The Baltimore Orioles were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, wasting a great effort out of ace Corbin Burnes, who pitched into the ninth inning in a 1-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the teams’ AL wild-card series on Tuesday.
This game, a playoff opener, was the reason the O’s front office traded two prospects and a draft pick to Milwaukee for a one-year rental of Burnes, who was a career-best 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA for Baltimore in 2024.
Burnes did his job, allowing one run on five hits in eight innings of work, with three strikeouts and one walk.
That one walk would come back to haunt the Orioles. With one out in the sixth, Maikel Garcia walked, then stole second, and advanced to third on a groundout, ahead of a two-out RBI single from Bobby Witt Jr.
Baltimore’s best chance to score came in the fifth, when Ramon Urias doubled with one out, and Cedric Mullins, who had two of the Orioles’ five hits on the day, singled to put runners at first and third.
Kansas City starter Cole Ragans struck out James McCann and Gunnar Henderson to get out of that jam.
The O’s also got two runners on in the eighth, when Henderson walked with two out, ahead of a single to center from Jordan Westburg, but Royals closer Lucas Ecerg got Anthony Santander to ground out on the first pitch of his AB to end that threat.
Baltimore had one last chance in the ninth, and Ryan O’Hearn walked to lead off the inning, but Ecerg struck out Adley Rutschman, got Colton Cowser to fly out to center, and then struck out Heston Kjerstad on a changeup out of the zone to close things out.
Game 2 is set for a 4:30 p.m. Wednesday first pitch.
The probables are Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) for Kansas City, and Zach Elfin (10-9, 3.59 ERA) for Baltimore.
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Chris Graham
