WASHINGTON — The Orioles have been shut out twice this season. Both times, they tallied only a few hits, barely had any opportunities to score and squandered the ones they had. And both times, ace Corbin Burnes pitched well enough to win but didn’t get any run support.
For the second time this month, Burnes delivered a quality start only for his offense to not back him up. Baltimore’s bats went ice cold Tuesday night against the Nationals, reaching base safely only three times in a 3-0 loss.
After scoring 11 runs in Sunday’s win over the Cincinnati Reds, the Orioles combined to go 3-for-31 at the plate with 12 strikeouts and no walks. They couldn’t string anything together against starter Trevor Williams and the Nationals’ bullpen, moving only one runner into scoring position all night.
“Well, we didn’t get anything going against Williams. We were really off-balanced it looked like,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We just got beat tonight.”
The Orioles have allowed three or fewer runs in their past eight games, but they’re 6-2 in them. The other loss was May 1 when Luis Gil and the New York Yankees’ bullpen shut out the Orioles, who recorded only three hits in a 2-0 defeat with Burnes on the mound. The last time the Orioles scored a run for Burnes was in the fourth inning of his start April 26 against the Oakland Athletics. He’s gone 14 1/3 consecutive innings without a run of support.
Burnes delivered a quality start Tuesday with 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball to extend the rotation’s hot streak, but he wasn’t nearly as dominant as the club’s starting corps has been recently. He walked three and gave up five hits while also allowing three Nationals to steal a base and another runner to advance on a balk after three pickoff attempts.
Baltimore’s rotation entered on a 21-inning streak without allowing a run, dating to the end of Kyle Bradish’s start on Thursday and through scoreless outings by Cole Irvin, John Means and Dean Kremer over the weekend in Cincinnati. Over the past eight games, Orioles starting pitchers have a 1.47 ERA and 0.857 WHIP.
“I think everyone just has a good plan going up there of what they want to do,” Burnes said of the rotation. “Really the last two, three turns through the rotation, guys have been out there with a good plan, executing pitches well, attacking the zone from pitch one.”
The frustration of the night boiled over in the ninth inning when Ryan O’Hearn and Hyde were ejected by home plate umpire Alex Tosi after O’Hearn was called out on strikes.
“The starter stayed around the edges,” O’Hearn said. “He was getting a lot of calls around the edges. Kind of kept us off-balance. Offensively, just one of those nights we couldn’t get anything going.”
Baltimore is 23-12 and falls back into a tie atop the American League East with the New York Yankees (24-13), who won Tuesday. The Orioles had won seven straight games against the Nationals after sweeping their next-door neighbor in both two-game series last year.
Tuesday’s game was the first in MLB between two teams both wearing their City Connect uniforms. The Orioles are now 5-9 with a minus-41 run differential in the all-black threads.
Adley Rutschman singled in the Orioles’ second at-bat of the evening off Williams. The Orioles would record only one more hit off Williams and two more in the game. The 32-year-old journeyman entered the game with a 4.40 ERA across nine seasons, but he’s off to the best start in his career with a 1.96 ERA.
Williams varied his four-pitch mix to stymie a Baltimore offense that leads the major leagues in home runs and ranks in the top five in several other categories. He didn’t walk a batter — the Orioles rank in the bottom five in that statistic — and struck out eight to tie his career high through 155 starts. The last time he tallied eight punchouts in a start was September 2022.
“I just think the ability to change speeds and really live on the edges,” Hyde said of Williams. “We just couldn’t get anything going against them offensively. Crafty righty who did a nice job with the fastball, it’s 91 [mph] but it plays up because the other stuff is strikes, and he keeps the ball down really well.”
It wasn’t all bad for the Orioles’ offense, though. They hit nine batted balls over 95 mph (the velocity at which Statcast deems it a hard hit) but only two landed for hits — Rutschman’s 100.4 mph single and Cedric Mullins’ eighth-inning 106.4 mph single off former Oriole and Nationals setup man Hunter Harvey. Jordan Westburg delivered the only other Orioles hit, a single off Williams in the fifth. Gunnar Henderson roped a 108 mph line drive off Harvey in the eighth — the hardest hit ball of the night — but it was directly at right fielder Eddie Rosario.
The Nationals (18-17) took a 1-0 lead on Joey Meneses’ RBI single to score Jesse Winker. Until the seventh inning, that was the only run scored off Burnes, who looked like his usual self. He is 3-2 with a 2.83 ERA through his first eight starts as an Oriole.
But the Nationals tacked on two runs off him in the seventh on RBI singles from Nos. 8 and 9 hitters Rosario and Trey Lipscomb.
“Thought I did pretty well, thought I executed the ball well for six innings,” Burnes said. “Came out in the seventh, made a couple mistakes and they hit ‘em. Overall, was pretty happy with how the first six innings went, attacking the zone.”
Two of the three runs scored after getting into scoring position via stolen bases, although it’s possible the runs would’ve scored anyway. The Nationals lead the majors in stolen bases with 61.
“That’s a really, really aggressive team,” Hyde said. “If they get a chance, they’re going to be aggressive. They took advantage of us tonight.”
Burnes has struggled holding runners this season, as 12 of 14 base stealers have succeeded. The right-hander only allowed 11 stolen bases all last season.
“That’s not what I’m thinking about when I’m out there. For me, it’s kind of secondary as far as what I’m trying to do,” Burnes said. “I’ve got to be able to sync up and command the zone and throw strikes. If I’m going to walk guys and make bad pitches, it’s not going to matter what I’m doing holding runners.”
The Orioles are at risk of their American League-best streak without being swept in the regular season ending Wednesday as the Battle of the Beltways consists of a pair of two-game series. Baltimore hasn’t been swept for 102 consecutive series dating to May 2022, although the club was swept out of the postseason in October.
Around the horn
• Grayson Rodriguez said his shoulder inflammation is not a serious injury and the right-hander doesn’t expect to need much more time off before returning to the Orioles’ rotation. He’s played “light catch” since being placed on the 15-day injured list May 1, but Hyde said the fireballer will throw a bullpen session “in the next few days.” Rodriguez, who leads the team with four wins, said he knew when he woke up with “extra soreness” that it wasn’t anything more. “Obviously being early in the season, we just wanted to make sure we had it under control now and not let it turn into something worse.” The 24-year-old is able to return from the IL on May 15. “I’m not sure exactly the date he’s going to be coming off the IL,” Hyde said. “But it all looks good right now, and hopefully he’ll be back soon.”
• Austin Hays (left calf strain) began his rehab assignment Tuesday with Double-A Bowie, going 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk and two RBIs and played five innings in left field. Hays, an All-Star in 2023, slumped to begin this season before his injury landed him on the shelf April 21. “Would like to see him get as many at-bats as possible,” Hyde said. “I’m not sure how long it’s going to be, but it shouldn’t be too long.”
• Terrin Vavra, who debuted with the Orioles in 2022 and made the opening day roster in 2023, is continuing his rehab assignment with High-A Aberdeen this week after beginning it in the Florida Complex League over the weekend. Vavra, who is no longer on the 40-man roster, has missed most of the past year with a shoulder injury that required surgery in the fall.
• Third baseman Max Wagner, who Baseball America ranks as Baltimore’s 14th-best prospect, is also continuing his rehab assignment with the IronBirds this week. The Orioles drafted Wagner in 2022’s second round.
Orioles at Nationals
Wednesday, 6:45 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
