BALTIMORE—The Orioles scored just four runs in their last three games, losing them all. On Tuesday night, they hit four home runs and had 16 hits, but eight early runs by the Cleveland Guardians were too much to overcome in a 10-8 loss — their fifth straight — before 18,574 at Camden Yards.
Oriole starting pitching has become a concern and Cole Irvin (6-4) had his worst outing, allowing eight runs, four unearned, on 10 hits in four innings. Unlike Monday night, when the Orioles (49-30) didn’t get a hit after the third inning, they fought back but the deficit was too great.
Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer in the first. James McCann and Colton Cowser hit back-to-back homers in the fourth, and Anthony Santander hit one in the eighth for the Orioles’ final run.
It’s the second time in five games the Orioles have hit four homers and lost. On Friday night in Houston, they hit four in a 14-11 loss that began the losing streak. It’s their longest since May 13th-18th, 2022 when they lost six in a row.
Jordan Westburg had four hits, and Ryan Mountcastle had three.
Cleveland (51-26) scored a run in the top of the first against Irvin on back-to-back doubles by José Ramírez and David Fry,
Henderson’s two-run home run, his 25th, against Logan Allen, gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first.
Gabriel Arias’ two-run double put the Guardians ahead 3-2 in the second, and the Orioles tied it in the bottom of the second on McCann’s single, which scored Jorge Mateo, who had tripled. McCann was out trying to score on Mountcastle’s double to end the inning.
The Orioles took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third on Westburg’s RBI double.
Cleveland scored five runs in the top of the fourth. Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan had RBI singles, and Ramírez hit his 21st home run. The inning was extended on McCann’s wild throw to second on Arias’ tapper in front of the plate.
Mateo hurt his left hand trying to tag Arias but stayed in the game.
McCann and Cowser homered against Allen to begin the inning. Pedro Avila (2-1) replaced Allen, who allowed six runs on nine hits in three innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, Henderson and Westburg singled against Cade Smith. Scott Barlow walked Ryan O’Hearn to load the bases. After Heston Kjerstad was called out on strikes, McCann grounded to third. Ramírez made a great play and threw to second, where O’Hearn was safe because Andrés Giménez didn’t tag second. The relay to first was in time, and Henderson scored, and the Orioles trailed 8-7 after seven.
Cleveland added two runs in the eighth on Bo Naylor’s RBI triple and Arias’ single off Yennier Cano’s glove.
Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless ninth for his 25th save.
Note: Santander’s 21st home run was his 12th in June. He’s the fifth Oriole to hit 12 in June, joining Boog Powell, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Belle and Chris Davis. Santander is the first Oriole with 12 homers in a month since Manny Machado in August 2017.