There was some really weird umpiring, some really bad luck, and some really poor situational hitting along the way.

Some time in the 2025 Orioles season, the team will manage to win consecutive games. Or at least we can only assume that this will happen at some point.

It is not guaranteed, just as tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. What is certain is that it did not happen on Tuesday night as they played the Diamondbacks.

Once again this year, the day after scoring a bunch of runs, the Orioles couldn’t manage to do much of anything the next day. The O’s had their share of chances in the game, but it all ultimately amounted to a waste of a game as the O’s fell to Arizona, 4-3.

It could have all gone differently. That’s true of every baseball game, of course.

The Orioles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as they loaded the bases against Arizona’s starter, Merrill Kelly, who has had his share of struggles to begin the 2025 season.

Batting with the bases loaded, Cedric Mullins delivered a two-run single to put the Orioles on the board.

There were still men on first and third with only one out. Unfortunately, Tyler O’Neill grounded into a double play and snuffed out the rally before it could go any farther.

This was one of two double play ground balls hit by the Orioles in the game; Heston Kjerstad hit into a game-ending double play with the tying run on first in the ninth. For those scoring at home, that’s 14 double plays grounded into in 12 games played. It’s well past ridiculous.

Orioles starting pitcher Charlie Morton has also had his share of struggles to begin the 2025 season. Like Kelly, he showed them off to begin this game.

Staked to that 2-0 lead, Morton hit the first batter he faced, walked the second, and then walked the third.

Yeah, he loaded the bases with no one out. Morton got a double play ball of his own, picking up two outs as one run scored, and he escaped the inning with no further damage and the O’s still held a 2-1 advantage.

Kelly settled down after that rocky first inning and cruised through the next five innings. The only Orioles baserunner in this time reached on a fielding error.

These stretches from the offense are disheartening. They should be better than this! Yet so far in 2025, they have not been better than this, or at least not for two games in a row.

Morton did not cruise.

He allowed a game-tying home run to Corbin Carroll to lead off the third inning, then ran into more trouble that he could not escape in the fifth. Morton walked his first batter, Garrett Hampson. Take note: This is one of those guys who you should not walk because he’s bad. His career OPS is .663.

That’s Morton in 2025 for you. He got people’s hopes up of escaping the inning by retiring the next two batters, got some good luck as Pavin Smith doubled into the corner and had it bounce over the fence so Hampson had to stop at third.

Then, after getting people’s hopes up further by getting two strikes on Josh Naylor, Morton couldn’t seal the deal. Naylor hit his own double and the two ultimately decisive runs of the game scored.

The final line for Morton: Five-plus innings, four hits, five walks, four runs all earned. The $15 million 41-year-old has an 8.78 ERA through three starts. He will have at most 29 more regular season chances to show that Mike Elias was not one of the world’s biggest idiots in opting to sign this guy.

It was Mullins who finally broke the streak of futility by doubling to lead off the seventh inning. Two of the next three O’s batters reached base, setting up the bases loaded with just one out for Jackson Holliday. Tying run in scoring position, go-ahead run also on base.

Not bad. The young O’s second baseman sliced a fly ball that headed for left field.

Arizona’s left fielder, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., sprinted in to attempt to make the catch. The ball was sinking hard for the grass and as Gurriel reached for it, there was no clarity on whether or not he caught the ball. It might have been a catch or it might have been “Carl Crawford tries to catch Robert Andino.”

No umpire on the field made any signal as to whether the ball was caught. Mullins, at third base, went back to think about tagging. Gurriel uncorked one of the most wild outfield throws towards home ever seen and Mullins scored easily.

However, that was not the close of the play. The runner who started at second base, Tyler O’Neill, did not go back to tag and was around third base, thinking about trying to follow Mullins home. As Arizona collected the wild throw, the catcher threw down to second base.

At this point, O’Neill was ruled out, with the umpires collectively deciding after the fact that the ball had been caught on the fly after all.

“What happens if no umpire actually calls out on an ambiguous possibly trapped ball?” is not something that one expects to encounter in an MLB game, because umpires generally are competent at this aspect of their jobs. This is the Laz Diaz crew, though, so things are always prone to get weird. (Diaz, it should be noted, was the first base umpire in this game and thus the farthest away from any of the direct action.)

The Orioles challenged the outcome of this play. It’s not clear to me what they hoped to change, since I’m assuming that “it’s not fair that no umpire made a signal” is able to be reviewed in New York.

The outcome after a lengthy replay determined that Mullins’s run would count but so would the double play.

Manager Brandon Hyde didn’t seem to be all that upset with the umpires about the final resolution. Apportion the blame as you see fit amongst the umpires, the third base coach, and O’Neill. So, after all that excitement, the Orioles trailed, 4-3.

They gave themselves another chance in the top of the eighth inning. Adley Rutschman singled with just one out. He was subbed out in favor of pinch runner Jorge Mateo.

With speed now on the bases, Mateo stole second base, then, in the same plate appearance, stole third. Still just one out with Ryan Mountcastle at the plate.

Mountcastle found a way to put the ball in play… except it was just a little dribbler right back to the pitcher’s mound. Mateo was going on contact and he was hung out to dry.

I would have liked to see Mateo really try to score instead of stopping. He’s fast enough he might have made it interesting.

That’s not how it went. Mateo got a little rundown going and this let Mountcastle get to second base. The tying run remained in scoring position with two outs. Jordan Westburg struck out. Another opportunity wasted.

In the ninth inning, the Orioles got the tying run on base after O’Neill was hit in the elbow guard by a pitch from Arizona’s closer, Justin Martinez. He is one of these modern MLB relievers who throws 102 even though you’ve never heard of him. Martinez struck out Mullins to begin his inning and closed out the game with Kjerstad hitting into a double play.

Back at it tomorrow as another pair of starting pitchers who’ve stunk so far in 2025 will take the mound for each team.

It’s a 3:40 scheduled start time, with Dean Kremer set to pitch for the Orioles and Brandon Pfaadt for the Diamondbacks. Look for some offense, but do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands.