If anyone in Baltimore decided to turn this game off around 11pm, given how the Orioles have struggled this season and how brand the first few innings were, you could not blame them. And after the Orioles closer and defense failed in the 9th, around 1:10 am, they were probably better off for it.

 This had so many hallmarks of so many losses already this season – especially on the road where the O’s have truly struggled. A starting pitcher was in distress from the onset, the Orioles ran themselves out of a potential run and a bad cutoff/relay sequence contributed to an early Dodgers run. And they blew a two-run lead in the 9th with a closer who hasn't been able to throw strikes all season giving up a homer, two non-competirive walks and a basehit for alother pathetic Orioles outcome.

So after coming back from down 3-0 to lead, 5-3, the Orioles lost, 6-5 at Dodgers Stadium, their fifth defeat in the last six games. After getting away with being unable to locate, and with a fastball the league destroyed last year, baseball czar Mike Elias best be worried about his latest aging closer, this time Ryan Helsley.

"The two walks, that’s what hurt,'" rookie skipper Craig Albernaz said after his latest crushing defeat.

Elias insists on keeping Tyler O'Neill on this team despite being a losing ballplayer in every fact of play (because Elias gave him $19M a year). And when Dalton Rushing smashed a ball to right with the Orioles still up by one, O'Neill (in the game to replace Leody Taveras who left after crashing into the outfield wall on a great catch) did what he always does - made a wildly wide throw way up the third base line that allowed the winning run to score on his error.

"It looked like it took a weird hop," Albernaz said. "I think if you ask (backup catcher) Sammy (Basallo) it’s a play he should have made." The ball got past the 21-year old catcher; the error went to the veteran outfielder who the manager has never criticized despite him being so horrible at baseball since Elias signed him.

This is The Elias Way.

This is why a team that two years ago to the day was 49-25 with the best record in baseball is now 23 games under .500 since. It's why a loss tomorrow would drop this tragically flawed roster to eight games under .500, which would tie the season low (where they sat on May 20). It's why they are 13-23 on the road and 15-25 against winning teams.

They excel at finding ways to lose games because they are built by execs who only know how to build teams that are devoid of any fundamental ability to play the game the right way. This 10-day West Coast trip may make their direction at the trade deadline (start selling now) even more clear. It's just a shame they have frauds running the roster who aren't capable of such adult decisions.

Trey Gibson’s Best MLB Outing

This also looked like it was going to be a fairly disastrous night for Orioles rookie starter Trey Gibson, whose extreme lack of control led to some beanball shenanigans in the Padres series last weekend. He was starting to unravel in the first two innings, with Jeremiah Jackson playing left field for the first time doing him no favors and contributing to one of the Dodgers runs.

Los Angeles had already plated two in the first, with Max Muncy’s two-out hit driving them both in. And with his pitch count soaring in the third after allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases, Gibson leaned heavily into a slider, which has nasty vertical action, and presented the version of himself that got him promoted through the system in the first place.

Gibson struck out the bottom of the order to prevent any more runs from scoring, and he mowed through the Dodgers lineup to take the game to the sixth inning. Yes, Los Angeles was without some top bats due to injury and paternity leave (Shohei Ohtani), but this was an impressive recovery by a young starter in a very tough spot, and striking out eight Dodgers was a big deal for a staff that doesn’t get much swing and miss.

“I don’t know what clicked for him.” Albernaz said of striking out the side, “but that was fun to watch and he really shut them down after that.”

Gibson continued to get in deep counts, and throwing just 58 strikes on 97 pitches is hardly ideal, but this was definite progress from the rookie.

As usual, the Orioles could have provided more early support but foind ways to come up short. Taylor Ward led off the game with a single but tried to stretch it to a double against Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages – a plus-plus defender with a cannon arm – and was thrown out easily.

Then no one else reached until the sixth, when Sasaki faltered. Jackson Holliday got their first hit since Ward was thrown out, Gunnar Henderson pushed a ball over the wall in the rightfield corner (they desperate need him to be a regular run producerand better all-around performer) and Pete Alonso, who loves hitting at Dodger Stadium, went back-to-back to tie the game.

Taveras made a great catch against the wall in the right field to prevent a run-scoring chance for LA in the seventh (O’Neill replaced him) and the Orioles loaded the based in the bottom of the inning for Jeremiah Jackson, barely playing since Holliday returned from injury, who slapped the ball through the infield to plate two runs and give the Orioles a rare road lead, 5-3.

The pen was great until Helsley entered. After a shaky first outing back from the Injured List on Wednesday (two homers), he gave up another homer (Mookie Betts), but Albernaz said he was giving him the inning no matter what. That was another mistake. A four-pitch walk to a rookie at the bottom of the lineup allowed Rushing to get a chance to win it, and for Helsley to give it up with a big assist from more awful outfield play.

Bird Seed

Adley Rutschman remains an erratic presence in this lineup and especially behind the plate. He was hit in the head by a throw from second base late in Thursday’s loss to the Mariners and was given all of Friday night off as a precaution. So the kid who barely caught in the minors keeps going behind the plate way more than anyone could have expected … Blaze Alexander, batting .400 basically since April 27, was on the bench with Coby Mayo getting rare work at third base despite starting to show signs of his developing a few weeks ago ... Reliever Tyler Wells continues to thrive in more high-leverage roles and got eight huge outs Friday.

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