Burnes can't maintain fast start and Orioles can't jump-start offense in 6-0 loss (updated)

Corbin Burnes shortened his hair and lengthened his start, but what happened tonight wasn’t pretty.

Burnes allowed four runs in the sixth inning and the offense ran cold again in the Orioles’ 6-0 loss to the Astros before an announced crowd of 22,212 at Camden Yards.

The Yankees lead the division by 1 ½ games, the Orioles’ largest deficit since being two back on June 25.

After surrendering a career-high eight runs and 10 hits last week, Burnes was poised to produce his 20^th quality start. However, the Astros sent eight batters to the plate in the sixth, broke open the game and forced manager Brandon Hyde to dig into his bullpen after 5 2/3.

Burnes allowed six runs (five earned) and eight hits. Damage came heavy with two outs in the sixth, when Ben Gamel singled at only 77.8 mph off the bat to drive in a run, Burnes fielded Jake Meyers’ bunt and threw the ball past first base, and Shay Whitcomb delivered a two-run single.

“I thought his stuff was there," Hyde said. "Just that sixth inning, led off with a bloop single. They didn’t hit that many balls hard against him on the night. Just some ground balls that got through, some ground balls that were just out of reach for double play balls to get him out of the inning. Stuff was good. Just didn’t work out his way.”

“Five and a third, really good," Burnes said. "Yeah, we just got to the point where we, early on in the game, we were getting ahead of hitters and keeping the ball down and getting the contact we wanted, and for five and really two thirds there it was really good. AB against Gamel, made some mistakes. Didn't put him away with two strikes and really it was one pitch away from being a good start. So, frustrating that inning extends there and then just making mistakes up in the zone and they didn't miss.”

Matt Bowman made his Orioles debut and tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Gregory Soto reappeared and produced his fifth scoreless appearance in a row by stranding two runners after a two-out walk and hit batter in the eighth.

Left-hander Nick Vespi kept the margin at six in the ninth in his first appearance with the Orioles since June 30.

"We went three-plus scoreless innings out of the bullpen," Hyde said. "That’s the highlight there.”

Rookie Spencer Arrighetti was 5-11 with a 5.20 ERA and 1.455 WHIP in 22 starts before tonight. He shut out the Orioles (74-55) on three hits in six innings.

The Orioles (74-55) have collected three hits in three of the last five games. They finished with six on Monday. And they're 9-11 this month after going 12-13 in July.

“Give Arrighetti credit, that’s a really good arm and I thought he pitched us extremely tough," said manager Brandon Hyde. "We did nothing offensively the whole night, only hit a couple balls hard. Tough to win when you only get three hits.”

Gunnar Henderson doubled with two outs in the first and Ryan Mountcastle doubled with one out in the second. Anthony Santander walked with one out in the third and Adley Rutschman singled with one out in the fourth. The Orioles couldn’t score.

Jackson Holliday struck out to end the fourth and flied out to end the game after Austin Slater's two-out walk, and he's hitless in his last 16 at-bats.

It's gotten so bad for the Orioles that Mountcastle tweaked his wrist on the dive into second base and was replaced in the field in the top of the ninth.

“It was just a little bit sore as the game went on," Hyde said.

Cedric Mullins drew a leadoff walk against Shawn Dubin in the eighth and Colton Cowser walked with one out after striking out three times with Arrighetti in the game. Santander and Henderson flied to center.

The crowd got loud on Santander's ball, as if coaxing it to reach the fence. Nothing is working.

"We've just gotta play better. It’s as simple as that," said Ryan O'Hearn. "Hard to win a game when you only get three hits. I think we hit a lot of balls hard at some guys, I can think of three or four top of my head, but just one of those nights. We got to figure out a way to break through and play better as a unit. That’s really all it is.

"When we're at our best, it's guys fouling off a lot of pitches, grinding out at-bats, having longer at-bats, working walks, and there's traffic throughout the game. I think that's where we're at our best. If you're not doing that, it puts a lot of pressure on the guy when there is somebody with runners in scoring position for the first time all night or whatever to get the job done and come through with that big hit. I just think the offense flows better when we're as a unit, wearing down the pitcher, seeing a lot of pitches, like I said, grinding out, getting guys on base, and then take some of that pressure off.

"We'll get there. It's ebbs and flows, a long season. It's been a tough stretch, but I have a lot of confidence in our guys and our offense. I think we'll turn it around and start to put some things together."

Burnes must have visited the team barber after the media’s clubhouse access. The back of his head was high and tight. A much cleaner look that didn’t match his line.

"I think we had a good plan coming in," he said. "We attacked and got ahead and got weak contact for, like I said, five and two thirds up until that Gamel AB. We did what we wanted to do. So frustrating that the final line shows what it did, but I guess you should take the positive out of it that you were pitch away from it being another quality start and onto the next one.”

Burnes threw only seven pitches in the first inning and didn’t allow a hit until the fourth when Yordan Alvarez singled to score Jose Altuve after a leadoff walk and disengagement balk. The Orioles couldn’t turn a double play on Yanier Diaz’s grounder to Ramón Urías, settling for a force, and back-to-back singles by Victor Caratini and Gamel increased the Astros’ lead to 2-0.

After Burnes retired the side in order on 11 pitches in the fifth to leave him at 69, Alex Bregman led off the sixth with a single, the Orioles again settled for a force on Alvarez’s chopper to Mountcastle, Diaz singled, another out was recorded on a force and the next three batters reached. Meyers was credited with an infield single, with Burnes’ error complicating the matter.

The Orioles suffered their fifth shutout and they've got rookie Cade Povich making his 10th major league start Friday night, with the Astros sending Hunter Brown to the mound.

The Astros have won nine consecutive road games. The Orioles are 0-4 against them, their first season series loss since 2019. The streak of home runs ends at 16 games.

"I just think we’re having a tough time offensively right now," Hyde said. "We’ve got some guys having some pretty good years and we’re confident they’re gonna come out of it and be the offensive team we were in the first half.”

“I think the way we started off the year is how we think we can play baseball and we know we can play baseball that way," Burnes said. "Starts with us on the mound and starts with me. I haven't done my job last two starts. So it's going to take me to turn things around and making that one pitch to get out of it that we need. But yeah, we've been in a tough stretch but we still got a lot of baseball left.”

* Single-A Delmarva’s Braxton Bragg struck out 11 batters in 5 1/3 innings, allowed one run and walked none. First-round draft pick Vance Honeycutt, in his first game with the Shorebirds, singled, walked twice and scored a run as the designated hitter.