Orioles' bullpen collapses in 8-5 loss to Rangers

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on Mar 31, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — The biggest concern about the Baltimore Orioles entering the season was their unproven bullpen.

Tuesday’s loss proved why.

Baltimore’s bullpen collapsed in the middle innings, allowing six runs in three innings as the Orioles fell, 8-5, to the Texas Rangers. Big hits from Pete Alonso and Gunnar Henderson put the ballclub in position to win, but relievers Grant Wolfram, Yennier Cano and Yaramil Hiraldo all struggled to tame the Rangers’ bats.

The loss, Baltimore’s second straight, drops the Orioles to 2-3 on the season. The Orioles are at risk of being swept in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon.

Starting pitcher Zach Eflin exited the game in the fourth inning with a right elbow injury — a concerning development for a rotation that was the best that Mike Elias has built since taking over as Baltimore’s general manager before the 2019 season. Eflin is Baltimore’s No. 5 starter after recovering from back surgery over the offseason, but he could already be headed to the shelf before April begins. The elbow injury is the first of the 31-year-old right-hander’s 11-year career.

Before he left the game, Eflin looked like the pitcher he was in 2023 and 2024 when he was a front-of-the-rotation caliber starter. He matched his 2025 high with seven strikeouts in only 3 2/3 innings, surrendering four hits and one run on a solo home run from Ezequiel Duran in the third inning. On 34 swings, Eflin generated 12 whiffs — only one fewer than Rangers starter and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom forced.

The Orioles’ bats couldn’t get much going against deGrom the first time through the order, but Alonso got the best of his former New York Mets teammate with a solo homer in the fourth inning. Alonso tied the game with a 400-foot long ball to center field — the slugger’s first as an Oriole.

Wolfram replaced Eflin and stranded two runners in the fourth, but the left-hander struggled in the fifth, allowing the first three batters to reach base. After Brandon Nimmo’s leadoff single, Wyatt Langford lined an RBI triple to right field and then scored on a single by Corey Seager.

However, the Orioles’ offense quickly responded. Henderson continued heating up after his first homer of the season in Monday’s loss with a two-run double to tie the game, completing the two-out rally after Blaze Alexander and Taylor Ward both singled off deGrom. Henderson’s double was a scorching line drive, needing only 4.2 seconds to travel from his bat to smack off the left-center field wall.

Ward led the Orioles with a career-high four hits out of the leadoff spot for his best performance as an Oriole. Alonso was Baltimore’s big offseason acquisition at $155 million, but the club also acquired Ward, a patient and powerful hitter, this offseason in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels for Grayson Rodriguez.

Ward, Alonso and Henderson — the Orioles’ top three hitters in the lineup — combined for seven of the club’s nine hits. Colton Cowser and Blaze Alexander had the other two.

Orioles manager Craig Albernaz brought in Cano to keep the game tied in the sixth inning, but the sinkerballer gave up an RBI single to Nimmo with two outs. Albernaz turned to Hiraldo, perhaps the last man in the eight-pitcher bullpen, and watched as the Orioles’ deficit quadrupled after Danny Jansen’s two-out, three-run homer to put Texas (4-1) up 7-3.

The Rangers added an insurance run in the ninth on Seager’s solo homer off Anthony Nunez in the rookie reliever’s second frame. The Orioles’ bullpen combined to give up nine hits. Whether reinforcements will be on the way to Baltimore for Wednesday’s series finale remains to be seen.

The Orioles’ offense attempted a comeback in the ninth as Tyler O’Neill and Cowser led off the frame with a hit by pitch and a single, respectively. Ward capped off his superb 4 for 4 night with a two-out, two-run double to put the tying run on deck, but Henderson grounded out to end the contest.

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