Rogers' debut with Orioles doesn't deliver win in Cleveland (updated)

CLEVELAND – Trevor Rogers walked into the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field this afternoon with bags in hand and met his new teammates, manager and staff. The plan called for some small talk and heavy preparation for his first start with the Orioles. The time to get acclimated was scarce. Save it for later.

“Those things happen,” Brandon Hyde said this afternoon. “I’ve seen it many times before.”

Hyde watched as Rogers fell behind early, appeared to find his rhythm and lost the slim margin that separated the teams with the best records in the American League.

David Fry hit a three-run homer in the third inning, Rogers didn’t get out of the fifth and the bullpen didn’t get enough outs in the Orioles’ 10-3 loss to the Guardians before an announced crowd of 26,194.

Anthony Santander belted his 32^nd home run in the fourth inning, one short of his career high, to reduce the lead to 5-2. Ben Lively’s sinker traveled 416 feet to right field at 111.2 mph off the bat, moving Santander into a tie with Shohei Ohtani for second-most in the majors.

The Orioles couldn’t level the score and fell to 65-45. They’re tied with the idle Yankees in the division.

Cleveland improved its overall record to 66-42 and home mark to 34-15, both of them the best in baseball.

Left-handers were batting .192/.265/.359 against Lively before tonight, but Santander can’t be contained. Too bad it wasn't contagious.

Rogers allowed five runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings, with three walks and three strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches, 59 for strikes, before Albert Suárez replaced him with a runner on base.

“He’s acclimating to the club," Hyde said. "I’m sure he was really excited to get out there. And we put a run up there in the first and he gave it back in the bottom of the first."

Rogers and catcher Adley Rutschman shook hands and exchanged names before sitting down to go over the hitters.

"He said, ‘I got you tonight.’ I’m like, ‘All right, let’s get after it,’" Rogers said. "We kind of talked a little bit in the pregame meeting, so we’ll definitely build it from here on out.

"It’s a little different, but they’re my teammates now. So you’ve got to just do a better job of keeping us in the game. They’re a good team. We faced them down in Miami and they’re just a solid ballclub all year. I’ve just got to do a better job at keeping us in the game early."

Suárez retired the side in order in the sixth and allowed a two-run homer to José Ramírez in the seventh. Bo Naylor hit a three-run homer off Jacob Webb in the same inning.

Fry won a seven-pitch battle with two outs in the third, launching a sinker 407 feet to left-center field. Rogers sunk to the ground, crouched with his head bowed, before raising his glove for a new baseball.

“He gave up a couple there in the first and then just a bad fastball to Fry for a three-run homer, 3-2 count," Hyde said. "I guess he was trying to go in, just left it right in the middle of the plate, made it 5-1 kind of right away. So that was tough too. We didn’t come back from that offensively. Didn’t swing the bat really well and wasn’t our best game on the mound.”

Three of the first four batters reached against Rogers in the first. Steven Kwan singled, Lane Thomas doubled, Ramírez lifted a sacrifice fly to center field and Josh Naylor singled to score Thomas, a deadline acquisition from the Nationals.

A force play and strikeout got Rogers back into the dugout at 20 pitches. He recognized most of the faces.

“It was definitely a whirlwind today, something that I really haven’t been through before,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. Still got to execute the game plan, and really didn’t give my team a chance today.”

Rogers said he had heard "rumblings" that he might be traded. They were accurate.

"Probably early on I didn’t think I was going anywhere," he said. "I started throwing the ball really well consistently, and with (Jesús) Luzardo going down for a while, I knew there was hope for me to get traded. I heard some rumblings and it happened on the last day, and I’m very thankful that the Orioles saw something in me and brought me over here.

"It’s awesome. I’ll always miss the guys down in Miami. I’ve got some good friends down there. But just coming to this organization right in the dog days of August, playing some really fun baseball the last two months, it’s something that I really haven’t been able to be a part of, being hurt all last year. So I’m just fired up to be here and really looking forward to the last two months."

The 1-0 lead built in the first on doubles by Colton Cowser and Gunnar Henderson had vanished. But Cowser’s hitting streak is alive and well at 14 games.

The Orioles played their first full game since Jordan Westburg was hit by a pitch and fractured his right hand. He was front-and-center in today’s transactions.

“That’s a huge blow,” Hyde said. “It’s terrible. He wants to be here. He wants to play. And for him to not be able to do that right now, it’s tough.”

Ramón Urías, a Gold Glove recipient at third base in 2022, couldn’t backhand Ramírez’s 103.3 mph shot down the line in the third that went for a two-out double after Rogers retired seven in a row. Naylor walked and Fry parked the sinker into the crowd.

Rogers threw 31 pitches in the inning to raise his total to 62. He had allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his last nine starts.

"I think just finally being comfortable and really just getting comfortable with my pitches, knowing where to go," Rogers said in explaining his impressive stretch. "I was just really throwing the ball well and actually making pitches. So I’m fortunate to get this one out of the way and get my feet underneath me and go out and compete my next time out."

Guardians reliever Tim Herrin hit Jackson Holliday on the left hand in the eighth inning. Holliday stayed in the game, raced to third base on pinch-hitter Austin Slater’s single and scored on an error.

Holliday went 0-for-2.

Eloy Jiménez pinch-hit with two outs in the ninth in his Orioles debut and struck out.

* The Orioles released Double-A Bowie pitcher Wandisson Charles, a hard-throwing right-hander from the Dominican Republic who posted an 8.60 ERA and 2.176 WHIP in 31 relief appearances between Triple-A Norfolk and the Baysox. Charles walked 33 batters in 30 1/3 innings.

* Patrick Reilly, a right-hander acquired from the Pirates Tuesday for outfielder Billy Cook, was assigned to Bowie. Reilly had a 3.38 ERA and averaged 11 strikeouts per nine innings at High-A.

MLB Pipeline ranks Reilly 15^th in the system.

* Major League Baseball unveiled the 2024 postseason schedule. The wild card series runs Oct. 1-3 and the division series Oct. 5-12. The championship series will run Oct. 14-22, with Game 1 of the World Series Oct. 25. A potential Game 7 would be played Nov. 2.