By Zachary McMahon-
The Baltimore Orioles traveled to Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH to face the Cleveland Guardians in the first game of a four-game series. The Orioles come into the series having won four out of the last five games between the Toronto Blue Jays and the San Diego Padres. The Guardians have won three straight games and six out of the last eight games.
Lane Thomas played his second game as a Guardian at center field, as Johnkensy Noel, who made his debut against the Orioles on June 21, played out in right field. Jose Ramirez is back at third base while David Fry is back in the DH spot, after missing Tuesday’s shutout against the Detroit Tigers. Andres Gimenez took the night off for the Guards.
The Baltimore Orioles activated Trevor Rogers, Eloy Jimenez, and Austin Slater, and recalled Livan Soto from Triple-A Norfolk. Meanwhile, they put Jordan Westburg on the ten-day injured list with a right hand fracture. Christian Pache, who the O’s got in a trade with Austin Hays, eas designated for assignment after hitting a single in his only at-bat. Heston Kjerstad and Keegan Akin were both sent to Norfolk.
Rogers made his first start for the Orioles after being acquired in a trade from the Miami Marlins in exchange for rookie Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers. Rogers only went 4 ⅓ innings, allowing six hits, five earned runs, three walks, and three strikeouts.
Ben Lively started for the Guardians as he went six innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, one walk, and four strikeouts. Lively made his 19th appearance as he tied his career-high is most appearances in a season as he made 19 appearances and 12 starts with the Cincinnati Reds last season. Lively got his 10th win of the season, as he’s the first Clevelander to get 10 wins in his first 19 starts on the team since Shane Bieber did it in 2018.
Colton Cowser led off with a double, and then Adley Rutschmann lined out to center field for the first out, Gunnar Henderson brought Cowser home on an RBI double to get the first run of the game in the first inning. Anthony Sanntander and Ryan O’Hearn would both be retired to end the inning, and then the Guards responded.
Cowser extended his season-long hitting streak of 14 games with that double in the first, and it’s the longest hitting streak by a Orioles rookie since Trey Mancini had a 15-game streak as a rookie in 2017. He’s also got the second-longest hitting streak by a MLB rookie this season with Masyn Winn of the St. Louis Cardinals ahead when he had a 18-game streak in May.
Stephen Kwan lead off with a single, and then Thomas hit a double, and Ramirez brought home Kwan on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one. Josh Naylor would then bring Thomas home on a RBI single to take the 2-1 lead. Thomas has reached in each of his last 27 games, which is the longest active streak in the MLB.
The Guards then opened the gates wide open as David Fry hit a three-run home run in the third inning for the 5-1 lead. Santander responded with a solo home run that cut it to 5-2 in the fourth, but in the next frame Ramirez hit a two-run homer to right field as he hits a homer in three consecutive games for the first time since 2021, and Bo Naylor hit a three-run homer as the Guards led 10-2 to end the seventh.
Santander extended his on-base streak to 19 games, which is now his longest in a single season, and tied his longest as he also had a on-base streak of 19 games between September 26, 2021 and April 27, 2022. It is the second longest by a Oriole all season, as Henderson had a streak of 36 games from May 22 to June 29.
Jackson Holiday, fresh off his first career home run, which was a grand slam in Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jays, was hit by pitch in the eighth by Tim Herrin, and then Slater pinch hit for Cowser for his Orioles debut, and got a single that moved Holiday to third. Rutschmann then hit into a fielder’s choice while Bryan Rochhio was trying to get Slater out at second but was unable to due to a fielding error, and Holiday scored on the error. This was his second straight game with a run since being called up from Norfolk Wednesday.
Nobody scored for the rest of the game as the Guardians rout the O’s 10-3. Henderson scored twice in this game, which makes it his fourth straight game with multiple runs scored. Cedric Mullins did not get a hit in this game, ending his five-game hitting streak.
Along with his homer, Ramirez also registered a single as he has hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games, reached safely in the last 11, and has multiple hits in six out of his last nine.
The Guardians are now 66-42 on the season, which is the best mark through 108 games since they were 73-35 in 1995.
The teams will continue in their second game on Friday as it will be Dean Kremer going up against Carlos Carrasco at 7:10 pm first pitch.
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