in and balls have kind of fallen in from there,” Mansolino said.
Those pesky fireworks returned in the fifth — still two days out from the national holiday of pyrotechnics. This time, it was Corey Seager. The five-time All-Star turned on an 85.5 mph splitter and sent it hurling toward center field — a 420-foot bomb.
Those two home runs sandwiched a two-out, two-RBI single from Ezequiel Duran in the fourth inning.
Sugano washed his foot across the rubber slab atop the pitcher’s mound, wiped the sweat puddling his forehead and tried to figure what was next. With the game feeling more out of reach, Mansolino pulled Sugano. The six earned runs allowed stacked on last week’s career-high seven earned runs allowed versus Tampa Bay.
Sugano was asked postgame if he’s noticed any particular trends over the rough patch. “I think one thing is the walks that I give out,” he said, via team interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “And also the missed pitches, leaving in the zone. But more than anything, I think it’s more about the combination of pitches that I throw.”
The fastball and splitter dominated his arsenal in this most recent loss, combining for 48 pitches and inducing nine whiffs. Sugano threw the curveball 12 times for one whiff. His sweeper, cutter and sinker accounted for the other 19 pitches. Nonetheless, Sugano said he had a good grasp of what went haywire and how, for his next outing, he might be able to escape this funk.
Corbin Martin came in first for relief. The Orioles selected his contract from Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday morning. He pitched 1 1/3 innings with two strikeouts. Yennier Cano and Andrew Kittredge combined for two innings of hitless, scoreless baseball.
Postgame analysis
Baltimore’s bats were screaming Monday night, with enough heroics to scrape out a win. They simmered to an indoor voice by Tuesday, cobbling together a couple of runs on seven hits. The Orioles offense didn’t have much to say in Wednesday’s series finale — their ninth shutout loss of the season, one more than they had all of 2024.
Third baseman Jordan Westburg hasn’t been in the lineup all week, sidelined by a left index finger injury. He’s a spark plug for the rest of the offense and Baltimore sure could use him. Westburg said earlier this week he’s near healthy enough — though he doesn’t expect to be 100% — to return. There’s a chance he gets back in the lineup in Atlanta this weekend. And Tyler O’Neill’s rehab assignment was moved to Triple-A Norfolk this week. He’ll rejoin the big league club in Atlanta after a month and a half on the injured list with a shoulder issue.
Are those two the answer to these hitting woes? The Orioles sure hope so.
By the numbers
The Orioles have reverted back after showing promise in early June. On June 5, they won their sixth straight game, which pinned them 11 back of .500. They’ve gone 12-13 since and managed only a pair of series wins over their last eight. Getting back to even by the All-Star break — Mansolino’s goal from the first day of his interim tenure — is impossible with only nine games left. It’s an uphill battle with 23 before the deadline, when the Orioles will make decisions that may send a clear message of how the front office views this season and the current roster construction.
What they’re saying
Mansolino on why Texas’ pitching staff gave them fits:
“Eovaldi’s really good. I think we know that, right? You look at that cutter, it’s 90 mph. It looks like it’s moving two feet. So he was on. He was locked in. Location was really good. Watching these guys for six games now in the span of about a week, you understand why it’s the No. 1 pitching staff in baseball. Would love to see the second half of that game, probably a few more knocks, a few more runs kind of put up right there, but it wasn’t our night tonight.”
On deck
After a wild Monday night win in extra innings that featured as much fight as Baltimore has shown all season, the Orioles dropped two in a row to the Rangers by a combined 16 runs. They’ll have an off day Thursday then three games in Atlanta. The projected starters are Charlie Morton, Dean Kremer and then Trevor Rogers.
Around the horn
• Before Wednesday’s game, the team put pitcher Keegan Akin on the 15-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation. Righty reliever Yennier Cano was recalled in a corresponding move. The Orioles also designated Matt Bowman for assignment and selected the contract of Martin.
• While Ryan O’Hearn was named an All-Star starter at designated hitter, sophomore second baseman Jackson Holliday will have to wait until Saturday to find out if he’ll be at Atlanta’s Truist Park on July 15.
• The Orioles avoided sending a fourth catcher to the injured list when Gary Sánchez’s imaging came back negative. He took a ball off the finger Tuesday night but was back in the lineup a day later.
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