The Baltimore Orioles lost 9-5 to the Cleveland Guardians (74-72) Tuesday night. The loss comes one night after the Birds ended a six-game losing streak; the team has now lost seven of its last ten games.
Suffering his worst start of the season, the usually dependable Brandon Young (9-4) struggled through 3.2 innings. He allowed 6 runs on 8 hits with 2 walks while striking out 2, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch. Young wasn’t helped by Leody Taveras either. The right fielder misplayed a flyball at the outfield wall in the first inning and was unable to field a groundball down the first base line and into the left field corner in the second, allowing a double and a triple, respectively.
Travis Bazzana‘s three-run homerun with two outs in the second inning put the Guardians up 5-0 and appeared to break Young’s spirit. The homerun came on the ninth pitch of Bazzana’s at-bat.
The Orioles scored a run in their half of the fourth inning when Jackson Holliday (2 for 5, 2 R, RBI) doubled to lead-off the inning, advanced to third on a Pete Alonso (2 for 4, HR, R, 2 RBI) single and scored on a groundout to first base by Samuel Basallo (0 for 4, RBI).
Baltimore mounted a comeback with a four-run fifth inning. A double by Blaze Alexander (1 for 3, R) led off the inning. He scored on a one-out double by Taveras (1 for 4, R, RBI) who then scored on a Holliday single. Alonso then hit a 420 ft. homerun to left field, his 34th of the season, to record his AL leading 97th RBI of the season.
Nine consecutive Orioles batters were retired following the Alonso bomb; the stretch was broken by a Gunnar Henderson (0 for 3, BB) walk in the eighth inning. During his at-bat, Henderson fouled a ball off of his left knee and left the game after it locked up when he advanced to second base on Coby Mayo‘s (0 for 3, BB) groundout to first base.
To make matters worse, Alexander left the game in the ninth inning due to back spasms.
Cleveland put the game out of reach by scoring 3 unearned runs on Alex Hoppe in the seventh inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Angel Martinez hit a grounder to first which Alonso fielded and, in an attempt to turn a double play, hit Jo Adell in the helmet. Jose Ramirez scored on the play and both Adell and Martinez subsequently scored on a Brayan Rocchio line drive single to center field.
The Orioles showed signs of life in the ninth when they had runners on first and second with one out. A foul tip strikeout by Taveras and a strikeout looking by Holliday extinguished that, however. The loss gives the Guardians the season series and the tie-breaker over the Birds if it should come to that.
2026 Record: 70-76
Next Game: Wed. 9/9 @ 6:35 pm vs. Cleveland Guardians
