Orioles shut out for first time this season in 2-0 loss to Yankees as Luis Gil outduels Corbin Burnes
For a third straight night, an Orioles starter, in this case Corbin Burnes, pitched well enough to beat the New York Yankees.
This time, Yankees right-hander Luis Gil was better, not allowing an Oriole past first base over 6 1/3 shutout innings as the New York won, 2-0, before an announced 24,180 at Camden Yards.
A two-run home run from an unlikely source, No. 9 hitter Oswaldo Cabrera, was enough to give Gil his winning margin over Burnes.
“We pitched well, and they pitched us a little bit better,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We had a tough time with Gil, getting on top of his fastball, which is really good, really great life to it, and a good changeup.”
“The way he was tunneling the ball and also, he just uses his fastball a lot — he used it a lot again tonight — and he was putting it in good spots, making good pitches and staying ahead in the count,” said right fielder Heston Kjerstad, one of just two Orioles to get a hit off Gil.
Wednesday night’s loss was the Orioles’ first against AL East competition this season, but they will have a chance to win the four-game series when they host the Yankees (20-12) again Thursday afternoon. The game could feature Kyle Bradish’s first start of the season after he rehabilitated a strained ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm.
The Orioles (19-11) had won every time Burnes started until their bullpen failed to hold a one-run lead in his last outing against the Oakland Athletics. They hoped their ace could put that bit of bad luck behind him and extend the club’s early season dominance — 5-0 going into Wednesday — over AL East rivals.
Burnes had pitched eight no-hit innings against the Yankees last September, and he picked up where he left off, striking out the side in the first inning on a mix of sliders and 96 mph cutters.
“I thought Burnesy had great stuff again, wasn’t hit hard, threw the ball great,” Hyde said.
Burnes hummed along until the fifth inning, when Cabrera lined a first-pitch cutter just inside the right-field foul pole for a two-run homer. The ace didn’t regret the pitch.
“Pretty good pitch. Tip your cap,” he said. “I didn’t [think it was out]. I joked that if the pole was maybe 325 [feet] versus 318, it probably would have been a foul ball. But that’s the park we play in, and he put a good swing on a good pitch.”
Burnes ultimately made it through six innings with a solid line: four hits, one walk, six strikeouts, just the two runs. He felt it was his best overall outing since his opening day win over the Los Angeles Angels.
“I think cutter command was better,” he said. “I didn’t spin the breaking ball quite as well as I have throughout the year but really made up for it with some other pitches. If you want to nitpick every pitch, I think there were some pitches that were better and some that were worse, but overall, I was kind of more pleased with how we threw the baseball tonight.”
Unfortunately for Burnes, Orioles hitters couldn’t do anything with Gil, who kept them off-balance with a combination of 97 mph fastballs and changeups. They managed just two base runners — Kjerstad lined a single in a rare start since being called up last week — over the first six innings.
When Gil exited after inducing a long flyout from Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle in the bottom of the seventh, he tipped his cap to the applauding Yankees fans clustered behind the visiting dugout. He had defeated the Orioles with six shutout innings in his major league debut back in 2021, and this was perhaps his finest start since.
The Orioles tried to muster a rally off the Yankees’ bullpen in the eighth inning as center fielder Cedric Mullins drew a walk and Kjerstad was hit by a pitch, but shortstop Gunnar Henderson and catcher Adley Rutschman struck out on a pair of sliders from closer Clay Holmes to end the threat.
Orioles designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn singled up the middle to start the ninth, but Holmes clamped down for his 10th save of the season. It’s the first time Baltimore has been shut out since Sept. 29, 2023, a 3-0 loss to starter Nick Pivetta and the Boston Red Sox.
On a positive note for the Orioles, closer Craig Kimbrel warmed in case they took a late lead. He had been unavailable the previous two nights after leaving a blown save Sunday with upper-back tightness.
Yankees at Orioles
Thursday, 1:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
