The Baltimore Orioles run of consecutive games allowing five runs or more is now one game away from tying the Major League record set by the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies following a 6-3 defeat in the series finale against the Cleveland Indians.
The O’s streak of 19 games is already an American League record and they are now 6-13 during that stretch.
Seth Smith got the Orioles on the board on the third pitch of the game with a solo home run to center for his eighth long ball of the season. It was the fourth time this season that Smith has hit a leadoff homer, and the sixth of his career.
Wade Miley could not give the Orioles the shutdown second inning as it kicked off with Carlos Santana beating the shift for a leadoff single. Austin Jackson tripled on a hard hit ball that ended up at the wall to score Santana to tie the ball game. Yan Gomes looped one to right to score Jackson and give the Tribe a 2-1 lead.
Indians starter Mike Clevinger gave the Orioles an opportunity by hitting Ruben Tejada and Craig Gentry on back-to-back at bats following a Hyun Soo Kim leadoff single to load the bases. Smith grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to get the first two outs for the Indians, but Clevinger was not completely out of the jam as he walked Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop to make it a 2-2 game. Despite the run being scored, it was the 10th time the Orioles had loaded the bases with no outs this season and they have yet to get a hit in any of those situations.
It was another failed attempt at a shutdown inning in the third by Miley after getting the first two outs quickly. Miley would walk two batters and give up a single to load the bases before Jackson singled to score another two runs and make it 4-2 for the Indians.
Richard Bleier came on in relief of Miley in the sixth inning and after recording two quick outs, he allowed a solo blast to Eric Gonzalez to make it a 5-2 game. It was the second home run on the season for Gonzalez and made it 19 straight games in which the Orioles allowed five runs or more.
It was another outing for an Orioles starter that did not to make it to the sixth inning, making it 12 of the last 13 and 14 of the last 16 games in which they failed to so. Miley went five-plus innings, allowing four earned runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three batters.
“What hurt [Miley] was he got two outs and then it took him way too many pitches to get out of the inning,” Russell said. “You know we get out of that inning and its a different thing for him. Just one of those things, you know, you gotta find a way to get that out when you’re in that situation.”
Cleveland tacked on their final run in the ninth on Encarnacion’s RBI single following a Jose Ramirez triple.
Manny Machado picked up a RBI double in the ninth, his 15th of the season, off former Oriole Andrew Miller to cut the Indians lead in half. Despite the run scored, Miller struck out the side to end the ball game.
“Yeah it’s depressing, but it’s part of the deal. It’s part of the game. There is not a single person that has any sympathy for us and I get it,” Mark Trumbo said after the game. “Tomorrow is a new day. It’s cliche, but its the truth. We’re going to keep fighting. It’s our job. Take pride in it.”
The O’s will travel to St. Petersburg this weekend to take on the Tampa Ray Rays in a three-game set. Ubaldo Jimenez (2-2, 6.25 ERA) will start the first game for Baltimore, while Chris Archer (5-4, 3.75 ERA) takes the bump for the Rays. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
Quick notes:
Austin Jackson finished 3-for-4 with three RBI on the evening. He is now batting .368 (21-for-57) with nine RBI on the road this season.
Ramirez’s run of nine straight games with at least two hits came to a close tonight after going 1-for-4. He tied the Indians team record and batted .547 (23-for-42) during the nine-game hitting streak.
Manager Buck Showalter was not with the team tonight as he welcomed his first grandchild, Winston, this morning. Mom and baby are doing well.
Russell told us after the game that Adam Jones was available off the bench, but was trying to “save him for that moment” to bring him into the game in the ninth inning.
Smith is in the midst of a five-game hitting streak in which he is batting .368 (7-for-19) and finished .320 (8-for-25) with five runs, two doubles, two homers and two RBI during the Orioles seven-game homestand.
Trey Mancini’s singled in the fifth inning and is now batting .351 in June. He has hit safely in 16 of the last 20 games.
