Irvin and O’s pen combine to blank Reds in 3-0 win

The Orioles lefty put up his third consecutive scoreless outing, while Ryan O’Hearn and Adley Rutschman provided the offense with two clutch, late-inning hits.

An almost three-hour rain delay couldn’t dampen the Orioles’ spirits Friday night, as they rode some clutch hitting and another great start from Cole Irvin to a 3-0 win over the Reds.

Irvin came into the start Friday riding a career-high 13.2-inning scoreless streak. And yet, somehow the Orioles’ lefty was even better against Cincinnati. He got the first batter he faced to ground out before allowing a 1st inning single to Reds’ phenom Elly De La Cruz. The southpaw didn’t let the hit (or De La Cruz’ steal of second) bother him, as he punched out Spencer Steer and got Tyler Stephenson to ground out to leave the runner stranded.

Those last two outs in the 1st started a streak of 17 consecutive hitters the in-from Irvin set down. It wasn’t until De La Cruz led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a double that Irvin allowed another base runner.

Much of Irvin’s success came from his excellent curveball usage. The lefty set a career-high with 37 curveballs and was able to locate the breaking ball to both sides of the plate. All night hitters seemed reluctant to even offer at the curveball, as Irvin got 10 called strikes off the big breaker. His reliance on the curveball also allowed Irvin to generate a ton of ground balls, as 12 of the 19 outs he recorded came via groundouts.

At one point it looked like Irvin may have a chance to go the distance on Friday, as he cruised through six scoreless innings on only 63 pitches. However, after giving up the leadoff double to De La Cruz and then punching out Steer, Brandon Hyde decided to turn things over to a very well-rested bullpen. Still, Irvin’s final line puts this start in contention for his best start as an Orioles, finishing with 6.1 IP, 2 Hs, 0 ERs, 0 BBs and 4 Ks on 72 pitches.

Due to the rain delay, the Reds had to do their postgame fireworks show before the game ever started. Those were the only fireworks in Cincinnati for much of the night as both teams’ bats struggled to get things going. The Orioles certainly had the lion’s share of the opportunities but failed to capitalize against Reds starter Hunter Greene. In the 1st, Green gave up a lead-off single to Gunnar Henderson—but the reigning AL Player of the Month got thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double. The O’s got two more base runners in the opening frame thanks to a walk from Adley Rutschman and an infield single from Ryan O’Hearn. However, Greene was able to strand both runners by striking out Ryan Mountcastle looking and getting Anthony Santander to pop up to second.

Working around base runners became a theme for Greene and his electric fastball. The flame-throwing righty only worked one perfect inning (the 4th), but still managed to keep a zero on his scorecard. In the 2nd, Heston Kjerstad reached on a two-out walk only for Jorge Mateo to end the inning on a K. Gunnar led off the 3rd with a walk and advanced into scoring position on a balk. The heart of the order couldn’t even move him over though, as Rutschman popped out to foul territory before the two Ryans both flew out to center.

The O’s once again got a lead-off runner in the 5th thanks to a rocket single to RF off the bat of Kjerstad. Gunnar then moved Kjerstad into scoring position high chopper to the right side that he legged out for an infield single. Much like the 3rd, Baltimore never came close to bringing the runner home, as Rutschman and O’Hearn could only loft flyouts to center.

All of the traffic did do a good job running up Greene’s pitch count, and he entered the 6th inning having already thrown 89 pitches. RMC led off the inning with a single to RF off the end of his bat, giving the Orioles their third lead-off runner in four innings. Greene once again got Santander to pop up before K’ing Cedric Mullins for the second out. Greene’s night would end after he issued a walk to Westburg on his 109th pitch. However, Kjerstad once again left the runner stranded at second, striking out to end the 6th.

Getting to the Reds’ bullpen was all the Orioles’ bats needed to really get going, though, as Baltimore finally broke through in the 7th. Mateo led off the inning by sneaking a single under the gloves of Jeimer Candelario at 3B and De La Cruz at SS. The Orioles speedster then immediately stole second to give the O’s another runner in scoring position. Gunnar then gave the Orioles a productive out, lifting a fly ball to deep CF that allowed Mateo to tag and move to third. Rutschman made Gunnar’s sacrifice unnecessary, though, ripping a double into deep right-center to bring home Mateo and give the O’s a 1-0 lead.

The way Irvin was pitching, one run would’ve been enough, but Ryan O’Hearn wanted to provide a little bit of insurance. After fouling off four straight pitches from Reds’ reliever Emilio Pagán, ROH launched a 1-2 cutter deep into the Cincinnati night to grow the Orioles’ lead to 3-0.

Once Hyder turned things over to the O’s pen, they picked up right where Irving left off. Yennier Cano picked up two ground ball outs in the 7th to strand De La Cruz—including helping his own cause with an excellent assist of his own. Danny Coulombe worked a perfect 8th, setting things up for Craig Kimbrel’s first save opportunity since last Sunday vs. Oakland.

The four days of rest seemed to have done Kimbrel a world of good, as all of his pitches seemingly exploded out of his hand on Friday. The Orioles’ closer punched out pinch hitter Will Benson, India and De La Cruz to pick up his 8th save of the season as seal the O’s’ 21st win. The save was also 425th of Kimbrels career—breaking a tie with John Franco in 6th and tying Kenley Jansen in 5th on the all-time saves list.