McClanahan silences Orioles
Fires 6 scoreless innings to lead way for Rays in battle of AL’s top teams
In a matchup between the top two teams in the American League, Shane McClanahan and the Tampa Bay Rays kept right on cruising.
McClanahan pitched six impressive innings to become this season’s first seven-game winner, and Josh Lowe and Luke Raley homered to lift the Rays to a 3-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night in Baltimore. Tampa Bay extended its AL East lead to 6 ½ games over a Baltimore team that started fast this season, but — like everyone else in baseball — is struggling to keep up with the Rays.
“The Orioles are playing great baseball right now. They’re a fun team to watch,” McClanahan said. “That’s a fun team to play. You always want to be the best, but you’ve got to play the best.”
It’s a similar challenge for the
Orioles. After losing two of three — both one-run defeats — in a competitive series at Atlanta, Baltimore fell to Tampa Bay. This is the first three-game losing streak of the season for the Orioles, who still have the AL’s second-best record.
McClanahan (7-0) allowed four hits and four walks and struck out seven.
Kyle Gibson (4-2) pitched well in defeat, allowing two runs in six-plus innings. Lowe hit a solo shot leading off the second and Raley added one in the ninth. Wander Franco hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Colin Poche and Kevin Kelly followed McClanahan for Tampa Bay, and Jason Adam struck out three in the ninth for his fourth save. The Rays already have seven shutouts this year.
The Orioles lost a series opener for the first time all season after winning their first 11.
“We put a couple of rallies together. We just didn’t get a big hit,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “When you’re facing somebody like that, I thought we grinded. We just had a tough time against him. We just didn’t get that big hit with runners in scoring position.”
Nationals 5, Giants 1: Nationals manager Dave Martinez was pleased with how pitcher Jake Irvin composed himself in his major league debut last week. Martinez was even more impressed with how the rookie handled himself in his first start on the road.
Irvin struck out five in 6 ⅓ innings and earned his first career victory, leading Washington to win over the San Francisco Giants.
“He’s got really good poise,” Martinez said. “The best thing is, he’s around the zone, he’s throwing strikes. He’s out there and he’s got a lot of poise, doesn’t let (anything) rattle him and he just tries to attack the strike zone. He’s a student of the game. He wants to learn. He wants to get better.”
Making his second career start and first on the road, Irvin didn’t give up a run in a dominant outing for the Nationals, who are in last place in the NL East. The 26-year-old right-hander limited the Giants to four hits and was backed by a defense that turned double plays in three of the first four innings. He walked three and lowered his ERA to 0.84.
The outing was in contrast to Irvin’s MLB debut against the Chicago Cubs on May 3, when he hit a batter with his first pitch and got a no-decision after walking four in 4 ⅓ innings.
“Definitely a different atmosphere,” Irvin said. “You know you don’t have the crowd behind you, but that’s kind of what the minor leagues is for. You kind of feel that on the way up and you learn a lot about that. Same thing, just keep making pitches.”
Luis García singled twice and had a multi-hit performance in his fourth consecutive game and CJ Abrams drove in two runs. Alex Call, the Nationals’ new everyday center fielder after Victor Robles was placed on the injured list earlier Monday, had an RBI double.
Joc Pederson homered for San Francisco, which lost its second straight after a four-game winning steak.