CLEVELAND – For the first seven innings of tonight’s ballgame, the Orioles had the momentum.
The Guards had mustered just two hits and two runs, a pair that scored on a weak single from Kyle Manzardo.
Ultimately, the bats didn't come through in a 3-2 loss.
On Monday night, the Orioles and Guardians combined to score six runs in the first inning of play. Last night, there was only one, but it came on a José Ramírez solo shot.
Tonight, the first extra-base hit of the game didn’t come until the top of the third inning, courtesy of Cedric Mullins.
The O’s were in business in that frame, with runners on second and third and nobody out after Mullins’ double pushed Ramón Urías 90 feet from home. With Zach Eflin dealing, it was a golden opportunity for Baltimore to back him up with some run support.
Jacob Stallings hit a weak grounder to third, and Urías was out by a mile at home. Then, before Slade Cecconi threw another pitch, he whipped around to pick off Mullins at second base. There went the runners in scoring position.
Baltimore would be redeemed in the top of the fourth, though. After a Jordan Westburg double, some good situational baseball brought him home. Gunnar Henderson moved him over, and a Ryan O’Hearn sac fly scored him to make it 1-0 O’s.
Just as they did last night, though, the Guardians responded.
With runners on second and third, one away, and Baltimore’s infield playing in, Manzardo’s 65.2 mph piece of contact found some shallow outfield grass. It scored two runs and put Cleveland on top 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
All was quiet in the fifth, but the sixth started with a bang.
On a first-pitch ambush, Jackson Holliday sent his team-leading 14th home run into the right-field seats. He turned on a low-and-in slider, and when it landed, the game was tied at two.
Eflin exited before taking the mound in the freshly-tied game, but it was a more than solid return. The right-hander tossed five innings of two-run baseball, allowing just two hits with five strikeouts and one walk. It was the kind of outing the Orioles needed, both for their ability to win tonight’s ballgame and the looming deadline now eight days away.
The pitching staff as a whole had had a tough go of things in Cleveland, surrendering 16 total runs in the two losses. The bullpen, forced to enter games early with Tomoyuki Sugano and Brandon Young’s abrupt exits, didn’t cover their innings well.
Tonight, though, after a good start from Eflin, Andrew Kittredge and Yennier Cano took care of business in the sixth and seventh, with 1-2-3 innings apiece.
Tensions grew as the game entered the eighth inning still tied at two. The Orioles went silently, but the Guardians threatened a one-out rally. Bo Naylor took a Colin Selby sinker to the left-center field gap, and Cleveland was threatening for the first time since the fourth inning.
The next batter, Steven Kwan, did Steven Kwan things. A single to center brought Naylor home, and the Guards had a 3-2 lead.
Emmanuel Clase shut the door in the ninth, and just like that, there was the ballgame.
The O's arms, Eflin included in his return to the big leagues, gave Baltimore a chance to win this game. A big missed opportunity for the offense in the third inning will not be looked back upon fondly.
The difficulties of this stretch, and the impending deadline that the clubhouse was working hard to change the outcome of, shouldn't be lost regarding the human beings in the locker room. It's a tough time made more difficult by the outcomes.
The Orioles have lost three in a row in Cleveland.