CLEVELAND–What happened? The Orioles equaled a season high by striking out 16 times, and, according to MLB.com, set a franchise record when Pete Alonso, Dylan Beavers and Colton Cowser, their 3-4-5 hitters, combined for 11 strikeouts
Alonso and Cowser struck out four times each in the Orioles’ 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians before 20,783 at Progressive Field on Saturday night.
“That’s what, eight of our strikeouts right there? Half of them?” manager Craig Albernaz said.
Gavin Williams struck out 11 in seven innings, allowing a home run to Leody Taveras in the fourth among the 26-year-old right-hander’s three hits.
Hunter Gaddis gave up Gunnar Henderson’s home run in the eighth and struck out two. Cade Smith struck out Beavers, Cowser and Taveras in the ninth for his fifth save.
“Gavin was on tonight,” Albernaz said. “And when they had the lead, they’re known to have a really good bullpen with Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith. But, yeah, they just couldn’t see the breaking ball early enough to either make an adjustment or just hold off on it. Gavin had his stuff going today.”
Dean Kremer’s second start began nicely. He didn’t allow a hit for 4 1/3 innings, and aside from a first-inning walk to José Ramirez, didn’t allow a baserunner.
Brayan Rocchio’s three-run home run in the fifth ruined Kremer’s start and gave the Orioles their fourth loss in five games. Rhys Hoskins walked with one out. Daniel Schneemann singled and, with two outs, Rocchio hit his third home run of the season.
The Orioles (10-11) are 21-37 (.382) against Cleveland (12-10) since the start of the 2017 season. That’s their worst mark against any team they’ve played a minimum of 50 games.
Bo Naylor homered against Albert Suárez in the eighth to make it 4-2.
The Orioles started slowly and didn’t score in the first three innings against Williams (3-1). This season, they have a .181 average in the first three innings.
The Orioles did have a chance to score in the third. With one out, Henderson singled, breaking an 0-for-11 stretch. Taylor Ward grounded to third. Ramírez’s throw to second was wild, and the Orioles had runners on second and third with one out.
Alonso and Beavers struck out to leave Henderson and Ward on base.
What’s wrong with the Orioles’ offense? Alonso, who had three hits in the first two games of the series, is hitting .205 with a .672 OPS. Cowser, who is hitless in his last 12 at-bats, is hitting .178 with a .469 OPS. Cowser has 8 hits in 45 at-bats, has three RBIs and hasn’t hit a home run.
Albernaz had four right-handed hitters on the bench in the ninth and wasn’t going to hit for Cowser.
“Colton, he’s our guy, and he has to figure it out how he wants to approach guys and what he’s trying to feel,” Albernaz said. “But with Colton at the plate, he’s dangerous. He’s a guy where, if he’s not feeling great, he can still get one pitch and do damage on, and that’s something where we feel very confident in.
“With all our guys, we kind of showed it yesterday, too, and in other games, where we look like our offense is stifling and then next thing you know, one inning later, it’s a completely different offense. So with Colton, it’s the same way.”
Henderson has seven home runs, 14 RBIs, a .213 average and a .789 OPS. He struck out twice against Williams.
“Tough visual day, but hat’s off to them,” Henderson said. “They threw the ball well, and they didn’t really miss over the zone. The one time they did, Leody took care of that. Yeah, they just threw the ball well.”
The Orioles had won five of six before losing four of five.
“I felt like we’ve had decent at-bats,” Henderson said. “I know I can do a better job of getting on and getting the guys that slug behind me some opportunities to score some runs.
“So that’s something that I’m definitely trying to do, is get on for them. And I feel like just get as many shots up as we can, in that sense, we’ll put up a lot of runs. We’ve just got to start scoring a little earlier.”
A bright spot for the team has been Taveras, who’s hitting .368 with a 1.015 OPS. His strikeout against Smith ended the game.
“That’s part of the game, part of the game,” he said of the team’s strikeouts.”We go out there, trying to do our best and some days it’s going to happen like that. We’ve got to flush and come back tomorrow and do the best we can.”
How was Kremer’s night? Kremer (0-1) allowed three runs on two hits in six innings, walking two and striking out seven. In his first start against Arizona on Monday, he allowed three home runs.
Each of the seven runs Kremer has allowed have been on home runs. Rocchio’s homer was on a 93.6 mph four-seamer.
“Other than that, I think the outing was really good, went really well,” he said. “Just made one mental mistake — physical and mental mistake. But other than that, it was a really good outing.”
Kremer could be second-guessed for throwing the four-seamer instead of a splitter.
“I just try not to abuse it. But just kind of — I was trying to go up and away, and missed up and in,” he said. “And he got to it, put a good swing on it. My plan was to go up and away with the heater and then go back to the splitter. But we didn’t get there.”
Catcher Samuel Basallo was fooling with his PitchCom with just three seconds left on the pitch clock, just before Kremer threw the home run pitch.
“We went through the sequence of what I wanted to throw, and I got to the four-seamer, and I said, ‘yeah,’ and came set,” Kremer said. “He pressed another button because I don’t think he saw me, maybe. And the time was running down, but I was pretty convicted in that was what I wanted to throw. He beat me there. Rocchio beat me there.”
What does it mean? The Orioles match up poorly against the Guardians, and they’ve seen three excellent starts against them in the series.
What’s the word? “I feel like a lot of guys are still getting their feet up under them. A lot of new faces here, so it’s not like we’re at full go. Still kind of a lot of guys feeling things out, and I think whenever we all get going, it’s going turn to really good.”–Henderson on the team’s offense.
What’s the stat of the day? 3. The Orioles have scored just three runs in the first inning in 21 games.
What’s going on in the minor leagues? Jackson Holliday was hitless in three at-bats in his first rehab start for High-A Frederick in the Keys’ 4-1 win over Hudson Valley.
Juaron Watts-Brown allowed one run on five hits in three innings.
Brandon Young threw 5 2/3 hitless innings, allowing a run, walking two and striking out 10.
Keegan Akin, who’s rehabbing from a left groin muscle injury, allowed one run on two hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Dietrich Enns struck out two in a scoreless inning in his first rehab appearance. Enns is on the injured list with a left foot infection.
Jud Fabian homered twice.
Frederick Bencosme hit a grand slam, Brandon Butterworth and Anderson De Los Santos also homered as Double-A Chesapeake beat New Hampshire, 8-6.
Infielder Cobb Hightower was removed from Single-A Delmarva’s 7-1 loss to Fredericksburg because of left shoulder discomfort.
What’s next? Trevor Rogers (2-1, 3.04) will start against Joey Cantillo (1-0, 2.61) on Sunday at 1:40 p.m.
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