Orioles stumble again vs. lefty in 6-3 loss to Guardians

Taylor Lyons, The Baltimore Sun on Apr 15, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — The Orioles, as they often have this season, failed to solve a left-handed starting pitcher.

Cleveland’s Logan Allen carried a no-hit bid into the fifth inning Tuesday night in the Orioles’ 6-3 loss that pushed Baltimore to 6-10 on the season. The Orioles added two runs in the eighth, but after another dismal start by Charlie Morton left his team in a five-run hole, their late rally wasn’t enough.

Cedric Mullins, whose single broke up Allen’s no-hit bid, and Gunnar Henderson were the lone bright spots on offense. Mullins added a solo home run in the seventh for the Orioles’ first run, and Henderson went 2 for 4 with a double and scored on Ryan Mountcastle’s eighth-inning single for Baltimore’s second run.

Elsewhere, the Orioles’ lineup went 4 for 28 with 10 strikeouts.

Henderson, who got a late start to the season after a ribs muscle strain landed him on the injured list, has been quiet as he searches for his rhythm through mid-April. Mullins, though, has been the Orioles’ best slugger through this early slog. The center fielder, whose contract expires after this season, is hitting .300 with four home runs on the year. He’s mostly alone there.

Before Morton allowed a three-run homer to Steven Kwan in the fifth inning, his outing was shaping up to deliver an encouraging sign of improvement for the 41-year-old who has mostly disappointed in his introduction to Baltimore. His ERA sits at 8.84 after the loss. Brought in for $15 million, Morton was intended to be depth for a starting rotation that lacked an ace. He’s instead been thrust to the top of it with injuries to other pitchers, which executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias needed a six-minute lecture to break down before Tuesday’s game.

Cionel Pérez allowed a runner inherited from Morton to score and one of his own as the first man out of the bullpen. The left-hander has allowed 10 runs through his first 6 1/3 innings this season for the worst ERA among active Orioles relievers (14.21).

Morton and Pérez have been Baltimore’s weakest links through the season’s first few weeks. That was the case again Tuesday, a game that quickly devolved into another sign that the Orioles may not be able to afford to wait for their injured pitchers to get healthy.

Instant analysis

Baltimore faced another left-handed starting pitcher Tuesday, which gave the Orioles a chance to give Jackson Holliday and Heston Kjerstad days off in favor of right-handed hitters Jorge Mateo and Ramón Laureano. That lineup, much maligned for what it often looks like against lefties, struggled again. Mateo’s single was his first hit of the season in 14 at-bats. Laureano is 1 for 13. Catcher Gary Sánchez’s RBI single in the eighth inning was just his second hit of the year in 19 at-bats.

Baltimore’s lineup philosophies aren’t going away. Elias said before Tuesday’s game that he supports Brandon Hyde’s lineups, which incorporate input from the front office but are left up to Hyde to determine how the manager sees fit. Orioles hitters entered Tuesday with a .213 batting average and no home runs in 123 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers.

Hyde said last week that the right-handed hitting bunch of Mateo, Laureano and Sánchez will play regularly early on this season as Baltimore experiments with matchups. They’ve yet to back their manager’s trust.

By the numbers

Morton’s ERA is his second-highest through his first four outings of a season during his 18-year MLB career, only ahead of his 16.20 mark with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010, his third year in the major leagues.

On deck

The Orioles’ 10-game homestand rolls on with the Guardians again Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. for the second of the three-game set. Dean Kremer, who holds an 8.16 ERA through three starts this season, will face right-hander Gavin Williams. Another defeat would be the Orioles’ third series loss of the year. They’ve yet to win one.