Cedric Mullins and the team debut of Scott Blewett were some of the few bright spots in another frustrating loss.
Another Charlie Morton start, another mid-inning implosion for the Orioles. What started off as a decent night for the O’s starter turned into just another poor outing, while the Orioles offense was late to the party and couldn’t make up the six-run gap by the time they actually started hitting the ball. In the end, the Orioles lost again, this time 6-3 to the Guardians on Tuesday night at Camden Yards.
For a little while anyway, this was shaping up to be a genuinely good Charlie Morton start. The righty sailed through his first two innings. Then, he looked shaky in the third, loading the bases with no outs.
But Morton managed to escape that jam while allowing only one run on a sacrifice fly. Tyler O’Neill helped him out, doubling up Carlos Santana, who had strayed too far from second base on a fly ball to shallow right field.
The fourth inning was another easy one. He retired the Guardians 1-2-3, with a little assist from a diving Ryan Mountcastle stop to retire Kyle Manzardo.
Unfortunately, the Orioles offense wasn’t doing much to support their starter early on. They got their first baserunner in the third inning, when Cedric Mullins led off the frame with a walk and then stole second base. A strikeout by Ramón Laureano followed by a Jorge Mateo fly out advanced Mullins to third with two outs for the top of the order. Jordan Westburg walked, and then Adley Rutschman popped out to waste all of Mullins’ work.
Morton’s promising outing completely fell apart in the fifth inning. Angel Martínez got things going with a wind-aided triple to right field. The fly ball just kept going and made it tough for O’Neill to track, although he nearly made up for it with a strong throw, just missing out on gunning down the runner.
Bo Naylor brought in Martínez with a sac fly to make it 2-0. Brayan Rocchio followed with a walk, and Steven Kwan whacked a down-and-in four-seamer onto Eutaw Street to double the visitors’ advantage to 4-0. Morton allowed two more baserunners in the inning, but was able to strike out Manzardo and get Nolan Jones to ground out to end the frame.
Mullins finally got the Orioles into the hit column in the fifth inning with a lead off single, but he would be stranded right there.
Morton came back out for the sixth inning to face the right-handed hitting Gabriel Arias. It would prove to be a poor decision. Arias singled, and would turn into the fifth run charged to Morton. Cionel Pérez came on in place of Morton. He coughed up a single to Martínez. A sac bunt from Naylor advanced both runners, and then a Rocchio sac fly made it 5-0. Kwan knocked in Cleveland’s sixth run of the with a base hit that you would like to see the second baseman Mateo come up with more times than not.
The Orioles’ first run came in the seventh inning. That’s when Mullins, one of the few O’s capable of hitting the ball tonight, smacked a solo homer off of left-handed reliever Joey Cantillo. It was the first home run that any O’s hitter has hit off of a southpaw in 2025. Perhaps the team’s strategy against these sorts of pitchers should evolve a bit?
The Birds kept the late-inning production coming in the eighth inning. With two outs, Gunnar Henderson double to right field to spark a little rally. Henderson scored moments later on a Ryan Mountcastle two-bagger into left field corner. Gary Sánchez made it a 6-3 game with single to bring home Mountcastle. That brought Mullins to the plate with a chance to make it a one-run game, but he failed to come through, striking out to end the inning.
In the ninth inning the Guardians turned to closer Emmanuel Clase. The all-world reliever has struggled early this season, and is not currently the automatic save that he was last summer. But he was able to get the job done here, only allowing a single to pinch hitter Ryan O’Hearn before wrapping up a win for the away team.
It was yet another frustrating night for the Orioles.
The bats looked asleep for most of the night, outside of Mullins. They did nothing against starter Logan Allen. It was good to see them show some signs of life, but it came far too late. Henderson had multiple hits for the second game in a row. That’s encouraging. But there isn’t much going on beyond him and Mullins at the moment.
Morton was good for four innings, and then he was bad. The Orioles need to figure out something for him. Could the answer be the once-en-vogue opener for days that Morton starts? Helping him avoid the top of the order for a third time could be helpful.
Pérez had another tough appearance out of the bullpen. He allowed three hits and didn’t record any strikeouts. It was far from the disaster that some of his other outings have been, but he is clearly the weak spot a bullpen that has broadly been good. He may be running out of rope.
Speaking of which, something else worth noting is the performances of Scott Blewett and Matt Bowman. Blewett was just activated today after being claimed from the Twins on Monday. He looked pretty good, striking out two over 1.2 scoreless innings. Bowman worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning and now has a 1.08 ERA on the season.
Unfortunately, the cons outweighed the pros by a wide margin in this one. The Orioles lost again, and now sit at 6-10 on the season. Meanwhile, other potential AL contenders, like the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Red Sox all won. The gap between the O’s and the top of the league is widening at the moment, and it doesn’t feel like that tide is changing any time soon.
They will have a chance to get the momentum back on their side tomorrow night. Dean Kremer (1-2, 8.16 ERA) is on the bump to face Gavin Williams (1-0, 3.46 ERA). First pitch is 6:35 from Camden Yards.