11 October 2023
A defining feature of the 2023 Orioles was their American League-record streak without being swept. When they pick it up in 2024, it will have an asterisk next to it.
The Orioles on Tuesday night were swept out of the postseason, falling 7-1 to the Texas Rangers in Game 3 of the AL Division Series.
Baltimore entered Globe Life Field with the daunting task of needing to win three straight games to advance. But the Rangers barely let that possibility linger.
Texas’ powerful and patient offense did to Dean Kremer what it did to Grayson Rodriguez in Game 2, scoring five runs in the second inning to end his first postseason start early. Unlike Sunday, though, Baltimore’s bats couldn’t muster a comeback, plating just one run off Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi and his bullpen.
Game 1 at Camden Yards was a one-run loss the Orioles easily could’ve won, but the Rangers proved they were the better team in Games 2 and 3 — both feeling like blowouts throughout. Baltimore led for less than 10 minutes across the 27 innings.
Texas will advance to the AL Championship Series against either the Minnesota Twins or Houston Astros, while the Orioles will begin their offseason and look ahead to 2024.
The sweep ends Baltimore’s unprecedented 2023 season. It claimed the AL East title for just the third time in the past 40 years and recorded a 100-win season for the first time since 1980. The Orioles won 49 more games this year than in 2021 for the greatest two-year improvement in MLB history. And series after series they extended their sweepless stretch that began in May 2022, shortly before catcher Adley Rutschman made his big league debut, winning at least one game in 91 straight regular-season series, including all 52 in 2023 — the longest streak in the majors since World War II.
Tuesday’s loss is the franchise’s eighth straight in the postseason, including the 2016 wild-card game against the Toronto Blue Jays and the sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 ALCS. No team in the major leagues has a longer active playoff losing streak than Baltimore. Only nine teams in MLB history have lost more consecutive postseason games than the Orioles have over the past 10 seasons.
Baltimore’s task in Game 3 was more challenging with whom the Rangers had on the mound. Nathan Eovaldi, who has pitched seven of his 12 seasons in the AL East, is one of the best and most experienced postseason pitchers in the majors. He entered Tuesday’s tilt with a 2.90 ERA in 49 2/3 playoff innings. In 18 starts against the Orioles, many of which came against undermanned Orioles teams amid a grueling rebuild, he owned a 3.23 ERA.
The Orioles’ offense was no match for him, as the 33-year-old right-hander masterfully twirled seven innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts and no walks. The only run they managed off him was a single from Gunnar Henderson in the fifth to score Jordan Westburg. Baltimore’s best opportunity at a comeback came in the eighth inning when seven-time All-Star reliever Aroldis Chapman loaded the bases. But Aaron Hicks grounded out against José Leclerc to end the threat, as the Rangers’ shaky bullpen bent but didn’t break in the ALDS.
Kremer did the same in the first before Texas burst open the floodgates in the second. The 27-year-old was chosen to start Game 3 over 35-year-old veteran Kyle Gibson, who later came in relief and pitched three innings and allowed a solo homer to Nathaniel Lowe in the sixth, after posting a 4.12 ERA in the regular season.
The Orioles went 24-8 in games that Kremer started in the regular season, including wins in both of their clinch victories in September. A third celebration — at least for a night — wasn’t in the cards.
Corey Seager made sure Kremer’s postseason debut wouldn’t be scoreless in the Rangers’ second at-bat of the evening, as the AL Most Valuable Player candidate clobbered a low-and-in changeup 110.1 mph and 445 feet to right field for a solo homer. The long ball was the 14th of Seager’s postseason career. The shortstop also walked nine times in the series, the most by any player in a three-game span in postseason history.
Kremer surrendered two more hits in the first but escaped with just the one run. The same couldn’t be said for his second inning. With two outs, the top of the Rangers’ order faced Kremer a second time and bounced him from the game. Marcus Semien doubled to put runners on second and third for Seager, who manager Brandon Hyde intentionally walked. Mitch Garver, who hit a grand slam in Game 2, then roped a two-run double down the left field line, and cleanup hitter Adolis García crushed a three-run home run to left field to give Texas a 6-0 lead.
This story will be updated.
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