Throughout the second half of the year, the Baltimore Orioles were floundering compared to the way they had performed prior to the All-Star break.
Their rotation and lineup that had been decimated by injuries finally caught up to them, and the offense struggled to put up runs on a consistent basis as a result.
While they didn’t achieve their goal of winning back-to-back AL East division titles, the Orioles were still able to punch their ticket to the playoffs by securing the top Wild Card seed that gave them home field advantage against another struggling team in the Kansas City Royals.
But Baltimore could never get their bats going, getting shut out in Game 1 and only mustering up one run in Game 2 that ended their season with a bitter taste in everyone’s mouths.
The Orioles were terrible with runners in scoring position during this Wild Card round, going 1-for-13 in those situations and leaving a head-shaking 16 men on base.
Nothing summed up their fortunes more than during the bottom of the fifth inning.
After Cedric Mullins tied up the game with a solo homer, Baltimore proceeded to load the bases with nobody out after a single, a walk, and fielding error by pitcher Seth Lugo.
Anthony Santander stepped into the box with a chance to break things open, something he has done so often this season when putting up the most prolific hitting output of his career.
But, he popped out to first base after chasing a high fastball.
The Orioles were still seemingly in a good position with potential AL Rooke of the Year winner Colton Cowser up to bat with the bases loaded and one out.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to come through either, striking out on a pitch that ended up hitting him in the hand.
Cowser was replaced by Heston Kjerstad in the top of the seventh inning after he initially stayed in the game despite their trainer coming to check on him.
Things clearly got to the point where Baltimore and the young star felt like he couldn’t be in the outfield for the following frame.
Now it’s been revealed why.
Per Roch Kubatko of MASN, Cowser suffered a fracture in his left hand.
There was no immediate update given regarding if he would need surgery or what his timeline might look like, but without another game to be played in the 2024 season, that becomes a moot point at this time.
It’s an unfortunate situation regardless, and something that will continue to be updated, but Cowser should be available for Spring Training no matter if the fracture is severe enough that he does require surgery to repair it or not.
