Offense, offense, wherefore art thou, offense? Baltimore’s bats once again faltered in Detroit, this time in a 5-1 loss to the Tigers. The Orioles scored just three runs in this three-game sweep, striking out 16 times today alone. 

On Friday, the O’s couldn’t cash in on offensive opportunities, stranding 14 runners on base. Yesterday, Baltimore hit the ball hard, but just right at defenders. Eight balls were hit over 100 mph, with four of them having an expected batting average over .500, but no runs came of it. 

Today? The Orioles didn’t fail to cash in, nor did they simply get unlucky. The lineup just didn’t hit. 

Tarik Skubal was dominant, striking out five O’s hitters the first time through the lineup. It was the third-career double-digit strikeout game for Skubal, who struck out 11 Orioles in the game, matching a career high. The lefty was able to go deep into this one, allowing just three hits and not surrendering a run over six innings of work. 

“I thought Skubal was really good,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We had a tough time making contact against him, and give him credit, he threw a really good game.”

DETROIT — Like hitting and offense? Boy, do I not have a game for you.

The Orioles, without the prominent bats of Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle, fell to the Tigers 3-0 this afternoon. The two teams combined to ground into six double plays. 

"Obviously they're two huge losses, incredible hitters and guys that you want in your lineup, but at the same time, guys go down on every team," said Trey Mancini. "You have to fill the void and try to keep the line moving."

Baltimore hit the ball hard, but right at defenders. Baseball, am I right? 

According to Statcast, eight balls off the bat of Orioles had an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. Despite gathering just four hits in the ballgame, the O’s had four outs on balls in play that had an expected batting average over .500. That includes two Trey Mancini flyouts to right field, which had an xBA of .840 and .770 respectively. Don’t let Trey buy your lottery ticket this year. 

After a bullpen game on Thursday, pitching was not the issue in Friday night's 4-2 loss to the Tigers. 

Brandon Hyde needed starting pitcher Jordan Lyles to eat some innings tonight against the Tigers. In Thursday’s series-deciding victory over the Cardinals, Hyde turned to six relievers to get the job done; Bryan Baker, Keegan Akin, Dillon Tate, Cionel Pérez, Joey Krehbiel and Félix Bautista. 

A long outing from Lyles would give those bullpen arms a much needed rest. The stars were all aligning for that scenario to play out, and for the most part, it did. None of those names appeared in tonight's game. 

"It was great to be able to rest some guys in the back of the 'pen today, coming off a day where we threw a lot of guys for multiple innings," said manager Brandon Hyde. 

In the first, Javier Báez grounded into a double play, approximately the 1,000th double play that the Orioles have turned this year. OK, fine, it was the 41st. That’s still a lot of double plays. Most in the American League, in fact. 

When word got out that Kevin Long would be leaving D.C. to take the hitting coach job in Philadelphia, Darnell Coles must have had a keen eye on the opening with the Nationals. Not only for the opportunity to rejoin the organization with which he started his coaching career and to be alongside longtime friend Davey Martinez in the dugout, but also for the chance to work with one of baseball's best hitters in Juan Soto. (Not to mention a power switch-hitter in Josh Bell and a core of young...

The Nationals' Max Scherzer became history's fifth pitcher to have 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game when Washington beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 Wednesday night. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has been involved three of the 20-strikeout games. He was the Houston catcher when the Chicago Cubs' Kerry Wood struck out 20 Astros on May 6, 1998 at Wrigley Field in a 2-0 Cubs win. And Ausmus was the Detroit catcher the night Boston's Roger Clemens struck out 20 Tigers on Sept. 18, 1996 in Tiger...