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BALTIMORE — Depleted by injuries and entrenched in a prolonged hitting slump, the Baltimore Orioles are desperate to regain their winning ways as they stumble to the finish of the regular season.
The Orioles owned a 57-33 record and led the AL East by three games on July 8. They were 70-48 and still in first place on Aug. 10, but since then Baltimore has gone 14-19 to fall four games behind the New York Yankees with 11 to go.
“The mojo that we’ve had has just drifted away from us the last few months,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said Tuesday. “There are reasons for it that are obvious, but a lot of it is we’ve got people here that are experiencing a downturn — whether it’s themselves or the team.”
Those obvious reasons Elias referred to are injuries. A whole lot of them. The Orioles have been trying most of the season to make up for the loss of three members of the starting rotation (John Means, Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells). Starter Grayson Rodriguez is also sidelined, although the team hopes to get him back before October.
Injuries also have impacted the offense. All-Star infielder Jordan Westburg (hand fracture) and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (wrist sprain) have been out for several weeks, and the infield was further depleted by the loss of Ramon Urias (ankle sprain) and Jorge Mateo (dislocated elbow).
The bullpen has been hurt by the ineffectiveness of Craig Kimbrel, who was signed for $13 million to be the closer but lost that job earlier this summer and gave up six runs in Tuesday night’s 10-0 loss to San Francisco.
Elias hopes to have Westburg, Mountcastle and Urias back before the playoffs. Mateo had season-ending surgery.
Playoffs? Well, yes. The Orioles still have a shot at overtaking the Yankees, especially because the teams meet in a three-game series in the Bronx next week. And even if Baltimore can’t successfully defend its division crown, a wild card is a virtual certainty.
But for the Orioles to avoid another early exit — they were swept by Texas last year following a first-round bye — things must turn around in a hurry.
“It’s been an unpleasant stretch here for the latter part of the summer. We’re going to figure this out and we’re going to get out of it,” Elias said. “I think we’re going to make the playoffs and do really well in the playoffs. I believe in these guys, I believe in this (coaching) staff.”
The Orioles were scoring runs in bunches before the All-Star break, and Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Santander are still hitting home runs. But the offense as a whole is sputtering, as evidenced by the team’s last three series. Baltimore scored three runs in three games against Tampa Bay, was outscored 20-11 while dropping two of three at Boston and last weekend managed to score only six runs in three games at Detroit. Not surprisingly, the Orioles went 3-6 over that stretch.
“A lot of people are pressing to make up for other people’s absences or their own slumps,” Elias said. “It’s been a difficult period. We’re all sick of it and ready to get it behind us. I really believe that we’re going to rally down the stretch, kind of get our identity back.”
The Orioles began a three-game series at home against the Giants with Tuesday night’s loss. They will conclude their home schedule with three games against Detroit. Then it’s three games at Yankee Stadium before a season-ending series at Minnesota.
“I want to believe we still have good baseball to play,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’ve shown signs of putting things together, but it hasn’t quite happened this second half. There’s still time to make it happen. It’s a real talented group. We’re pitching well. We get some guys going offensively, it could be a dangerous team down the stretch.”
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