What a difference a day makes.
When Boston came to town Tuesday afternoon, they did so to face an Orioles team still riding high from second baseman Jonathan Schoop's game-winning home run in Sunday's big comeback win at San Francisco. The Orioles were feeling confident about their chances as the American League's best home team.
As Boston left Wednesday night, the Orioles have plopped out of a first-place tie into third place in the American League East for the first time all season, and it's not going to get any easier from here.
"Thankfully it was only a two games series," said first baseman Chris Davis, whose home run provided the only run of Wednesday's 8-1 loss. "We still have a lot of time left, so we'll regroup and get after it tomorrow."
Toronto (69-52) took sole possession of first place with two big wins over the New York Yankees. The Orioles (66-53) fell two games behind them, and one behind Boston (67-52). They're still keeping good pace in the overall playoff hunt, 2.5 games ahead of Seattle for a wild card spot, but this homestand that was seen as a welcome stretch for the Orioles is a little more hairy now.
"We didn't pitch particularly well in certain spots. Some, we did," manager Buck Showalter said. "You have to be on top of your game pitching-wise and we haven't been swinging the bats well, and I think a lot of it had to do, compound that with seeing two good pitchers. And they pitched well out of the bullpen."
Into town on Thursday comes Houston, who last time these two teams met set a major league record with 52 strikeouts in a three-game series. They'll play four games in Camden Yards, all of which amount to two-game swings in the wild card standings — Houston is 5.5 games behind Boston and 4.5 behind the Orioles in the wild card standings.
Then, it's two home games and two road games against the Washington Nationals, who have spent the year comfortably nestled behind the Chicago Cubs as the second-best team in baseball.
Every game is magnified this time of year. A good result this weekend against the Houston Astros could change everyone's tune about the Orioles, and resume the faith that four months near the top of the division earned the team. It's never too early, though, to start forecasting what a slide could mean. It's up to Kevin Gausman Thursday to try and avoid it.