Orioles suffer 20th loss of season (with quotes)

Momentum in baseball always has been and always will be the next day's starting pitcher. Whether it's your own or the opposition.

Thumbnail image for Cashner-Throws-Orange-Sidebar.jpgChris Tillman tossed a one-hit shutout over seven innings last night to give the Orioles a rare win, but Andrew Cashner allowed five runs in the first two innings tonight and progress was halted.

Left-hander Francisco Liriano exited in the seventh with only one run against him and the Orioles were beaten 9-5 before an announced crowd of 20,896 at Camden Yards that waited out a 30-minute delay before first pitch.

The Orioles have lost 12 of their last 14 games and 14 of 17. They're 7-20 overall. Their 20th loss last season didn't come until May 24.

A four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh made it interesting, as the Orioles reduced the lead to 8-5. Manny Machado had a two-run single off reliever Joe Jiménez, the third pitcher of the inning.

Victor Martinez greeted Darren O'Day in the ninth by homering on the first pitch, a slider down the middle of the plate. O'Day has surrendered three homers in 10 appearances.

The Orioles stranded two in the bottom of the ninth.

Cashner turned in his shortest start with the Orioles, going four innings and allowing seven runs (six earned) and seven hits. He walked three batters, struck out four, gave up a home run and threw a wild pitch.

Pedro Araujo replaced Cashner after 87 pitches, 54 for strikes.

Tonight marked Cashner's shortest outing since he lasted 3 2/3 innings on Sept. 25, 2017 against the Astros.

Liriano was charged with three runs in 6 1/3 innings. Warwick Saupold inherited two runners in scoring position, walked pinch-hitter Pedro Álvarez and hit pinch-hitter Chance Sisco with the bases loaded. Trey Mancini lined to third baseman Jeimer Candelario, but Jace Peterson walked to force in another run and cut the lead to 8-3.

Thanks for stopping by, Warwick.

Machado greeted Jiménez with a ground ball up the middle that plated two more runs, but Adam Jones flied out. Machado leads the club with 22 RBIs.

Peterson was the only Oriole to strike out against Liriano. They led the American League with 261 before tonight.

Cashner threw 20 pitches in the first inning and allowed an RBI single to Nick Castellanos. Leonys Martin drew a leadoff walk and broke up a potential double play on Candelario's ground ball.

The Orioles have been outscored 29-8 in the first inning this season.

Miguel Cabrera singled before Castellanos' hit, and he delivered a three-run homer in the second inning on an 83 mph curveball and a two-run double in the fourth.

Martin had an RBI single in the second. Cabrera's double came after Dixon Machado reached on Danny Valencia's error and Candelario walked.

Craig Gentry charged Cabrera's sinking liner, failed to make the diving catch and let the ball roll behind him as two runs scored. He came up with a sliding catch in foul territory to retire Martinez and end the inning, managing to avoid the exposed brick below the padding.

Valencia bobbled the ball twice before bouncing a throw past Mancini for his third error in seven games at third base.

Araujo retired eight of the first nine batters he faced after relieving Cashner, whose ERA rose from 3.60 to 4.76 in 34 innings. The Rule 5 pick worked a career-high 2 2/3 innings and allowed a run in the seventh on James McCann's two-out RBI single that followed JaCoby Jones' double.

Araujo's previous high was 2 1/3 innings on April 8 at Yankee Stadium.

Gentry broke up Liriano's shutout bid in the fifth with a ground ball that scored Anthony Santander, who led off the inning with his first career triple. Santander also singled tonight and has six hits in his last three games with an at-bat.

The Orioles put someone on base in each of the first five frames, stranding two in the second and ending rallies with double plays in the third and fourth.

Recalled from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day, Joey Rickard walked twice, flied out, grounded into a double play and scored a run. He also made a nice running catch in right field to end the third, slamming face-first into the padding while robbing Jose Iglesias.

Note: Mark Trumbo went 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored tonight while leading off for Norfolk. He started again in right field.

Trumbo is 4-for-10 with three RBIs in two games with the Tides. He's expected to come off the disabled list Tuesday in Anaheim.

Manager Buck Showalter on how hard it is to be behind five runs early: "Like I say a lot to the guys, there's always a point in the game where you can either get back in it or you can put it away, so to speak. Proud and commend our guys for getting the tying run to the plate and fighting our way all the way back. But it creates not much margin for error and the tack-on runs at the end of the game kind of create, you almost have to be perfect out of the bullpen the rest of the way. It's tough."

Showalter on Cashner: "Just, you could see the very first hitter, that's something that's not very characteristic of him. His command. He just didn't have a good feel for it. He's trying to go off the plate and almost bounced a breaking ball I think to Cabrera and kind of centers it up a little bit. Just never really got into sync, so to speak. He's been pitching so well for us for the most part. I know that's frustrating for him."

"I thought Araujo was really good again. Very quietly he's kind of settled in a little bit. The one scratch run off him, a two-out single. It's been good to see. And Miguel was good again."

Showalter on better at-bats in seventh: "Fairness, I thought their pitcher was tiring some and command wasn't there as much. And the guy who came in didn't throw the ball over the plate and our guys stayed patient. You're always pushing there, pushing, pushing, and try to let the at-bats kind of come to you a little bit is a challenge. But there were some real calm at-bats. And we knew that we were a hitter away from getting right back in it in one blow.

"Manny gets a big base hit there and Jonesey just misses one. But we helped them a little bit. Anytime you give up 90 feet where they don't earn it at the major league level, you may get out of that inning, but it challenges you as the game goes on. You pay the price for it."

Showalter on Machado's two-run single: "What Manny has really had going here is he's taking what they're giving him. They're not giving him much. You see him punching balls into right field and taking the ground-ball single up the middle and not trying to get too big. Everybody always kind of gets on all of these guys because they think they're all power-oriented. But when you have that type of power at your finger, so to speak, it takes a lot of discipline to stay in the mode of operation that Manny is in right now. He's taking what they give him. Regardless of who's hitting behind him, people are going to pick the other poison."

Showalter on Gentry misplay and sliding catch: "That's as good of a catch as you'll see all year. The ball that Cabrera hit, he's trying to make something happen that's not there. That's a want-to, just kind of gets in the way. He's trying everything possible to get there in no-man's land at the end where you've committed to it and you know you're going to end up short. That's a guy wanting to make something happen there that's just not quite there. You can almost see it coming. You understand where it's coming from. If you know Craig, he's trying to impact everything that comes his way. And he's so used to being able to get to everything. That's what you like about him.

"He follows it up with as good of play as you'll ever see, going after a ball in foul ground."

Showalter on mistakes magnified when behind: "Whether it's an error or walk or a hit by pitch, and they did it too. We cashed in on some of them. But those are things that get magnified when you're not winning like you should be."




Cashner exits early as Detroit beats the Orioles 9...
Martinez takes ownership of 4-3, extra-inning loss...
 

By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.masnsports.com/