Orioles Go Dahn In Pittsburgh
This weekend’s series at PNC Park certainly lived up to the bank’s tagline of “Brilliantly Boring”, at least as far as the Baltimore Orioles were concerned. The Pittsburgh Pirates (6-3) completed a three-game sweep of the Orioles by winning 8-2 on Easter Sunday.
Sadly enough, former Oriole Ryan O’Hearn for all intents and purposes singlehandedly beat the Birds. O’Hearn went 2 for 5 with a double, a homerun, 1 run scored and 4 driven in.
The Pirates raised the Jolly Roger on Orioles’ starter Chris Bassitt (0-2). Bassitt was touched for 6 runs on 6 hits, including the O’Hearn homerun and 2 walks. He was gone after 2.0 innings, having thrown 62 pitches (32 K’s) and hitting 2 batters. Bassitt was tagged with the loss because the Baltimore offense could not get it done, not even enough to get him a no-decision. Making matters worse was the fact that he was hit on the left leg by a 111.8 MPH liner off the bat of Oneil Cruz in the second inning.
In what seems to be a reprise of 2025, the Birds went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position on Sunday and 5 for 24 combined in the series. Not to mention the fact that the injury bug seems to be biting the team.
The Orioles scored a run in the fourth inning when Pete Alonso‘s (1 for 4, RBI) RBI double allowed Taylor Ward (3 for 4, 2B, R) to score and another in the seventh on Jeremiah Jackson‘s (1 for 3) RBI single. Additionally, Jackson was the only Oriole not to strike out in the game.
Manager Craig Albernaz was ejected in the third inning for arguing on behalf of Blaze Alexander concerning possible quick pitches and a denied time out request.
The bullpen was spared a long day after Bassitt’s exit by the 5.2 inning performance provided by Cade Povich. Added to the roster today, Povich gave the team 5.2 innings of work in which he allowed 2 runs on 4 hits (HR), walked 3 and struck out 2.
The time is now for the Birds to flush this series and focus on righting what is wrong.
2026 Record: 3-6
Next Game: Mon. 4/6 @ 7:40 pm @ Chicago White Sox