Orioles can’t keep pace in wild-card race

Oakland shuts out Baltimore as crucial four-game series with Blue Jays looms

The overarching nature of a sleepy Sunday defeat to the Oakland Athletics is one loss in 162 games. But in September, there’s an increased significance on each outing, even when a series victory was already earned with wins on Friday and Saturday.

Especially when those outings come against a team sitting firmly in the basement of their division.

Before the game, manager Brandon Hyde emphasized how “today is extremely important, and I think everyone knows that.” He didn’t want his players to look ahead at the four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays that begins Monday — a series full of playoff implications.

There’s no knowing whether that matchup with the Blue Jays — the team currently occupying the American League’s final wild-card spot — played in the minds of the Orioles. But the 5-0 loss to the Athletics was uninspiring enough to warrant a turn of the page, even if it comes as a missed opportunity to keep pace with Toronto.

“We’ve had this opportunity a few times now lately, and can’t seem to quite finish,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Got to just bounce back, a big day tomorrow.”

The Blue Jays beat the Pirates on Sunday to close out their series against a bottom dweller with a sweep. The Orioles fumbled that chance and now trail their division rival by 2 ½ games. Now Toronto arrives for a doubleheader Monday that could narrow that gap to just half a game.

“We have high expectations for each other,” center fielder Cedric Mullins said. “At the

Roman. Still, Bateman’s too talented and too versatile to not feature prominently in the Ravens’ passing attack.