MLB: Cleveland’s Kluber reigns, Orioles’ pitching poor in 12-0 shellacking
Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy matched Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber batter for batter through three scoreless innings Monday night, and the fans who showed up at Camden Yards under threat of rain had to believe they were in for a special pitching duel. They weren’t. Bundy’s fast start disintegrated in a hail of fourth-inning line drives and the Indians put up back-to-back four-run innings to end the Orioles’ hopes of adding to their modest two-game winning streak. The Indians never looked back, scoring a 12-0 victory before an announced crowd of 13,875 in the opener of a four-game series.
So much for momentum. Bundy needed 100 pitches to retire 13, leaving with one out in the fifth inning and allowing six earned runs. His pitching line was finalized when reliever Vidal Nuno surrendered a two-run homer to first baseman Carlos Santana.
That homer extended a dubious stretch for the Orioles pitching staff, which has set an American League record by allowing five or more runs in 16 consecutive games. The major league record of 20 is held by the Philadelphia Phillies, and it was set when Calvin Coolidge was president.
Cleveland hammered away at the beleaguered Orioles bullpen, scoring three more runs in the sixth inning and one in the ninth while piling up 17 hits in a game that was reminiscent of the ugly series at Yankee Stadium two weekends ago.
It was mostly overkill, of course, since Kluber did not flinch on the way to his second complete-game shutout of the year. He took a one-hit bid into the sixth inning and was so efficient that he had thrown fewer than half as many pitches as Bundy when the Orioles starter was pulled.
Bundy (7-6) took his fifth loss in seven games, though he had given up three runs or fewer in four of his previous six games. This was clearly his worst outing of the year, and it raised his ERA almost a half-run, from 3.29 to 3.72.
The start of the game was delayed for 29 minutes, but — by some accounts — the Orioles and Indians were lucky to start it at all. The early forecasts were bad enough that the minor-league Aberdeen IronBirds postponed their opener and there was serious doubt the game at Oriole Park would be played.
The fourth inning Cleveland rally started with three straight one-out doubles, the first of which gave third baseman Jose Ramirez a club record with doubles in seven consecutive games. The second was Edwin Encarnacion’s 1,500th career hit.
The Indians hit six doubles in a span of two innings —four in the fourth and two in the fifth —and they pumped up the volume in the fifth with home runs by Jason Kipnis and Santana.
The only hit through the first five innings for the Orioles — who learned earlier in the day that starting shortstop J.J. Hardy will miss two months with a broken wrist — was a single by Adam Jones.
Kluber gave up hits to Seth Smith in the sixth and to Hyun Soo Kim in the eighth. All three hits came with two outs, and no Oriole advanced past first base.