Baltimore Orioles’ Trevor Rogers Comments on Rough Outing Against Cardinals

The Baltimore Orioles dropped Thursday's series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals by a final score of 7-5. Unfortunately, this drops Baltimore to 65-69 on the year, and the path toward earning the final American League wild card spot is getting slimmer as September approaches. Every game at this point carries enormous weight, and Thursday was a missed opportunity against a team the Orioles should have beaten.

The Orioles offense was not the problem during Thursday's loss. The blame falls mostly on left-hander Trevor Rogers, who pitched five innings and allowed six earned runs on seven hits. Rogers did strike out seven hitters, but when they made contact it was loud. After the game he commented on his performance and was candid about where things have gone wrong.

"Honestly, it's kind of hard to say. I thought I pitched really well. I was attacking the zone the way I wanted to. Just lately, the homers have been killing me. I'm going to give up base-hits, that's baseball. The damage lately has just been the homers. Try to figure out how to get the ball on the ground more consistently. I wouldn't change a whole lot other than that," Rogers said, per Jacob Calvin Meyer of The Baltimore Sun.

For Rogers, the outing continued what has been a rough stretch recently. Over his last seven starts he has posted a 4.61 ERA. His strikeout rate remains high and his command has been solid, but he simply cannot limit hard contact, and that inability is coming at the worst possible time for the Orioles given the weight every game now carries in the standings.

Rogers knows he has to make an adjustment and will get his next chance likely next week in a start against the Colorado Rockies. The Orioles are set to face two of MLB's worst teams over the coming week in the Athletics and Rockies, giving Baltimore a genuine opportunity to stack wins and claw their way back into the wild card conversation before September slips away entirely. Rogers getting right during that stretch would go a long way toward the Orioles remaining relevant.

For Rogers, this could also represent his final month in a Baltimore uniform. While the two sides have discussed an extension, he remains unsigned and will be a free agent at the conclusion of this season.

Given that the Orioles dealt away multiple players including Kyle Stowers to the Miami Marlins to acquire him, there is real organizational incentive to keep him around long term. However, it is unclear how much financial flexibility president of baseball operations Mike Elias will have this offseason, which could ultimately be the deciding factor in whether Rogers continues pitching for Baltimore beyond 2026 or takes his services elsewhere.