Post-game Notes: O's lose series opener at Cleveland

Tough night at the office - The O's lost the game Friday night as much as Cleveland won it. They went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base. Melvin Mora's throwing error plated Cleveland's third run. A Matt Albers bases-loaded walk handed the Tribe their 4th run. The O's stranded two runners on base four times in the game, three times with Cesar Izturis making the third out. It's over now - Cleveland snapped an 11-game losing streak, picking up its first win since beating KC 13-6 on September 12th. The Tribe snapped the streak one short of equaling its team record losing skid of 12 in a row set in May of 1931. Cleveland entered Friday's game with losses in 15 of its last 16 games, 20 of 23 and 21 of 25 games. The Tribe improves to 4-19 in September. David Hernandez recorded a second straight quality start but did not get a win. He gave up 2ER over six innings and has allowed 5ER in 12 frames over his last two starts. Hernandez has not been a winning pitcher since August 11th however. Over his last eight starts, he is 0-5, 7.34. He has allowed 11 homers in 22 2/3 innings over his past five starts. Winning pitcher Fausto Carmona improved to 4-12. It's his first win since August 23rd. In his previous three starts, Carmona had allowed 17ER over 11 2/3 innings. Tonight he gave up two runs over six innings. The O's have been out-scored 52-21 during their eight-game losing streak and have a team batting average of .245 over the eight contests. Not tonight, Matt - Matt Wieters went 0 for 4 with a walk Friday to snap a six-game hitting streak during which he went 13 for 25 at bat. Even with this hitless game, Wieters is batting .366 over his last 19 games. He has 12 RBI over the last 11 games. Nick Markakis ended a 22-game homerless drought when he hit a solo shot to right leading off the 6th. It was his 17th homer and first since August 28 vs. Cleveland. Markakis went 85 at bats without a long ball. He went 1 for 4 in the game and is 6 for 46 (.130) over his last 12 games with 2 RBI in that stretch. Micheal Aubrey went 2 for 4 with a double and RBI single. Aubrey, now batting .321, is 7 for 20 with a homer and 4 RBI during a five-game batting streak. The Birds last losing streak longer than eight games was a ten-game streak set from September 17-26, 2008. The young guns - Rookie pitchers have now started 92 of the O's 153 games this year and the club's record in those contests is 35-57. The O's fall to 2-3 on the year vs. Cleveland are now 17-18 this season vs. AL Central clubs. For the Birds, 20 of their past 44 losses have come by two runs or less.