Orioles surrender six unanswered runs in 6-5 loss (updated)

Trevor Rogers snapped out of his pitching funk tonight, which was sweet music to the Orioles’ collective ears.

What happened after the sixth inning was hard to watch.

Rogers shut out the Blue Jays heading into the seventh and held a 5-0 lead before allowing a pair of two-run homers. He didn’t retire a batter, and he squatted on the mound with his head bowed as Charles McAdoo circled the bases in his major league debut.

Yennier Cano was given the ball in the eighth, two nights after exiting with hamstring tightness, and the Blue Jays scored twice in a 6-5 victory before an announced crowd of 25,494 at Camden Yards.

The stunning reversal left the Orioles with a 26-32 record and three games behind Toronto for third place. The best they can do is split the series to conclude the homestand.

Tyler Wells retired his three batters after replacing Rogers. George Springer and Ernie Clement began the eighth with singles and they scored on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 110.1 mph line drive double to left field.

Keegan Akin stranded Guerrero at third base.

Clement’s two-out error in the ninth kept the Orioles alive, but Braylon Fisher recorded his first save.

Rogers lowered his ERA from 6.96 to 6.84, but the dent he made was much larger before the seventh.

Guerrero singled to lead off the inning and Kazuma Okamoto hit a two-run homer. Daulton Varsho doubled while Wells was warming, manager Craig Albernaz stuck with Rogers, an]d McAdoo barely cleared the right field fence and the leaping attempt of Colton Cowser. The ball landed in the first row.

Albernaz conceded later that he should have pulled Rogers sooner. Rogers hadn’t gone more than five innings since April 7.

“Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,” Albernaz said. “That’s a struggle. Leaving him in too late. He was efficient with his pitches and where the ‘pen was, but yeah, left him out there too long.

“He hasn’t gone the seventh up in a little bit, so I’m guessing he might have been, I wouldn’t say tired, but just not his best self out there.”
“I was getting tired towards the end,” Rogers said, “but until Alby takes the ball out of my hand, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got for the guys. I think it was a learning moment for both of us. I think I probably should have, sixth inning, put my ego aside and probably turn it to the bullpen. But this game’s about learning, and we’ll make adjustments.”

Albernaz didn’t consider letting Wells come back out for the eighth after he threw six pitches.

“Cano, that’s what we earmarked,” Albernaz said. “We know there was a string of righties. They weren’t going to pinch-hit for that spot in the order. We love the matchups with Cano and he’s been throwing the ball extremely well. We were more than comfortable bringing him in there.”

Former Oriole Austin Voth took a beating as the bulk reliever, surrendering all three homers and five runs total over 3 1/3 innings.

Lefty Rogers got it right

This is the Trevor Rogers who turned into the unexpected ace in 2025. He retired 12 in a row before Brandon Valenzuela doubled with one out in the sixth.

Springer walked and Clement grounded into a 4-3 double play.

Rogers came back out with his pitch count at 74, threw 10 more and headed for the dugout. The applause was polite. The home runs ruined his rousing ovation.

“He threw the ball extremely well tonight,” Albernaz said. “Getting out of some jams early, too. He was efficient with his pitches. I love, like we talked about before the game, the fastball locations were right where they needed to be, and it opened up the changeup. And the bigger breaking ball, the sweeper, was on full display, too. So he did a great job tonight.”

“That was awesome,” Holliday said. “It was awesome watching him do his thing, especially playing behind him. Just one inning that they kind of put some good swings on the ball. Probably yesterday or the day before, that’s not a homer. But, yeah, I thought he threw the ball great. It was fun to watch.”

Varsho tripled to center field with one out in the second, with Leody Taveras unable to make the catch at the fence, but McAdoo struck out and Myles Straw lined to Jackson Holliday at 103.2 mph.

Rogers threw 28 pitches, 22 for strikes, through the third inning. He threw 39, 30 for strikes, through the fourth.

Varsho saw 10 pitches before grounding to Rogers leading off the fifth.

“I was very encouraged,” Rogers said. “I was avoiding the middle of the plate, something I did really well last year, and I was really encouraged. I think there’s a lot of positives that we can take into the next one.”

Asked what changed in the seventh, Rogers said, “I think I just got too amped up and just went back to trying to blow fastballs by guys. The third time up, they’re ready for heaters. I’ll learn from it. That’s on me. We should have won the game and just got to be better.”

The defense made some impressive plays behind Rogers, including Taylor Ward’s diving catch near the line in the third.

Getting offensive

Tonight’s lineup was designed more for Voth, who entered the game with two outs in the second inning.

Samuel Basallo had a left-on-left single against Adam Macko in the second inning. Macko was making his first major league start after six relief appearances. Taveras also singled, but Coby Mayo lined out to center field against Voth at 109.1 mph.

Voth surrendered a leadoff single to Holliday in the third inning and walked three straight batters to force in the game’s first run. Voth, in his second appearance with the Jays, walked Adley Rutschman on four pitches to break the scoreless tie, and Basallo lifted a sacrifice fly to left field.

Holliday deposited a splitter onto the flag court with two outs in the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead. Halfway to the cycle. Pete Alonso homered to right-center with two outs in the fifth and Basallo cleared the fence in left, also putting him halfway to the cycle and giving the Orioles a 5-0 lead.

Alonso has 11 homers and Basallo got his ninth.

“I feel good,” Holliday said. “I feel like I’m seeing the ball good. I’ve enjoyed working with the hitting guys and trying to keep simple thoughts up there. I’m happy with where I’m at.”

The Orioles didn’t have a hit after the fifth inning.

“Maybe they just executed pitches better,” Holliday said. “Thought we swung the bat really well the first half of the game, and sometimes that happens. Sometimes they make good pitches and hitting is really hard.”

Ward had a leadoff single in the first inning for his fourth hit in the last three games. His numbers are down this month but he has a hit in 13 of his last 16 games.

Ward’s on-base percentage in May was .351 before tonight, when he also drew another walk. There have been worse slumps.

Down on the farm

The Orioles signed right-hander Chris Kachmar, 29, to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Norfolk, where he started tonight and tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit.

Kachmar hasn’t pitched in the majors. He made 24 combined appearances in 2025 with Double-A Knoxville and Triple-A Iowa in the Cubs organization and had a 5.22 ERA in 24 starts.

The Cubs drafted Kachmar in the 28^th round in 2019 out of Lipscomb University. He had a 4.46 ERA and 1.364 WHIP in 106 games before tonight.

Heston Kjerstad delivered an RBI double in the first inning.

Norfolk outfielder Jhonkensy Noel was transferred to the development list. Noel is batting .121/.217/.243 with four doubles and three home runs in 30 games.

Double-A Chesapeake’s Sabastian Gongora allowed two runs and two hits in 6 2/3 innings at Erie. Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall had four hits and four RBIs. Catcher Ethan Anderson, first baseman Adam Retzbach and center fielder Fernando Peguero had three hits, and Aron Estrada belted his seventh home run.

Single-A Delmarva’s Stephen Still allowed an unearned run and struck out five in four innings.