BALTIMORE (AP) — Things were so bad for the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs that Colton Cowser missed a ball thrown directly at him and broke his left hand, even as they had the bases loaded and a pitch hit scored one run.

They didn’t score in that situation and didn’t score much at all when they were defeated by the Kansas City Royals their AL Wild Card Series. losses from 1:0 and 2-1 sent the Orioles out in one swing in their only postseason series for the second straight year.

“I thought we fought as well as we could,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We persevered. We have arrived in the off-season. We organized a wildcard. We just had a tough time offensively in those two games against a really good pitching staff and a tough team.”

Baltimore won the AL East a season ago, but was defeated by eventual World Series champion Texas in a best-of-five division series. Hyde said this game hurt differently because his team was in every winnable game and came up short.

After that, there were fewer answers than runs, which the Orioles produced in abundance during the regular season. Only three teams scored more and only the New York Yankees hit more home runs.

Cedric Mullins’ Game 2 home run jolted the under-39,000 crowd at Camden Yards on Wednesday – but otherwise there was never any offense.

“This is the time of year you want to show it,” second baseman Jordan Westburg said. “This is the time of year we needed it most. That just didn’t happen for us.”

Baltimore’s pitching staff has been decimated by long-term injuries this season – especially the starting rotation. But the guns weren’t the problem in October.

The Orioles were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position after going 4 for 19 in those situations in three playoff losses to the Rangers in 2023. It turned out that they came up empty after Mullins’s home run in Game 2, with the bases loaded and no outs left, a crucial moment in another collapse in October.

“We haven’t had success with runners in scoring position, especially me,” said slugger Anthony Santander, who hit 44 home runs in the regular season.

However, Santander emerged with the bases full in the first part of the fifth inning as Baltimore’s biggest threat began to disintegrate.

“I’m pretty disappointed because I knew I could have done a better job for the team. “That’s just how it is with the offense,” he said.

The Orioles have not won a postseason game since advancing to the 2014 AL Championship Series, where they were defeated by Kansas City. Now they could lose Ace Corbin Burnes to a big payday in free agency — and there are other important questions to answer. But the players were optimistic about the future, shortly after another crushing defeat.

“I feel like we’ve taken steps in the right direction,” said star shortstop Gunnar Henderson. “We are of course excited to see where this can lead. We look forward to the next step.”

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AP freelance writer Patrick Stevens contributed.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb