After taking two of three from the Giants the prior weekend, the O’s came into this week hoping to build. Instead, they dropped two of three to Arizona at home and then went 1-3 at Cleveland, stumbling to 10-12 and falling to third in the division, three games behind the Yankees pace.
With an additional week of data, it now looks like the breakout last week was the outlier, largely the result of feasting on some weak opposition. Aside from two late-inning rallies, the bats went cold again and with a down week from Trevor Rogers, the pitching was exceedingly mediocre.
Injuries have taken their toll, forcing journeymen like Johnathan Rodriguez, Sam Huff, and Weston Wilson into 25 plate appearances. However, the bigger concern is the lack of development from the wave of highly regarded prospects that were supposed to supplement the star power of Gunnar, Adley and Alonso.
Monday’s opener was an instant classic. Dean Kremer, freshly recalled from Norfolk, got shelled early as Ketel Marte homered on the first pitch of the game and went deep again in the third, while Nolan Arenado added a two-run shot in the fourth and a three-run blast in the sixth to build a 7-1 lead. Then Jeremiah Jackson crushed a grand slam off Taylor Rashi on a hanging slider in the sixth to bring the O’s within two.
Pete Alonso launched a go-ahead two-run homer to left-center in the seventh and Jackson led off the eighth with a solo shot to cap his first career multi-homer game. Ryan Helsley locked down a clean ninth for his fifth save. Kremer’s line was ugly on the surface but nine strikeouts and zero walks across five innings were encouraging peripherals.
Tuesday brought the rare Trevor Rogers loss. Rogers had a 2-0 cushion through four innings courtesy of a Samuel Basallo solo homer and a Leody Taveras bases-loaded walk, but Ildemaro Vargas flipped the game with a three-run shot in the fifth. Jose Fernandez doubled home another run to chase Rogers and make it 4-2. Taveras singled home a run in the eighth to pull within one, but Ryan Thompson got Jackson to ground out with the bases loaded to kill the rally as the O’s fell 4-3.
Wednesday was the gut punch. Kyle Bradish looked more like his pre-injury self, pumping 97-98 and striking out two of his first three batters, then gutting out a season-high six innings despite shaky outfield defense from Johnathan Rodríguez and Weston Wilson. Jackson’s two-run homer into the Bird Bath in the fifth put the O’s ahead, but the lead didn’t hold. With the game tied 4-4 in the seventh, Grant Wolfram surrendered a bunt single and a double, and Adrian Del Castillo hit a chopper off Wolfram’s glove that let Marte score for a 5-4 Arizona lead. Taveras tied it with a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom half. The game stayed knotted through the ninth before Tyler Wells imploded in the tenth, with Del Castillo lashing a two-run homer and Arenado adding an RBI single. No Oriole reached base in the bottom of the frame for an 8-5 final.
Thursday’s series opener was a nightmare at the plate. Cleveland’s Parker Messick carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning, facing just one over the minimum through eight. José Ramírez launched a first-inning two-run homer off Shane Baz, who settled in after that but still took the loss across six innings. The Guardians added two more in the seventh to make it 4-0. The O’s finally broke through in the ninth when Taveras singled past a diving Juan Brito for the first hit, Blaze Alexander singled to center, and closer Cade Smith entered. Gunnar Henderson drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Alonso ripped an RBI double, but Smith retired Colton Cowser and Basallo to finish off a 4-2 win.
Friday was Jackson magic again. Chris Bassitt and Tanner Bibee traded zeros for five innings in an encouraging sign for Bassit. Then a fielding error from Jackson opened the floodgates, and Daniel Schneemann blasted a grand slam off Anthony Nunez to put Cleveland up 4-0. It looked over. Then the O’s loaded the bases in the eighth, chasing Shawn Armstrong without recording an out. A Johnathan Rodriguez sacrifice fly made it 4-1, then Weston Wilson roped a two-run double off the wall to pull within one, and Jackson delivered in the clutch once again, pulling a fastball over the left field wall for a three-run go-ahead homer. Helsley worked the ninth for his sixth save.
Saturday was a clinic by Gavin Williams, who struck out eleven O’s across seven dominant innings. The O’s managed just three hits against him, with Taveras providing the only damage on a solo homer in the fourth. Rocchio crushed a three-run shot off Dean Kremer in the fifth to blow the game open. A solo homer from Gunnar in the eighth cut it to 4-2, but Cade Smith struck out the side in the ninth.
Sunday’s finale was more of the same. Ramírez torched Rogers for two solo homers, one in the third and another in the fourth, as Cleveland built a 6-0 lead through five. Rogers lasted five innings, surrendering six runs on six hits with two homers, pushing his ERA up to 4.08. The O’s rallied for four in the fifth, highlighted by Taylor Ward’s three-run homer, but Cameron Foster gave back two in the eighth and the O’s went quietly in the final four innings for an 8-4 final. The O’s head to Kansas City on Monday having dropped four of their last five, sitting at 10-12 and looking up at the Yankees and Rays.
In a rough week for the O’s there was an obvious choice for Player of the Week. Jeremiah Jackson was nearly the only reason the Birds got anything from this week. Helping to spark both of the comeback wins this week and carrying the offense. Jackson’s bat was a surprise silver lining down the stretch in 2025 and he is proving that was no fluke. His emergence will make for some interesting decisions when Jackson Holliday is ready to return from injury.
