Corbin Burnes continued his recent cold streak against Chicago and the bats were even colder against Cubs’ All-Star Shota Imanaga
The oppressive Baltimore heat seemed to weigh down the Orioles’ bats Wednesday night, as Baltimore was shutout in a 4-0 loss to the Cubs.
More painful than the lack of runs against Chicago was the way the shutout came about. If you just checked the game’s box score, you could get an idea of Birdland’s pain when you see the “0-11 with RISP” stat. If you watched the game, you know the offensive woes were more painful than a box score can convey.
The first moment of Orioles offensive frustration came early on in the bottom of the 1st. After Adley Rutschman worked a one-out walk, Ryan Mountcastle smacked a ball into left for a single to move Adley into scoring position. Chicago All-Star pitcher Shota Imanaga seamlessly worked himself out of the jam, striking out Anthony Santander on a splitter up and away before punching out Jordan Westburg with a fastball in almost the exact same spot.
Initially, the O’s efforts in the 1st seemed encouraging. Despite Gunnar Henderson leading off the inning with a one-pitch out, they still forced Imanaga to throw 29 pitches. The O’s were seeing plenty of pitches and had a couple of really good swings against the rookie lefty from Japan. An optimist might have seen the 1st as a sign of plenty of offense to come. Instead, it was an ominous harbinger of the Orioles’ distinct lack of clutch hitting.
Austin Hays led off the 2nd with a double down the left field line, only to be left stranded after a Jorge Mateo groundout, and two popouts from Colton Cowser and James McCann. In the 5th, McCann dropped a one-out double into the left field corner to give Baltimore another scoring threat. After a Gunner Henderson strikeout, Adley looked like he finally got the O’s on the board with a deep fly to left. Yet, because of the Greate Wall of Baltimore, a ball that would’ve been a HR in 19 other parks ended up as a flyout to the warning track.
The depths of the offensive disappointment only deepened in the 6th and 7th innings. Mountcastle led off the 6th with a single to right, and then with one out Jordan Westburg hit a towering fly ball to left center field. The Great Wall barely contained the blast (it would’ve been a HR in every other park) so Westburg had to settle for a double and the O’s had two runners in scoring position with one out. Much like the 1st however, Imanaga managed to throw his best stuff while in a jam, striking out Austin Hays looking with a fastball at the knees before punching out Mateo on a splitter to end the frame.
Imanaga would leave the game after six innings, but the Orioles bats’ didn’t get any better against the Chicago pen. After Cowser led off the 7th with a groundout, McCann was hit by a pitched and Gunnar singled to once again give the O’s a pair of baserunners. Adley fell behind 0-2 before a rain delay but a hold on his at-bat for about 20 minutes. When the skies cleared, Adley took strike three on the first pitch he saw. RMC then lost a seven-pitch battle when he flew out to center to end the inning.
The Orioles would get a single in both the 8th and 9th, but couldn’t advance the runner either time as the lack of offense marched the team toward defeat. Wednesday was only the third all season the Orioles were shutout, with Corbin Burnes taking the loss in all three games.
Burnes once again seemed snake-bitten against the Cubs. After the Brewers scored zero runs in two Burnes starts vs. the Cubs last year, the Orioles bats were similarly silent while Burnes was in the game. It didn’t help the Orioles cause that their ace was far from his best on Wednesday.
Burnes started off the game well—making an athletic sliding stop on a grounder for the second out of the 1st inning. The 2nd inning was not nearly as graceful as the Cubs began to tie off on their former NL Central foe. With one out, Burnes left a cutter over the outside third of the plate and Cubs 3B Christopher Morel blasted it over the center field fence. Down 1-0, the hard contact didn’t stop there against Burnes. Shortstop Dansby Swanson and CF Peter Crow-Armstrong followed Morel’s HR with a pair of hard-hit singles. Burnes struck out catcher Miguel Amaya for the second out, but couldn’t escape the jam as 2B Nico Hoerner sent a cutter the other way into RF for an RBI single.
With the O’s down 2-0, Burnes locked back in during the 3rd and 4th. He ended the 3rd by striking out LF Ian Happ and Morel—both looking. The All-Star pitched then breezed through the 4th, punctuating the scoreless frame with another punch out of Amaya.
Burnes couldn’t keep that streak of good innings going in the 5th as he ran up against some bad luck. With one out in the inning, 1B Michael Busch bounced a ball up the middle that looked like it was going to be a routine groundout. Instead, the ball kicked off the second base bag in front of Henderson and Mateo, ricocheting into left-center and allowing Busch to reach with a double. Right fielder Cody Bellinger then ground out to first, allowing Busch to move to third. Burnes once again failed to strand a runner in scoring position, as he left a cutter over the plate to DH Seiya Suzuki—who laced it into left for an RBI single.
The way the Orioles were swinging to the bat, the 3-0 deficit created by Burnes felt insurmountable. This was still Corbin Burnes we’re talking about though, so he went out and pitched a scoreless 6th to pick up his MLB-leading 15th quality start of the season. The final line for Burnes looked pretty good on the surface: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 0 BB and 5 K. Once again for Burnes though, pretty good wasn’t good enough against the Cubs.
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The defeat combined with a Yankees win in Tampa means the Orioles’ lead in the AL East is down to two games with only four games left before the All-Star break. The Orioles are also now 5-9 against the NL Central this year, by far their worst mark against any division. The good news is that Thursday’s finale against the Cubs is their last game against the senior circuit’s Central division. Albert Suárez will get the ball in that one as the O’s look to avoid their third sweep of the season.