CLEVELAND - The Orioles were held to a run and one hit yesterday and their offense was dormant again today. Their pitching was not good either. That kind of day in the road trip finale as Cleveland whipped the Orioles 10-0 to take three of four in this series.
The Orioles (15-31) completed a 1-5 road trip through New York and Cleveland, winning only on Friday night behind Dylan Bundy. They have lost nine of 11, 15 of 20 and 20 of their last 26 games. The O's are 4-14 against the Indians since the start of the 2017 season.
The Orioles were blanked for the third time on the year and scored just one run in the last two games and 19 innings of this series. They were outscored 29-13 in Cleveland. Baltimore is 2-22 when scoring three or fewer runs.
Indians right-hander Shane Bieber threw a gem. He fanned a career-high 15 with no walks in a complete-game five-hitter on 107 pitches. The five hits he allowed were all singles. Bieber improved to 3-2 with a 3.22 ERA.
It was the first shutout by a big league starter with 15 or more strikeouts since Houston's Gerrit Cole on May 4, 2018 at Arizona. The last time a Cleveland pitcher did this it was Carlos Carrasco on Sept. 25 2015 at Kansas City.
"I just thought we got completely dominated," said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. "That was masterful. He worked ahead, had really good stuff, had a great breaking ball that we just continued to swing at underneath the zone and didn't make any adjustments during the game. He was just really, really good. And we didn't adjust at all and make it tough on him."
Chris Davis agreed with his manager that the Orioles didn't adjust enough to Bieber today and he pointed the finger at himself.
"Personally, I didn't make an adjustment throughout the course of the game. Guy kept throwing a slider down and I kept swinging at it. That is just stupidity on my part. Like I said, try to put it behind us and move forward," said Davis, who struck out four times today. He has just four hits his last 29 at-bats with 18 strikeouts.
But Hyde said his entire lineup didn't make those needed ajustments.
"Obviously you have to recognize early that this guy has really good command and he's going to locate his fastball and get us to chase the breaking ball underneath with two strikes. He just continued to do it for nine innings, and we continued to swing at them. We've just got to get a lot better. But give him credit, he was really, really good. And on. He made it really hard for us also," he said.
Needing a starter to avoid bringing someone back today on short rest, the Orioles called on right-hander Yefry Ramirez out of the bullpen. He might have shown some rust as he gave up two runs to the first four batters and five in 3 1/3 innings.
Pitching for the first time since May 8 and working on 10 days rest, Ramirez gave up six hits and four earned runs with four walks, three strikeouts and a home run in 73 pitches with just 36 for strikes.
Cleveland got to him quickly today. Francisco Lindor grounded a leadoff double down the first base line and went to third on a Jason Kipnis bunt single. Carlos Santana then ripped a 102 mph single to right for a 1-0 lead. A Carlos González sac fly made it 2-0.
Roberto Pérez produced a leadoff single in the second and later scored on a passed ball for the 3-0 lead. Two more runs were scored in the third for the 5-0 edge. Santana hit a leadoff homer off a 91 mph Ramirez fastball. He hit his seventh homer a distance of 368 feet. Two walks and a wild pitch followed the homer, leaving runners at second and third. A groundout by Pérez made it 5-0.
Cleveland added three runs runs in the sixth and they were unearned due to a throwing error by reliever Gabriel Ynoa. Mike Freeman's two-run double in the seventh of Ynoa made it 10-0. Cleveland was held to one run Friday, but scored 23 runs in the two games previous to that and have scored 14 in the last two games.
Richard Bleier allowed one run in two innings out of the bullpen while Ynoa gave up four in 1 2/3 and Miguel Castro pitched a scoreless eighth.
Now the Orioles head home to begin a four-game series with the New York Yankees Monday night at Oriole Park. Right-hander Andrew Cashner (4-2, 4.10 ERA) gets the start against Yankees lefty J.A. Happ (3-3, 4.44 ERA).
More postgame quotes.
Hyde on Ramirez: "I just thought they were aggressive from the start, and he just struggled keeping them off the barrel. I didn't think he had his good changeup, and not much of a breaking ball, so they were sitting in the middle of the plate and hit him hard. We were hoping to get some length out of Yefry. Didn't really happen. We were hoping to get some length out of Ynoa. Didn't happen. And we just carved up offensively. So, I think it's one of those games where we just got completely beat."
Hyde, any concern after two bad losses in series?: "No, I think I'm looking forward to us coming to the park ready to play tomorrow. The 14-7 loss kind of just got away from us, but that wasn't a blowout until the very end. This game was lopsided from early on. I thought we were in yesterday. We won the day before, swung the bat good the first day. Today, we just got beat."
Davis with more on Bieber: "I think the guy we faced today was locked in. I felt like the (Tribe) pitching staff as whole threw ball really well the whole series. I think he's been throwing the ball well and he continued that today and we couldn't figure him out."
Davis on team trying to get it going back home: "Well, we're going back home and we've got a quick series at home but it's against the Yankees, a division opponent. For us to put this behind us and move forward, it's going to be the best thing for us. Whether that means looking over whatever we need to look over and trying to make adjustments, but we have to find a way to turn the page."
Ramirez on his day through interpreter Ramón Alarcón: "I think it was well below average. It wasn't my best. Just bad. It is always a challenge competing at this level. I prepare myself mentally for it. Unfortunately the execution wasn't there today. Days like this are the days you learn the most. You try to learn from those mistakes. Try to execute better for hopefully a next outing."
Following today's game, the Orioles optioned Ramirez to Triple-A Norfolk.
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