The Orioles are back on the field today trying to stop a slide that has already turned ugly. After a 17-1 loss to the Red Sox on Saturday, Baltimore is scheduled to face rookie starter Connelly Early, and the club still has not won a game this season started by a left-handed pitcher.
Trevor Rogers took the loss Saturday and finished with a 4.75 ERA after making six starts this season. He had already posted multiple poor outings in a row early in the 2026 season, and his own postgame reaction said plenty. “Maybe it really was that stupid,” Rogers said.
The damage against Boston was not subtle. Garrett Crochet started for the Red Sox, and the Orioles offense had nothing going on against him. That kind of night has become part of the problem for Baltimore, which is 0-5 in games started by left-handed pitchers this season and had hoped Rogers would settle in as a low-mid-3s ERA arm.
Today brings a different left-hander in Early, whose 2.64 ERA over 44.1 innings across nine starts between last year and this year suggests real effectiveness. The catch is control: Early has been issuing too many walks to begin this season, which gives Baltimore a path back into the game if it can finally make a starter pay for missed locations.
There is also fresh noise around Boston after the Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and three coaches after yesterday's game, a reminder of how quickly one lopsided result can change the mood around a club. For the Orioles, though, the priority is simpler and more urgent: avoid another blank night against a left-handed starter and show the Saturday loss was a low point, not the start of something worse.
