Corbin Burnes pitched well once again, but the O’s offense had a horrific night against Luis Gil and the Yankees bullpen.
A putrid showing from the Orioles offense wasted a nice outing from ace Corbin Burnes and the team’s bullpen on Wednesday night at Camden Yards. The O’s had maybe one real shot at scoring runs but ultimately came up empty in the 2-0 loss to the visiting Yankees, their first shutout loss of the season.
Burnes came out hot, pitching like the ace that he is. Five of his first six outs were recorded via the strikeout, and he successfully avoided first-inning struggles. The Yankees started to put the ball in play more frequently as the game wore on and eventually broke through for their only runs against Burnes, a two-run homer from Oswaldo Cabrera in the fifth inning.
Waldo Wallop was wedged pic.twitter.com/f3Cugp7uWN
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 1, 2024
It was far from a “no-doubter.” The line drive just snuck over the railing in front of the flag court and would have only been a home run in a handful of MLB stadiums. But this game was played in Camden Yards, and it did in fact leave the yard.
That was the only blemish for Burnes. Once again, he was good, but the offense couldn’t back him up. The big righty showed some changes to his approach in this one by switching up his pitch mix a little bit, leaning even more heavily on his cutter than usual. Nearly 60% of his pitches in this start were cutters, a big uptick from his typical 45%. That increase came at the expense of his curveball, which he throttled back from being 25% of his pitches to only 14% here.
Unfortunately, the O’s lineup just couldn’t do much against Yankees starter Luis Gil in what may have been the best start of his young career. The 25-year-old held the O’s scoreless over 6.1 innings, striking out five, allowed only two hits, and (perhaps most importantly) issued just one walk.
Gil came into the game dishing out nearly seven walks per nine innings. He drastically improved in that department in this game, seemingly taking a little something off of his fastball (it was down nearly 1 mph) and opting for control over power. That resulted in a much lower whiff rate—21%, down from his season average of 33.2%—but far better outcomes overall.
The Orioles never really looked like scoring against Gil. Heston Kjerstad singled in the third inning for their first baserunner of the day. They didn’t get another until Jordan Westburg’s fifth-inning knock. And Ryan O’Hearn’s walk in the seventh was their third and final baserunner off of the starter. They couldn’t string anything together and were plagued by tons of weak pop outs and fly outs.
Baltimore’s best shot at coming back was in the eighth inning. With Ian Hamilton pitching, they got the first two runners on base via a Cedric Mullins walk and a Kjerstad hit by pitch.
That prompted Brandon Hyde to turn to his bench, pinch hitting Anthony Santander for Ramón Urías. That felt promising! But Santander popped out to the catcher on the very first pitch of his at-bat. Then came a chess move from Yankees manager Aaron Boone. He brought on his closer Clay Holmes to face the top of the O’s lineup and possibly earn a five-out save. It worked. Holmes struck out both Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman to end the inning and keep the two lead-off runners in the exact same spot.
Holmes returned for the ninth inning, and although he did allow a lead-off single to bring the tying run to the plate, managed to shut the Orioles down anyway. Ryan Mountcastle struck out, Colton Cowser grounded into a fielders choice, and Westburg grounded out to conclude this offensive slog of a game.
At least the Orioles’ bullpen had a good showing. Mike Baumann tossed two shutout innings, and Yohan Ramírez did well in his own scoreless frame. Hyde was able to stay away from all of his top arms, which should mean that everyone is on the table for the finale. That provides a nice landing for Kyle Bradish in what is expected to be his season debut on Thursday.
None of the O’s hitters had a particularly “good game.” There were no extra base hits to find. O’Hearn reached base twice with a single and walk. Kjerstad was also aboard twice with a base knock and the hit by pitch.
At the same time, there was no one player to call out for their futility either. The team had just three at-bats with runners in scoring position. They went 0-for-3. And they left six total runners on base. The Yankees were similarly bad, but just happened to sneak one liner over the fence.
Hopefully they will fare better on Thursday, although they have a tall task ahead of them. Carlos Rodón (2-1, 2.48) is on the bump for the Bombers. The southpaw has looked much better during his second year in the Bronx. Bradish is expected to start for the O’s, although that has not yet been announced. A roster move will be required to activate Bradish, and since Ramírez pitched today there is a good chance he is involved.