Photo credit: Rich Dubroff

BALTIMORE — Although the Orioles' season could end on Wednesday, manager Brandon Hyde was in a light mood during his pregame interview. A reporter asked if Hyde could try anything, suggesting that coaches in other sports could make radical changes.

Hyde, an avid football and basketball fan, joked about his options.

“I choose an onside (kick) position,” Hyde said. “Try to get the ball back into field position as quickly as possible, or run one — I'm going to try to be like UNLV in the early '90s with Stacey Augmon and Larry Johnson and get up” — down the field as quickly as possible .”

He quickly returned to the sport he was paid to lead.

“I'm also going to use my relievers as best as I can, try to put up a few zeros and score a few runs,” he said.

On Tuesday, the Orioles squandered a stellar pitching performance from star Corbin Burnes, who allowed just one run on five hits in more than eight innings. That one run was enough to give the Kansas City Royals a 1-0 win in Game 1 of the best-of-three Wild Card Series. The Orioles' situational hitting was again terrible; They went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and followed up on a series of throws outside the strike zone.

They'll have to do better if they want to support starter Zach Eflin in Game 2 on Wednesday. The Orioles need to win on Wednesday and Thursday to advance to the Division Series.

Hyde noted that the mood in the clubhouse seemed relaxed, nearly five hours before the scheduled first pitch at 4:38 p.m.

“I think it’s completely normal,” he said. “I just walked around the weight room and clubhouse a little bit. I think the boys are in great spirits and ready to tackle today.”

The Orioles suffered just five hits against left-hander Cole Ragans and three relievers and lost their ninth straight postseason game.

“I think you have to give Kansas City and their pitchers a lot of credit,” Hyde said. “When I rewatched that game, I thought Ragans was probably the best, if not the best, start we've seen against us all year. Hopefully we can score some runs early. I think it always eases the nerves a little bit and gets the guys pushing and hopefully we can score a few runs and get an early lead.”

Wednesday's lineup features Ryan O'Hearn as the designated hitter against Royals right-hander Seth Lugo. In Game 1, Adleyrutschman was the DH and James McCann was caught.

“We have to win today,” Hyde said. “Everyone but Burnes is available and we will do everything we can to try and win.”

Lugo allowed four runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings in a 5-0 loss to the Orioles on April 20^Th. He has only pitched once in Baltimore, when he was with the New York Mets in 2021, when he appeared as a reliever in one inning.

“It’s a page-turning day,” Hyde said. “It's Day 2. I feel good with Eflin on the mound. We saw Lugo in Kansas City. He has the 12 pitches. We know what kind of year he's had and how good he is and we've just got to fight and put the ball in play and hopefully we can get some momentum going.”