Bowie loses Game 1, O's loss streak reaches six

On the first night of the Eastern League Championship Series, the Double-A Bowie Baysox took a 2-0 lead three batters into the game. The Baysox had some early momentum. But then they failed to score the rest of the night and lost the series opener 6-2 at Trenton.

The Thunder scored two in the third to tie it and one in the fifth to get the lead. A three-run Trenton sixth put the game away as Trenton took the lead in the best-of-five finals. In that inning, Kellin Deglan hit a two-run triple for a 5-2 lead and scored on a sac fly.

Bowie starter Michael Baumann struggled with his command and went just 3 2/3 innings on 91 pitches. Baumann allowed five hits and two runs with five walks and six strikeouts. Lefty reliever Zach Muckenhirn took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) over 2 1/3 innings.

Trenton used three pitchers on major league rehab assignments. Starter Jordan Montgomery allowed two hits and two runs (one earned) over three innings. Dellin Betances pitched a scoreless fourth and Stephen Tarpley a scoreless fifth as he got the win.

Cedric Mullins started the game for Bowie and drew a walk. He took second on an Anderson Feliz single and stole third base. Montgomery then threw a wild pickoff throw past first base for an error as Mullins scored. Yusniel Diaz followed with an RBI double to right-center and the Baysox led 2-0. It looked like they picked up right where they left off with 20 hits Saturday at Harrisburg.

But the offense stopped after that. Diaz and catcher Carlos Pérez went a combined 4-for-8, but the rest of the lineup was 2-for-26. Bowie went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

The Baysox face another big league pitcher on rehab tonight as Luis Severino starts against Bowie's Cody Sedlock (1-2, 3.71 ERA) in Game 2. Severino has not pitched in the majors at all this year, but went 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA in 2018 for the Yankees and finished ninth in the American League Cy Young Award voting.

Maybe this is good news for Bowie fans. When the Baysox won their one and only Eastern League Championship in 2015, they lost the series-opening game and were down 2-1 after three games. Then they beat Reading 9-1 in Game 4 and 7-2 in Game 5 to take the championship.

Tickets are on sale for the playoff games at Prince George's Stadium. Single-game tickets for Game 3 and playoff strips are available at Baysox.com.

Meanwhile at Camden Yards: Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler threw four-hit ball over seven scoreless innings last night as the Dodgers beat the Orioles 7-3 to clinch their seventh straight NL West title.

Buehler fanned 11 without a walk to improve to 13-3 with an ERA of 3.14. It was his eighth scoreless start of the year.

Buehler now has five games this season of 10 or more strikeouts with no walks. According to STATS LLC, the five games are the most such games by any MLB pitcher 25-or-younger in a season in the live ball era (since 1920).

Dodgers starters lead majors with an ERA of 3.12.

The Orioles have lost six in a row and dropped the last three games by five, six and four runs. The Orioles are 0-5 on this homestand. They have now lost their past 25 games at Oriole Park when yielding three or more home runs.

The O's team ERA in the first inning - and they trailed 4-0 after one last night - is now 6.75. That is the third-highest in the first inning in club history behind the 2008 club (6.76 ERA) and the 1991 Orioles (7.06 ERA). The O's have given up an AL-leading 103 runs in the opening inning.

The last three games, the O's starters - Aaron Brooks, Asher Wojciechowski and Ty Blach - have allowed 21 hits and 17 runs (16 earned) over seven innings.

The Orioles went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position last night and they are 5-for-47 (.106) over the last seven games with RISP.