Orioles start slow, unravel late in 13-3 loss to Nationals

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on May 16, 2026

Published in Baseball

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WASHINGTON — When these Orioles fall apart, things get ugly in a hurry.

After falling into an early deficit, the Orioles rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to pull within one against the Washington Nationals. They chased starter Cade Cavalli and gave themselves a chance to complete the comeback against a bullpen with the highest ERA in the National League.

But Washington answered their three-run frame with a seven-run rally of its own to pull away for the 13-3 victory that clinched the weekend series for the Nationals.

Baltimore (20-26) matched its season low of six games under .500 with the loss. The club has scored three runs or fewer in eight of its past nine games.

Chris Bassitt surrendered four runs over five innings before Keegan Akin and Andrew Kittredge unraveled in the seventh. The Nationals sent 10 men to the plate with a two-run single by catcher Keibert Ruiz and a three-run home run by center fielder Jacob Young serving as the decisive blows. Ruiz also hit a three-run shot off Bassitt to finish with five RBIs.

Samuel Basallo and Tyler O’Neill opened that seventh with back-to-back home runs off Cavalli, and Taylor Ward’s RBI single later in the frame pulled the Orioles to within one. They nearly tied the game on a deep fly ball to left by Coby Mayo that just hooked foul, but they settled for a three-run frame, and the Nationals’ surge eliminated any hope of late heroics.

Cavalli, a 2020 first-round draft pick and former top prospect, earned the win with three runs allowed on eight hits, zero walks and eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Bassitt was on the hook for the loss, having given up four runs on six hits, a walk and four strikeouts. His pitch to Ruiz in the second was a cutter at the top of the zone that the catcher didn’t miss.

The Nationals tacked on two more in the eighth on a two-run homer by Brady House off Josh Walker. Baltimore’s 13 runs allowed were its second most in a game this season, behind only its lopsided 17-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox on April 25.