Pete Alonso Addresses Baltimore Orioles' Mentality After Ugly Rays Sweep

Pete Alonso gave the Baltimore Orioles every reason to win on Wednesday afternoon.

He singled home the tying run in the third, then launched a solo home run in the sixth for the go-ahead run, his ninth of the year.

Samuel Basallo went deep right behind him, and just like that, Baltimore had a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth at Tropicana Field.

Tampa Bay scored four runs in the eighth, and the Orioles lost 5-3 to complete one of the more painful sweeps of the season.

The Rays outscored Baltimore 25-10 across the three games, and the Orioles dropped to 21-29, dead last in the AL East and 12 games behind the 33-15 Rays, who own the best record in the American League.

Afterward, Alonso was asked about the mental side of competing, and his answer was different than the usual postgame stuff.

"There's a difference between playing relaxed and being... overconfident," Alonso said. "It's like you're still aggressive, but you still have like the mental freedom to trust and execute... There's a perfect middle ground in that... if we can find that as a team... I think you're going to see a lot better baseball."

That is not something someone says when he thinks the team is in a good spot.

Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million deal this offseason to be the bat that changed things in Baltimore, and he has nine home runs through 50 games, so he is pulling his weight.

But the Orioles around him keep letting winnable games slip, and he clearly knows it.

Baltimore is 6-13 in May and has been outscored by 47 runs this month, the worst mark of any team in the majors.

Manager Craig Albernaz called Wednesday's collapse "a big-time gut punch," and that feels generous when the bullpen gives back a two-run lead with four outs left.

The Orioles entered 2026 with real playoff expectations after bringing in Alonso, Shane Baz, Chris Bassitt, Taylor Ward, and closer Ryan Helsley.

All of those additions were meant to push Baltimore back into contention after a 75-win 2025 that got Brandon Hyde fired.

Instead, the results have not matched the talent, and the room to recover gets smaller every day.

The history says it probably is.

Only 2 percent of teams that have lost 29 of their first 50 games have gone on to make the playoffs, and most of those came in the expanded playoff era.

Baltimore is not mathematically buried, but the margin for error is almost gone, and the schedule is not going to slow down for them.

Finding that middle ground Alonso talked about would be a good place to start, and the Orioles will get a chance to try when they open a home series against the Detroit Tigers on Friday.