BALTIMORE-- Nights like these will be a regular part of the process. Series like this, against a first-place Red Sox team, will serve as the ultimate barometer for where Baltimore hopes it will be on the other side of at least a three-year rebuild.
Games like this, the second of a doubleheader and third of four games total in a 48-hour span, will serve as a reminder when the O's are again playing in meaningful August games and it is them -- not the Red Sox -- hitting late-game homers and making double-digit runs hold up.
The learning process, a phrase manager Buck Showalter has used near nightly since Baltimore went into full-bore rebuild mode last month, can be a cruel one.