[jksander]

May 30, 2025: The first game of the Baltimore series was rained out, so we will have a split doubleheader tomorrow afternoon instead. This is going to mean a stretch of 10 games in nine days, and though for now it does not appear we’ll have to throw our starting rotation too far out of whack, Cannon and Perez will be available to spot start during that stretch if needed -- though neither will be rested enough to start a game tomorrow.

May 31, 2025: Trevor Bauer (0-4, 5.44 ERA, 41.1 IP, 44 K’s, 1.40 WHIP) started game one for us with a 1:35 p.m. first pitch, facing Baltimore’s Tomoyuki Sugano (3-5, 3.45 ERA, 60.0 IP, 44 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). Bauer quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the first and let Adley Rutschman walk in the Orioles’ first run with just one out. Another scored when he was slow with the throw to first on two outs, allowing Jorge Mateo to reach safely for an RBI single. But with the unplanned doubleheader, he’d get more rope than usual in this one. Austin Slater hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth to get us on the board and back within a run, but they got it back in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Heston Kjerstad hitting a solo bomb to make it 3-1. Bauer got through the inning, but on 94 pitches ... so his afternoon was over. Michael A. Taylor hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth to get us back within a run, and Penn Murfee took over on the mound for the bottom half. He struck out the side and got us through the seventh as well, and Shane Smith got the ball in the bottom of the eighth with us still trailing by a run. But the game was blown in the bottom of that inning, when Jorge Mateo hit a two-run homer to expand their lead to three runs. We had no answer, and the Orioles got through the first with a 5-2 win. Bauer took the loss and fell to 0-5, his ERA at 5.44 thanks to six hits, five walks, four strikeouts and three earned runs in five innings’ work. They only outhit us 7-5, and Slater had two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI thanks to his sixth homer of the season.

They took enough time to clear out the fans, do a quick cleanup and let last night’s ticketholders in for game two, which featured Yu Darvish (6-2, 3.37 ERA, 66.2 IP, 58 K’s, 1.11 WHIP) dueling against Dean Kremer (4-4, 4.85 ERA, 52.0 IP, 53 K’s, 1.48 WHIP). In the bottom of the second they took the lead when a wild pitch advanced baserunners into scoring position, with Gary Sanchez reaching first on an E5 error that drove home Cedric Mullins. But we didn’t let them add on, and in the top of the third Miguel Vargas hit a single that drove in Otto Lopez for the tying run, with Chase Meidroth coming in to score the go-ahead from second ... nice play! Darvish got us through the sixth and reached 10 K’s for the second game in a row, and we added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Michael A. Taylor scored while Tauchman reached first on a dropped throw E1 error to make it 3-1 White Sox. Shane Smith came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning, and he got through the seventh and two outs in the eighth, before Heston Kjerstad hit a solo homer out of left to get Baltimore back within a run. Mike Clevinger took the ball from him and got the final out of that inning, and with the score unchanged he powered through the ninth as well, pitching around runners on first and second to strike out Gary Sanchez and Colton Cowser as we won 3-2. Darvish got the win, lasting six innings with three hits, three walks and 10 strikeouts to go with a single unearned run. We outhit them 9-6 as well, led by Otto Lopez, who hit three times with a run scored. Clevinger improved his ERA to 1.34 through 40.1 innings, and earned his first save of the year in the process.

Chase Meidroth was named AL Rookie of the Month, and so far this season the 23-year-old third baseman has hit .254 with six doubles, a triple, three homers and 18 runs batted in. We finished the month of May with a 22-36 record overall, and after one last game in Baltimore tomorrow we’ll have a week of games against Detroit and Kansas City at home to hopefully improve our standings in the division. This should actually be a good month for us to try and make real headway, since we’ll play 16 of our 26 games this month on our home field.

June 1, 2025: Noah Syndegaard (3-3, 3.32 ERA, 62.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) started our final game against Baltimore, facing Charlie Morton (1-4, 3.99 ERA, 47.1 IP, 41 K’s, 1.29 WHIP). Baltimore took the lead in the bottom of the third with an RBI single by Jordan Westberg, and a two-run double on two outs by Kjerstad added to our misery. But in the top of the fifth our bats woke up quickly ... Cadyn Grenier hit an RBI single, Otto Lopez added an RBI double, and Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single to tie the score at three each! Penn Murfee took over in the bottom of the sixth, still tied up, and Kimbrel got the ball in the seventh to keep it that way. But he stayed out in the eighth and shouldn’t have ... Cowser walked, as did Jordan Westburg, and Gunnar Henderson hit an RBI single to take the lead, no outs. So Clevinger had to come out and take the ball with two in scoring position. One of them scored off a sac-fly by Kjerstad, and the other scored off a sac-fly by Adley Rutschman, Kimbrel singlehandedly digging us a three-run hole. Our bats were silent in the ninth and we lost this one 6-3. Kimbrel fell to 1-2 with a 7.11 ERA, allowing two hits, two walks and three earned runs while only getting three outs. They outhit us 7-6, Teel getting a hit and a walk with a run scored, while Joey Gallo walked twice and got nowhere.

Next up is a four-game set at home against Detroit, a 30-30 team sitting in fourth place but 7.5 games up on us. We’ll then host three against division-leaders Kansas City, who hold a 36-24 record.