WASHINGTON—What happened? The Orioles were held to three hits in their 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. Corbin Burnes allowed three runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings.
The Orioles have been shut out twice this season, and they’ve come in Burnes’ last two starts.
Trevor Williams allowed two hits in five innings, and four relievers limited the Orioles to one hit in four innings.
“We just couldn’t get anything going against [Williams] offensively. A crafty righty,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We just got beat tonight.”
It’s the third time this season the Orioles have had just three hits. They struck out 12 times, and on the 12th, designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn was ejected for arguing. Hyde was also ejected, his first this season, and the 14th of his career.
“O’Hearn got called out on strikes and didn’t think it was,” Hyde said. “He felt like it was a few times tonight he got called out on a strike that wasn’t. He voiced his displeasure.”
Why wasn’t it Burnes’ night? It was the third time this season in eight starts that Burnes allowed three runs.
“I threw the ball well for six innings, and I came out in the seventh, made a couple of mistakes, and they hit them,” Burnes said. “Overall, I was pretty happy with how the first six innings went, attacking the zone. We had to adjust it and got really aggressive. I thought we did a good job of adjusting and got some quick outs and getting the pitch count to where we wanted it to.”
Washington stole three bases against Burnes and one against Jacob Webb. Burnes was also called for a balk when he unsuccessfully threw to first a third time against Jacob Young in the fifth. Jesse Winker and Eddie Rosario stole second and later scored.
“That’s not what I’m thinking about where I’m out there,” Burnes said of holding runners on. “It’s kind of secondary as far as what I’m trying to do. I’ve got to be able to sync up and command the zone and throw strikes …I ’ve got to do a better job of attacking the zone and getting ahead early, not walking guys and stealing bases. I should probably mix up my timing more to prevent those stolen bags.”
“That’s a really, really aggressive team, and if they get a chance, they’re going to be aggressive,” Hyde said. “They took advantage of us tonight.”
Why was O’Hearn displeased with the umpiring? O’Hearn was ejected after home plate umpire Alex Tosi called him out on strikes in the ninth inning.
“I just lost my cool,” O’Hearn said. “There were a few strikes called on me that I really didn’t like, going back to the first inning, go back to the first pitch, actually. Then I sat in the dugout and watched it happen to our guys all night.”
O’Hearn was also called out on strikes in the first inning.
“[Colton] Cowser had a really bad one, 3-2,” he said. “It’s hard to tell as players because we don’t get the K Zone anymore on the iPads. He was calling balls outside the K Zone strikes. I got pissed off and decided to say something about it. First career ejection. I’m not proud of it.”
O’Hearn thought Tosi’s strike zone hurt the Orioles.
“If you look at where the pitches came in … we’ll just take that at-bat for example, the pitch before it, he called a ball, it was less inside,” O’Hearn said. “It was more towards the plate than that one. When I see where a pitch is, and I go, ‘OK, that’s a ball there,’ and then he throws one a little further inside, and then he bangs me on that one, that’s pretty irritating.”
What rivalry? The Orioles had won seven straight against the Nationals, but there isn’t a rivalry between the teams. Hyde and Nationals manager Dave Martinez were on the Chicago Cubs coaching staff under Joe Maddon.
“I’m don’t have any animosity towards Davey. I love Davey. Maybe I’ll start a little this series,’ Hyde joked. “You never know … We’re still super close. It’s a friendly rivalry.”
What’s the word? “Maybe the challenge system would be cool to be able to have some say. We do this every day so we have a good understanding of what the strike zone is. A lot of hitters know when they’re getting screwed, and it would be cool to be able to challenge it.”-O’Hearn on ways to improve umpiring.
What does it mean? The Orioles must win on Wednesday to ensure their streak of not being swept in a regular-season series continues. The streak is 102 consecutive series.
What’s the stat of the day? 1. Burnes is confident the Orioles won’t be shut out in succeeding starts.
“I’m not worried about it,” he said. “I think we’ve got the best, if not the top second or third offense in all of baseball.”
What happened in the minor leagues? Leftfielder Kyle Stowers hit his 11th home run, shortstop Nick Maton hit a grand slam in Triple-A Norfolk’s 9-4 win over Memphis.
Third baseman Max Wagner hit his first home run as High-A Aberdeen beat Hudson Valley, 4-3.
What’s next? Kyle Bradish (0-0, 1.93) will make his second start of the season against Mitchell Parker (2-1, 2.53) at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday at Nationals Park.
Call for questions: Each weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles’ question. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com