Aside from Jackson there weren’t many bright spots. Leody Taveras had a solid week at the plate, displacing Cowser from the lineup while hitting .353. In the bullpen, Rico Garcia, Ryan Helsley and Yennier Cano all had strong outings this week, combining for 8.1 shutout innings with eleven strikeouts.
Down on the Farm
Norfolk’s offense was carried this week by non-prospect José Barrero, who slashed .400/.511/.500 with two doubles, a homer, and eight RBI across the week. Enrique Bradfield Jr. continued to show improvement at the plate, hitting .294 with a double, a homer, two steals, and an .897 OPS. Jhonkensy Noel added two homers and nine RBI despite a meager .190 average.
On the mound, Brandon Young was the standout, going 5.2 innings of one-run ball on zero hits and fanning ten. Nestor German also punched out ten in just 4.1 innings. Cade Povich was solid as well, delivering a clean five-inning start with ten strikeouts and just one earned run. Both Young and Povich are making a case for a more extended major league role.
Creed Willems had a quiet week at the plate with no extra-base hits after a hot start to the season. The biggest storyline remains Jackson Holliday, who is hitting just .167 with a .453 OPS through 11 rehab games. His 20-day rehab window is nearly up, and after a setback with a sore wrist, he has shifted to a minor league assignment at High-A Frederick this weekend.
At AA Chesapeake, Brandon Butterworth was the offensive standout, slashing .438/.476/.688 with a homer and two steals. Frederick Bencosme drove in eight runs on the week. Luis De León had another rough outing, allowing four runs on seven hits in four innings, and Tyson Neighbors was hit hard as well, surrendering six earned runs in three innings.
Question of the Week
How long do Mayo, Cowser, Beavers, Basallo get to work things out?
The Orioles’ franchise-building thesis under Mike Elias has always rested on one core bet: stockpile premium hitting prospects, develop them into productive big leaguers, and fill the pitching needs through trades and free agency. Through 22 games of the 2026 season, the returns on that bet are looking rough.
Coby Mayo, Colton Cowser, Dylan Beavers, and Samuel Basallo, the cadre of homegrown position players who are supposed to form the foundation around Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso, are all hitting below .225, with just three home runs between them, two of which belong to Basallo. Cowser’s numbers are particularly grim: .174 with a .460 OPS and zero homers through his first 45 at-bats. He’s been hitless in his last 13 at-bats. Mayo’s Statcast profile isn’t offering much hope either, with a .224 wOBA and zero barrels on the season. These were the prospects so coveted that the front office wouldn’t flip them for starting pitching at the deadline last year or in the offseason, for that matter. The same prospects whose presence on the roster was supposed to justify passing on more proven commodities. At some point, potential has to convert into production.
The irony is that the two guys making the most noise offensively this week, Jeremiah Jackson and Leody Taveras, weren’t part of the grand plan at all. Jackson is hitting .317 with five homers and 17 RBI, and Taveras has delivered clutch hits all over this homestand. Both have forced their way into more regular playing time through sheer performance. And with Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman expected back relatively soon, the lineup is only going to get more crowded. Someone is going to lose at-bats, and right now the struggling prospects are the ones with the weakest case to keep them.
Basallo deserves his own paragraph here because his situation is genuinely different. He’s 21 years old, playing the most demanding position on the field, and already signed through 2033. If he can hold up defensively any offensive production is gravy at this stage of his career. He also has two homers and some loud contact mixed into the struggles. The leash for Basallo should be, and will be, significantly longer than for the others. He’s the one player in this group where patience is clearly the right play.
The outfield situation, however, demands urgency. The O’s need Cowser or Beavers to turn it around because the alternatives are ugly. An outfield alignment featuring Taylor Ward, Tyler O’Neill (when healthy), Johnathan Rodríguez, or Weston Wilson on a regular basis is a defensive liability that will cost this pitching staff runs it can’t afford to give up. Cowser, for his part, has the track record and the underlying tools to suggest the bat may come around. But at what point does “he’ll figure it out” stop being a valid organizational strategy and start becoming wishful thinking?
Then there’s the Mayo question. He looks lost at the plate, incapable of making solid contact. While his defense has been better than expected, he just cannot continue to linger in the lineup with this type of production. The problem is, with Jordan Westburg likely out for the season, there is no clear replacement at third base. When Jackson Holliday returns, it may be back to Norfolk for Mayo. The O’s may need to shift the infield around to find a spot for Gunnar, Holliday and Jackson as the starters. Maybe Gunnar to third, Holliday to short and Jackson at second, unless they feel Jackson can handle third base and allow Gunnar to stay at his preferred shortstop position.
The bigger picture here is what all of this says about the Elias philosophy. The front office has consistently prioritized hitting prospects in the early rounds of the draft, banking on the idea that you can always find pitching through trades and free agency. But when your homegrown hitters aren’t hitting, and the pitching staff isn’t in a position to carry the team, the whole theory starts to wobble. This offense was supposed to do the heavy lifting in 2026. It’s hard to imagine it doing that without several of these guys turning things around in a significant way. The talent is there on paper. But paper doesn’t win ballgames, and patience doesn’t score runs. The clock is ticking.