The seven-inning gem that Orioles starter Tyler Wells delivered Saturday would normally be the best start of a series.
Not this weekend.
Pittsburgh Pirates ace Mitch Keller one-upped Wells on Sunday, striking out 13 across seven dominant innings to hand the Orioles a 4-0 loss.
Keller entered the game as one of the best starters in the National League, and he solidified his standing by shutting down an Orioles team that had won four straight games. The right-hander scattered four singles and didn’t walk a batter in front of a Mother’s Day crowd of 36,403.
“We saw the video coming in and watched a lot of him, but that in person might be the best pitching performance of the season. That was a pitching clinic,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We just had a tough time with him offensively. Tip your hat, that was an outstanding pitching performance.”
Only Anthony Santander and Austin Hays avoided striking out against Keller, and Gunnar Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle and Kyle Stowers struck out three times apiece off the Pittsburgh starter. Baltimore only got two runners in scoring position against Keller, who lowered his ERA to 2.38.
Starting pitcher Kyle Gibson struggled but got through five innings while allowing seven hits, three walks and four runs. The Pirates (22-19) scored one run in the first and three in the third to provide Keller with more than enough offense.
While the Orioles couldn’t complete their third sweep of the season, the series victory is the club’s ninth out of its past 10. At 26-14, the Orioles have the second-best record in the major leagues. They had won 17 of their previous 23 games entering Sunday.
The only inning the Orioles had two batters reach against Keller was in the third, when James McCann singled and Santander was hit by a pitch. But Keller struck out Henderson to begin a 12-batter stretch with eight punchouts. He struck out the side in the sixth and two more batters in the seventh.
“He didn’t miss middle pretty much all day,” McCann said. “You can go back and look at really his whole outing, he didn’t make very many mistakes. You got a guy who has the stuff that he has and he’s not making mistakes, it’s gonna make for a tough day at the plate for the offense.”
Pittsburgh right-handers Colin Holderman and David Bednar weren’t as sharp as Keller, but both tallied two strikeouts in their relief innings. The Orioles struck out a season-high 17 times in the loss, including seven looking.
“We didn’t have our best day offensively, but I thought those three guys that pitched for them have plus stuff and are really good,” Hyde said.
Baltimore’s bats showed a little life late in the game, as Cedric Mullins singled with one out in the eighth and went to third on a two-out double from Henderson. But Mountcastle struck out for his fourth time to squander the Orioles’ best scoring opportunity to that point.
The Orioles then got the first two runners of the ninth on base, but Stowers struck out a fourth time and McCann also went down swinging. Adley Rutschman pinch-hit with two outs but popped out to end the game.
The loss is the Orioles’ third time being shut out this season. All three have come in May in each of Gibson’s past three starts. Baltimore lost 6-0 on May 3 against the Kansas City Royals when Gibson allowed six runs in 6 2/3 innings. In his next start, Gibson tossed six innings of two-run ball, but his offense couldn’t push one across against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-0 loss. The last time the Orioles scored for Gibson was in the fifth inning of his start against the Detroit Tigers on April 27. Gibson won four of his first five starts but hasn’t earned a win since April 22.
“You want to go out there and give the team a chance to win, and five innings and four runs isn’t gonna do it,” Gibson said.
Orioles starters entered Sunday with a 1.74 ERA across their previous eight games. Gibson’s four runs allowed in five innings marks the worst outing by an Orioles starter since May 4.
An RBI groundout from Carlos Santana put Pittsburgh on the board. With two outs in the third, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit an RBI single and Ji Hwan Bae squeaked one through the infield for a two-run single.
All seven hits Gibson allowed were singles, including three ground ball hits that had expected batting averages below .350, per Statcast. All four runs were scored on ground balls.
“They kind of singled us to death today,” Gibson said. “That’s baseball, right? Game of inches. A foot here, a foot there, obviously the game changes. That’s part of it.”
The three runs scored in the third were earned, but Hyde called that inning“unlucky” for Gibson. The 35-year-old right-hander struck out Bryan Reynolds to lead off the inning, but he reached on an odd wild pitch that bounced off McCann and halfway up the first base line. Had they secured that out, the inning would’ve been over before the hits by Hayes and Bae.
“He really should’ve just given up that run in the first and that was it,” Hyde said. “It should’ve been a 1-0 game.”
The bullpen followed Gibson with four no-hit innings. Mike Baumann struck out three in two innings, and Cionel Pérez and Austin Voth both had clean frames to give the Orioles’ offense a chance at a comeback.
Around the horn
Angels at Orioles
Monday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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