BALTIMORE _ Unless the Orioles crash back down to earth and out of contention soon, manager Brandon Hyde will have daily occasion to discuss how challenging a playoff run for his roster of castoffs will be.
He described Sunday's challenge succinctly in his morning media briefing: "This is not easy. We're facing Max Scherzer."
Still, facing one of the best pitchers in the world, the Orioles erased a late four-run deficit Sunday against the Washington Nationals at Camden Yards and looked in line for another improbable win.
But once they tied the game, an uncharacteristic error from one of their breakout players _ third baseman Rio Ruiz _ allowed the go-ahead run to score in a 6-5 loss.
"That was an unfortunate play," manager Brandon Hyde said.
The Orioles (12-9) trailed 5-1 in the sixth inning and Scherzer had thrown just 73 pitches before the middle-inning rally that seems to be inevitable for these Orioles came. Ruiz walked, Chance Sisco singled and both scored on a towering home run by Pedro Severino.
Severino, a former National who the Orioles claimed off waivers at the end of spring training in 2019, had a team-high three hits against his old team.
An inning later, Anthony Santander hit his second solo home run of the game off Scherzer to tie it up.
But with a runner on second and two outs in the eighth, Kurt Suzuki hit a chopper to Ruiz. After he waited for the runner to pass him en route to third base, Ruiz rushed a throw that bounced past Renato Nunez at first base, allowing a run to score.
"Suzuki hit the ball, and he's not a good runner, wasn't running down there very hard and Rio just, I felt, kind of lost the intensity in his throw," Hyde said. "I'm sure he recognized that he had plenty of time, and instead of just doing his normal routine with catching the baseball, moving his feet and making a strong throw, I feel like he just let up a little bit and kind of goosed it. The throw became a little short because of that. I think he'll learn from that and be better off going forward."
The Orioles left a runner on third base in the eighth inning, but that was their last chance at a comeback. Daniel Hudson retired the side in the ninth for his fourth save.
