The Baltimore Orioles were swept by the Boston Red Sox, extending their losing streak to six games.
The Baltimore Orioles have had a nightmare stretch over the past six games. It started at Coors Field when they dropped the final two games of their road trip against the Colorado Rockies.
Then, they headed home and were embarrassingly swept by the Boston Red Sox, extending their losing streak to six games and taking them almost entirely out of the American League wild card race.
They enter Monday sitting four games back of the Cleveland Guardians with both the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers also ahead of them in the standings.
Sunday's series finale was one of the uglier performances of the season. The offense struck out 17 times, marking a season high, and the three runs allowed in a 3-1 loss were all unearned.
In the top of the second inning with two outs, shortstop Gunnar Henderson booted a routine play. Instead of escaping the frame, right-hander Kyle Bradish gave up a three-run home run to Eli White, which turned out to be all the run support Boston 's pitching needed.
The blame does not fall solely on Henderson, but it was a huge letdown at a critical moment. After the game, Henderson chose to look forward rather than dwell on the loss.
"The past couple of games haven't been very characteristic of us, and I feel like we just need to take a breath right now," Henderson said, per Jake Rill of MLB.com.
"We can still make up some ground. Can't try to force it all at once. So, it's pretty much now or never. We've got to get it going," he continued.
Even in a down year Henderson is showing growing maturity as a leader for this young team that desperately needs it. Across 143 games, the 25-year-old former Rookie of the Year and All-Star has posted just a .220 batting average, .304 on-base percentage and .703 OPS, which would all be career lows if the season ended today.
He has still provided some pop with 22 home runs and 57 RBIs, but he has been a liability at the top of the order and moments like Sunday's error only compound the damage.
Still, as Henderson says it is not over yet for the Orioles. A long winning streak would insert them right back into the mix as quickly as they fell out.
The path is undoubtedly much harder now after this disastrous stretch. Henderson and the Orioles will look to end the six-game skid Monday in a series opener against the Guardians, the very team they are chasing in the standings. A sweep would certainly increase Baltimore's odds of playing October baseball.
