Cashner’s stranding streak ends
Back-to-back doubles break up RISP run; Trumbo to Bowie
It took five starts for Andrew Cashner to finally break, and unfortunately for him and the Orioles, his string of stymying opponents with runners on base came to an end opposite the reigning Cy Young Award winner in a 7-3 Orioles loss on Sunday at Camden Yards.
Cashner didn’t allow a hit with a runner in scoring position in his first four games, and left Cleveland Indians on second and third base in a tense third inning.
But the streak ended this year at 0-for-20 when, after a bases-empty home run by José Ramírez, Cashner gave up back-to-back doubles to Edwin Encarnación and Yonder Alonso to put the Orioles behind 2-1 in the fourth inning.
With the Orioles up 3-2 in the fifth inning, Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley each singled with a runner on second base to give the Indians a 4-3 lead that would more than hold up.
“Once you get the lead, you can’t give it up,” Cashner said. “I had to bear down and made some pitches. They fell in. I gave up some hard-hit balls, but I thought I had a lot of soft contact, too.”
To this point in the season, Cashner’s ability to strand runners had been his greatest asset. He’s allowed six home runs, but five have been with the bases empty, and he’s backed up his reputation as being a pitcher who competes in every at-bat.
Sunday began looking like a day when he wouldn’t even need to use that skill. He struck out four batters — two swinging and two looking — through two perfect innings before needing to stiffen his back and work out of the third. He ended with a season-high seven strikeouts, his most since he struck out nine Sept. 7, 2016.
Even as he ceded two leads, he wouldn’t have been second-best to many pitchers with the effort he turned in. Kluber is what made him so Sunday. “He battled his way,” manager Buck Showalter said of Cashner. “I thought it was a good effort, gave us a chance to win. It’s a good lineup, obviously. They haven’t been swinging the bats as well as they’re capable of, but I thought we had a shot at them there. ... Cash fought his way through it and kept us engaged in the game, didn’t let it get away from him. Pretty impressive the last out he got to get us to that sixth inning.”
Cashner has pitched at least five innings in each of his five starts with the Orioles, and gone six or more in his past four. He has a 3.60 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP with 28 strikeouts in 30 innings. Cashner Trumbo headed to Bowie: Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo will return to Bowie on Monday to restart his minor league injury rehabilitation with the Baysox and could also join the Triple-A Norfolk Tides this weekend in Charlotte, N.C.
Trumbo, who suffered a quadriceps strain during spring training, started a rehab assignment with the Baysox on April 10 but played just one game before backing off because he didn’t feel ready to go full-out.
“He’ll probably play right field or first base,” Showalter said. “They’re at home the next three days. He’ll play defense for two of those games. The last one is a day game and he’ll probably DH in that one.
“And then he’ll take that off day we all have, including them — there’s no place to play — and come back and work out with us. The plan right now is for him to go to Charlotte from there.”
Though Showalter said that he is leaving it up to Trumbo to decide when he’s ready to rejoin the major league team, he seemed fairly confident that the rehab stint would extend through the weekend. Mancini ‘lucky’: Showalter said he has an idea when Trey Mancini might come back after gashing his knee sliding into an unpadded section of the side wall in left field Friday night, but he isn’t revealing that yet.
“Trey is better. … He’s trending in the right direction,” Showalter said. “Talking to Brian [ Ebel, head athletic trainer], talking to the doctor and talking to Trey, I know in my gut where he’ll end up, but let’s see if it’s better than that.
“He’s still sore, but he’s moving on it. He got lucky with his kneecap. Watching the replay, he got lucky.” More updates: First-round draft choiceCody Sedlock, who was placed on the seven-day minor league disabled list earlier in the weekend, apparently will get an injection in his sore shoulder after undergoing an MRI on Friday. “There’s no major issue there that I’m aware of,” Showalter said. “Things checked out pretty well, all things considered. … I know they’re talking about an injection. I don’t know for sure, but structurally, he seemed to be OK.” … Injured closer Zach Britton threw again Sunday, and Showalter said that the workout went well.